​​​​​​​Fifth meeting of the United for Smart Sustainable Cities Initiative (U4SSC)
Virtual, 09 October 2020, 10h00-16h05, Geneva Time ​

Introduction
“A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.”

As part of the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative, the​​ International Telecommunication Union (ITU)​, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and UN-Habitat, organized the Fifth meeting of the U4SSC Initiative that took place on 9 October 2020, 10h00-16h05 hours, Geneva Time. This U4SSC meeting was kindly hosted by UNECE. 

The United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative is a UN initiative supported by 17 UN agencies and programmes to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11: "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable." The U4SSC serves as the global platform to advocate for public policy and to encourage the use of ICTs to facilitate and ease the transition to smart sustainable cities. 
    
Objectives
The main objectives of the meeting were to provide presentation on :

• Application of KPIs for smart sustainable cities to support achieving SDG11 and other urban related SDGs;
• Update on U4SSC activities;
• Update on the work of the U4SSC thematic groups; and
• U4SSC working methods and Terms of References and Annual Work Plan.
  

Draft Programme

10:00 - 10:20	​Opening Remarks Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary, UNECE Chaesub Lee, Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU     Raf Tuts, Director, Global Solutions Division, UN-Habitat​ Nasser Saleh Al Marzouqi, Chairman of the U4SSC
​10:20 - 10:30​	​Welcome Remarks  Beatrice Ferrari, Director International Geneva, Canton of Geneva; and Board Member of the Geneva City Hub
10:30 - 11:15​	​Session 1: Application of U4SSC KPIs for smart sustainable cities to support achieving SDG11 and other urban related SDGs Moderator: Kari Eik, Secretary General, OiER Speakers: Cristina Bueti, ITU Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities, ITU [Presentation] Agata Krause, Consultant, UNECE [Presentation] Kristian Mjöen, Project Manager, University City 3.0, Trondheim, Norway  Botagoz Kasabek, Head of Digitalisation and State Services Department, City Government of Nur-Sultan [Presentation] Questions & Answers
​11:15 - 12:00	​Session 2: Update on U4SSC activities   Moderator: Cristina Bueti, ITU Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities, ITU  Speakers: Soumaya Ben Dhaou, Research Coordinator, UNU-EGOV and Leader of Thematic Group on Blockchain 4 Cities [Presentation​] Sang Ziqin, China Information Communication Technologies Group, China and Tomás Llorente, Collado Villalba City, Spain and Leaders of Thematic Group on impact of frontier technologies in cities [Presentation]​ Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Adviser, Smart Dubai Office, UAE and Leader of Thematic Group on Guidelines on strategies for circular cities​ [Presentation] Kari Eik, Secretary General, OiER and Leader of the ​U4SSC Implementation Programme ​Questions & Answers
12:00 - 14:00​	Lunch Break
14:00 - 15:00​	​Session 3: Update on the work of the U4SSC thematic groups Moderator: Robert Lewis-Lettington, Chief of Section, Land, Housing and Shelter, Urban Practices Branch | Global Solutions Division, UN-Habitat Speaker: Alberto Bernal, Leader of Working Group 4 of the Thematic Group on City Platform [Presentation​] Gulnara Roll, Secretary to the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management, UNECE and Leader of the Thematic Group on Economic and financial recovery in cities and urban resilience building in the time of COVID-19 [Presentation] Nadia Yeremenko, UNECE Project Coordinator and Leader of the Thematic Group on Innovative Financing Instruments for Smart Sustainable Cities​​ and Raul Garcia, UNECE expert on innovative financing [Presentation] Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Advisor, Smart Dubai Office, UAE and Leader of the Thematic Group on Guiding principles for artificial intelligence in cities [Presentation] Judy Backhouse, Senior Academic Fellow, UNU-EGOV and Leaders of the Thematic Group on Simple ways to be smart, Practitioner guide to measure SC&C and Practitioner guide to monitor SC&C [Presentation] Warren Smith, Global Digital Marketplace Programme Director, Government Digital Service, UK and Leader of the Thematic Group on Procurement Guidelines for Smart Sustainable Cities​ [Presentation] Barbara Kolm, Director, Austrian Economics Center & Vice President Austrian National Bank and Leader of the Thematic Group on U4SSC I​ndex [Presentation]​ ​Questions & Answers
​15:00 - 15:45	​Session 4: U4SSC working methods and Terms of References and Annual Work Plan Moderator: Gulnara Roll, Secretary to the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management, UNECE ​Questions & Answers
15:45 - 16:00​	AOB
16:00 - 16:05 ​	Closing Remarks

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