Detroit Seeks a Director of Emerging Technology

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The city of Detroit is looking for a Director of Emerging Technology. The director will lead the Innovation & Emerging Technology (IET) team within the Department of Innovation & Technology (DoIT).

IET is a team of developers that work for the city to prototype, evaluate, and deliver digital tools. IET also manages Detroit’s open data program and several other open source projects that the city offers including text alerts, mapping and civic outreach.

The incoming director will replace Garlin Gilchrist who held the role until mid-2017 when he left to run for local office. Detroit’s Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) Beth Niblock has taken the reigns since then, acting as interim director.

In a blog post announcing the search, IET says the role will be equal parts project advocate, technology developer and manager of what’s already happening with the IET team.

The Office of Innovation & Emerging Technology (IET) was established in 2015 under the Department of Innovation & Technology’s restructuring plan. Shortly after its creation, Detroit codified its open data policy, which made all city information open by default. Since then, IET has been working to make that happen and shares its code on GitHub.