We all know that the Town of Cary is extraordinary. Those of us lucky enough to live within its hallowed boundaries understand why it’s routinely named a top place to live. But you might be less familiar with the town’s award-winning technology.
Think Smart
Cary is regularly at the forefront of the “smart cities” movement. More than half the world’s population lives in urban areas, and that’s expected to hit 70% by 2050. In order to help manage public safety, traffic congestion, energy consumption, and other critical services, municipalities are seeking to collect more data to prioritize and even anticipate needs.
While Cary has been working on these problems for many years, they most recently took advantage of the LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) protocol for implementation in the new Downtown Cary Park. This low-energy, long-range network allows devices and sensors to talk to each other (and the internet) across a broad network. That data helps staff manage infrastructure, monitor events, and generally improve citizens’ experiences. (Read more in The Subtle Technology of the Downtown Cary Park.)
This project was a model for other cities and towns. In addition to being profiled at last spring’s Smart Cities Connect Conference, the work won two awards. In August, the Town of Cary IT team accepted the award for Outstanding Leadership & Innovation at the North Carolina Digital Government Summit. This past December, they took home NC TECH’s award for Public Sector Project of the Year.
Justin Sherwood, assistant director of information technology for the Town, is quick to recognize the whole Cary IT team.
“They’re doing a phenomenal job with the work that they’re doing. I really wanted to call attention to them,” Sherwood says. “I hope it feels good at the end of the day to be recognized for some of the hard work that they do.”

Town of Cary IT staff at the Digital Government Summit
The Town’s leadership was also recognized. Chief Information Officer Nicole Coughlin was recognized by CharlotteCIO & TriangleCIO, receiving the 2024 ORBIE® Award for the Nonprofit/Public Sector.
New Work
A new year brings new focus, and — unsurprisingly — AI and data governance are getting high priority. The Town is looking to release an AI Policy with clear guidelines on all aspects of artificial intelligence, across a variety of use cases. Equally important is the collection and use of data used by AI solutions.
Sherwood emphasizes the need to work with different departments to “understand their data needs and data focus” while developing the new policy.
“We need to think about how we put a little bit stricter standards around data so we can help facilitate how we use and share it,” he says.
And while policy isn’t as much fun as the park itself, Sherwood is still deeply engaged.
“I think it’s exciting. Creating policies and focusing on standardization of usage of technology — that’s not the exciting piece, but what comes of it,” he explains. “We can look at that (data) and help our community grow, leveraging this type of technology and the information that we’re capturing.”

Data about the Downtown Cary Park displayed on an accessible dashboard.
Open Data
Cary has long been a proponent of open source and sharing data. The Town’s Open Data Portal is a repository of data, all available for public use. The site contains datasets on topics from air quality to zoning and everything in between. If you’re looking for insights on Cary or Wake County, it’s a great resource and a fascinating insight into what makes Cary run.
The Town is also eager to continue sharing what they’ve learned with other cities and regional partners.
“Everybody has the same issues, right?” Sherwood asks. “Okay, so how do we go forth and be good partners and neighbors and help with the different initiatives that each municipality is facing?”
Look for Cary IT to continue to model best practices on data strategy, governance, and the next phase of emerging tools.
And I wouldn’t be surprised to see more awards coming their way.