DENVER The University of Colorado Denvers Smart Futures Lab is contributing to the development of smart city technologies while also empowering underserved communities.The program focuses on encouraging women, BIPOC communities, and individuals with disabilities to break into the tech sector and bring their unique perspectives to the marketplace.The Smart Futures Lab serves as both an incubator and an accelerator, depending on the needs of the individual people and companies in the program. Director Dan Greiner emphasized the importance of meeting applicants where they are. It might be somebody who just has an idea that they're willing to put in the time to develop, said Greiner. It might be somebody who's struggling to understand how to get their business off the ground and they've already been at it for a while. Were hitting people at all different stages of their development.The Smart Futures Lab is purpose-built to address inequities in the world of tech startups. According to Greiner, only 2% of women and less than 1% of BIPOC communities are funded for their startups. Individuals with disabilities are 400 times less likely to be funded.Our cities are made up of everyone, and those are not generally the people who are designing and developing our cities in the past, said Greiner. Going forward, creating new solutions for the urban environment, we want to make sure that those are coming from all the different individuals within.To implement smart technologies from their incubated companies, the Smart Futures Lab partnered with Smart Cities Alliance. This gives companies in the program a direct line to cities and lets them work together throughout the process.They help them with trying to find those people who can give them feedback on their product and whether or not their product is actually going to serve different government entities the way that they're hoping that it will," said Marie Evans, the Smart Futures Lab program manager.The incubator and accelerator programs are seven months long and completely free. Most of the content is available online, with a course load of between two and four hours per week. The program is designed to fit within the busy schedules of entrepreneurs who may have young children, busy jobs, and little time for a time-intensive program.Applications for the program close on Feb. 21. To learn more about Smart Futures Lab or apply to it, you can check out their website here.