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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”).
- Guest: Ralph Clark, CEO, SoundThinking, Inc.
- Release Date: November 18, 2025
- Length: 1:01:12
- Executive Producer & Host: W. David Tarver
- Producer: Ben Reynolds
- Associate Producers: Anshiqa Agrawal, Felipe Furtado, MD