February 22, 2017 · by itut · in Climate Change, General News, Standardization, Study Group 20, Study Group 5 GSWbanner

The 7th ITU Green Standards Week (GSW-17) will explore the policies, standards and best practices required to transition to resource-efficient Circular Economy and Smart Sustainable Cities.

Highlights of GSW-17 will include the presentation of the ASIET Digital Cities 2017 awards and the launch of the first series of case studies and research papers developed under the auspices of the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative.

ASIET Digital Cities 2017 awards for smart-city innovation

GSW-17 will host the presentation of the ASIET Digital Cities 2017 awards, recognizing five Latin-American cities that have achieved outstanding success in their smart-city projects. Learn more (Spanish)…

Accompanying sessions will explore contemporary challenges to city governance and the wellbeing of city inhabitants, examining the role to be played by Smart Sustainable Cities in the pursuit of the United Nations’ New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.

Latin-American cities will share insight into their smart-city projects, identifying successes able to be replicated across the region. Emphasis will be afforded to the importance of standardized metrics in gauging the success of smart-city projects.

Discussions focused on the Internet of Things (IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) communications and artificial intelligence will look at the technical foundations of Smart Sustainable Cities, highlighting the value of standards in supporting the interoperability of city systems. Data management will form a key part of the discussions, particularly as it relates to security, privacy and trust.

U4SSC initiative to launch series of new reports

U4SSC is an international platform established in May 2016 primarily to advocate for public policy to encourage the use of ICTs to facilitate and ease the transition to Smart Sustainable Cities. U4SSC is supported by 16 United Nations agencies and programmes and is open to the participation of all stakeholders interested in driving smart-city innovation. Learn more…

GSW-17 will host the second meeting of U4SSC, which will present a series of new case studies and research papers produced by U4SSC’s three working groups. These reports map out successes achieved in selected smart-city projects, highlighting innovative urban planning practices, e-governance strategies, open data initiatives, smart mobility programmes and more. The reports will make a valuable contribution to the existing body of knowledge on smart cities, especially with respect to the benchmarking of efficient practices and guidelines.

U4SSC will also review its existing Terms of Reference and develop an action plan for its activities in 2017. These discussions are expected to consider the creation of new U4SSC work streams on data management, blockchain and artificial intelligence.

Learn more about GSW-17

GSW-17 will be held in Manizales, Colombia, 3-5 April, hosted by the Municipality of Manizales. A special session will explore the case of Manizales, highlighting the city’s initiatives to achieve “smartness” and “sustainability”.

GSW-17 is structured as a series of events:

XVIII Ibero-American Meeting of Digital Cities Forum on the gender dimension in ICT and environment through innovation and entrepreneurship Special session on Smart Sustainable Manizales Forum on environment, climate change and circular economy Second meeting of the U4SSC initiative GSW-17 is organized by ITU, in partnership with the Municipality of Manizales, the University of Manizales, the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Basel Convention, the Basel Convention Regional Centre for the South American Region (CRBAS), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Telecommunications Regional Technical Commission (COMTELCA), the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) and the Inter-American Association of Telecommunication Enterprises (ASIET).

Find more information on the GSW-17 homepage…