Cities are home to over 50 per cent of the world’s people and this figure is expected to rise to 70 per cent by 2050. These hubs of innovation are responsible for roughly 80 per cent of global economic output. They are also the world’s main source of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Cities are a key battleground in our fight for sustainability. The need to transition to ‘Smart Sustainable Cities’ has become a key policy point to national administrations worldwide.
International standards are supporting urban innovation by offering guidance in meeting the technical, environmental and social challenges faced by city services and city inhabitants.
World Standards Day 2017 celebrates how ‘standards make cities smarter’ by supporting safety and security, access to fresh water and cleaner energy, efficient transportation, and the smart use of city data.
Video and poster competitions in the run-up to World Standards Day challenged entrants to develop videos and posters in the spirit of this year’s theme. The winners were decided by online votes, with Gabriel Hernández from Mexico claiming first prize in the video competition and Reza Rahimian from Iran winning the poster competition. Learn more about Gabriel and Reza.
World Standards Day is celebrated each year on 14 October to pay tribute to the thousands of experts worldwide that collaborate within IEC, ISO and ITU to develop the voluntary international standards that provide common platforms for growth and innovation.
Co-organized by IEC, ISO and ITU, the World Smart City Forum 2017 will share insight into city leaders’ ambitions in sustainable urban development and the value of international standards in supporting smart city innovation.
Over 200 influential smart city thinkers – from city leaders to industry players, investors and standardization experts – will meet in Barcelona for interactive discussions on the innovation required to overcome key challenges to sustainable urban development.
The forum will be held on 15 November 2017 in Barcelona, Spain, in conjunction with the Smart City Expo World Congress.
ITU is developing international standards for the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities and exploring new policy directions capable of stimulating the transition to smart cities.
ITU standards support the interconnection and interoperability of cities’ ICT systems, the mutually beneficial sharing and use of smart city data, and the integrated management of smart cities’ cyber-physical systems. This work is led by ITU’s standardization expert group for ‘IoT and smart cities and communities’, ITU-T Study Group 20.
A new ITU Focus Group – open to all interested parties – has been tasked with accelerating ITU’s study of data processing and management. Its priority is to support the data management needs of smart cities.
Policy debate is hosted by the “United for Smart Sustainable Cities initiative”. Supported by 16 United Nations agencies and programmes, this initiative advocates for public policy to ensure that ICTs, and ICT standards in particular, play a definitive role in the transition to smart cities.
Source: http://news.itu.int/world-standards-day-2017-celebrates-standards-smart-cities/