Urban Game Changers Podcast Archive - Urban Entrepreneurship Initiative

Can technology be effective in decreasing gun violence and increasing public safety in cities?

Ralph Clark is CEO of SoundThinking, Inc., formerly ShotSpotter, a municipal safety solutions technology company, traded on NASDAQ. SoundThinking is a “poster child” for the UEI notion of applying innovation and entrepreneurship to improve urban quality-of-life. Its solutions have spurred controversy in some quarters, as some have claimed (incorrectly) that Shotspotter listens in on neighborhood conversations. Others have questioned the value of the system vs. other approaches to reducing crime. In any case, the company clearly addresses one of the ten community vitality categories cited by UEI: Safety. The company’s ShotSpotter product automatically detects gunfire in urban environments and allows law enforcement to deploy resources quickly and efficiently.

Ralph was a speaker at the UEI 2015 Urban Entrepreneurship Symposium in Detroit, and the company has served as a corporate partner with the University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship class “Innovation for Urban Impact” (formerly “Urban Entrepreneurship”).

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When April Anderson started Good Cakes and Bakes in Detroit in 2013, she was thinking about her Southern roots, family recipes, and small batch cooking. The goal was “food that tastes like what your grandmother would make.” After an appearance on the Today Show and rave reviews by famous customers like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, April had to figure out how to take her soulful treats nationwide. It wasn’t easy. Join us as this University of Michigan educated urban entrepreneur describes how she managed to create and scale a business that delivers that most precious sensation: the tastes created by grandma’s hands.

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Shagi Defoe was one of the first students from the tiny Caribbean nation of Dominica to attend college in China. A natural entrepreneur, he has since created several entrepreneurial ventures and has built a life for himself and his family in Beijing. How did he do it? Check out the interview. As the saying about a certain other large city goes, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere…”

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