Dependbuild, the St. John's maker of cloud software to help municipalities and infrastructure developers assess risks to construction projects, is among four companies chosen by the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to join its new living lab program.

The announcement comes about six months after dependbuild’s beta launch. As part of Myrtle Beach’s smart city initiative, dependbuild will eventually have access to a physical living lab facility. But while that facility is being built, the company will be able to use the HTC Aspire Hub, another tech workspace.

In a statement, dependbuild said the partnership will involve working with the city to improve management of infrastructure projects.

"For a town of roughly 40,000 residents, Myrtle Beach sees 17 million visitors each year," said CEO Conor O'Brien in a statement. "This alone poses a lot of unique challenges when it comes to infrastructure management and urban development and makes Myrtle Beach the perfect partner for us. We couldn’t be more excited to be part of this program and work with such a forward thinking organization."

To be chosen for the living lab program, dependbuild beat out about 20 other applicants from multiple countries. Myrtle Beach's goal is to encourage technology companies to use it as a base of operations by offering office space and the possibility of testing new innovations in partnership with the municipality. Companies will be involved with the program for anywhere from three months to about a year.

Founded in the spring of 2021, dependbuild had already piloted its technology with several customers before it entered commercialization earlier this year. O’Brien and Chief Operating Officer Jean-Samuel Poirier are targeting municipal governments as their beachhead market, along with American county governments, with private developers to come later.

So far, their team has worked with cities of a range of sizes, including several large, U.S. urban centres. But the “sweet spot” for dependbuild’s technology to be maximally useful is likely to be centres of up to about 30,000 to 100,000 people, Poirier has said previously. 

Dependbuild was also last week accepted into the AI in Government accelerator from technology-focused United States non-profit CivStart. It operates under a partnership with the GovAI Coalition, which is a San Jose-based industry group, and the National League of Cities, which aims to bolster local governments in their dealings with U.S. federal leadership.

"Dependbuild’s platform empowers municipal staff, including town managers, engineers, and project managers, to assess, update, and report on project risks throughout the lifecycle of public infrastructure projects," the company said. "The platform’s ability to automate and streamline these processes aligns perfectly with the goals of the AI in Government Accelerator, making dependbuild a strong fit for this year’s cohort."