 Judy Backhouse
Senior Academic Fellow, United Nations Operating Unit on Policy Driven Electronic Governance (Portugal)
Judy Backhouse has an academic and professional background in Information Systems and has worked in both the private and public sectors. She is currently Senior Academic Fellow at the United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV) where she leads a research line in Smart City Governance. Prior to that she spent eight years as an Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, including two years as the Head of the School of Economic and Business Sciences. Her research covers topics in education, information systems, information systems education, smart cities, digital government and skills development. Over her career she has held positions of Director for Advice and Monitoring at the Council on Higher Education in South Africa, General Manager for IT at Telkom Directory Services, General Manager for Technical Services at Unihold Business Solutions, and Software Development Manager at Medscheme Holdings. Judy has a PhD in Education, an MBA in Technology Management, and an MSc in Mathematics. |
Giampiero Bambagioni Vice Chairman of the U4SSC | Urban Economist, Lecturer, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Giampiero Bambagioni is the Head of Scientific and International Activities of Tecnoborsa (Rome), an institutional Organization for the regulation and development of markets; Professor in charge of Economic evaluation of projects at the Faculty of Architecture of the Sapienza University of Rome, and Lecturer of Real Estate Finance in the Master Polis-Maker of the Politecnico di Milano University. Expert in Sustainable Lending connected with Evinronmental Social and Governance (ESG) Risks, and in Valuation of assets as collateral for bank loans and mortgages (including Non-performing Loans), areas in which he has published studies and books, among which the “Sostenibilità del valore nel finanziamento immobiliare” (i.e. Sustainability of Value in Property Financing). Giampiero deals with sustainable urban development and PPPs areas in which he is advisor for organizations, cities and local authorities. IVSC Europe Board Member (the International Valuation Standards Council is the global standard setter for property and business valuation), London. He was appointed Vice-Chair of the UNECE Committee on Urban Development Housing and Land Management.
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 Alberto Bernal Leader of Working Group 4 of the Thematic Group on City Platforms
Alberto leads the Cities and Territories division at Indra, which has the mission to give an intelligent response to the current and future challenges of communities and territories. With more than 20 years of experience in the public sector, transport and infrastructure, he has devoted the last 15 years in the design and implementation of modernization and transformation of the public administration, with focus in the local and regional, in Spain and globally. Inspired by the challenge of generating innovative and useful urban solutions in domains such us urban concentration, climate change, rural depopulation, water and food scarcity and economic and social inequality through new design and management and the use of digital technologies.
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Martin BrynskovChair, Open & Agile Smart CitiesMartin Brynskov, PhD, is chair of the global Open & Agile Smart Cities network (OASC), which encompasses more than 150 cities from 30 countries. OASC is a non-profit association based in Brussels, Belgium, Europe, and it aims to develop so-called Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs) for public and private sector use, based on the needs of cities and communities. Dr Brynskov is Associate Professor in Interaction Technologies at Aarhus University in Denmark where he leads the Centre for Digital Transformation in Cities and Communities (AU DITCOM) and is a fellow at the Center for Advanced Visualization and Interaction (CAVI). Related to the development of technical standards, Dr Brynskov is a contributor to ITU-T SG20 and related Focus Groups, co-leads the United Nations “United for Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities” (U4SSC) new architecture for digital, sustainable development, leads the Living-in.EU Technical Subgroup overseeing the MIMs Plus specifications for Europe, and he chairs the Danish Standards Committee for smart and sustainable cities and communities. He was the coordinator and lead of the large-scale pilots OrganiCity and SynchroniCity and is also leading the Next Generation Internet of Things (NGIoT) European roadmap for IoT research, innovation and deployment. He is a global expert, speaker and advisor on digital transformation with a human-centric focus. |
 Cristina Bueti Counsellor, ITU-T Study Group 20 Cristina Bueti is the ITU Focal Point on Environment and Smart Sustainable Cities. She is also the Counsellor of ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C)” at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). She also serves as TSB/ITU focal point for Latin America. Cristina Bueti graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, Law and International Cooperation and Development of the University of Florence, where she completed postgraduate studies in International Cooperation and Telecommunications Law in Europe. She also holds a specialization in Environmental Law with a special focus on Telecommunications. In 2003, Ms. Bueti built on her academic credentials by completing a specialized course in peace keeping and international cooperation with special focus on telecommunications at the Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, before joining the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva in January 2004. As part of the International Women's Day 2016, she was named as one of the twenty Geneva-based inspirational women working to protect the environment. She has authored over 40 reports on telecommunication issues. A native Italian speaker, Cristina is also fluent in English, French and Spanish. |
 John Davies
Leader of the Thematic Group on Procurement Guidelines for Smart Sustainable Cities
An internationally experienced and accomplished, senior business executive, with significant achievements in strategic business development, marketing and general management. John has carried out a unique mix of strategic and operational roles internationally with placements in the USA and Europe and partnerships in Asia. This has allowed him to gain a great understanding of how to manage across cultural and national borders. Over recent years much of John’s private sector and Government activities has been in the area of mobile and wireless communications, digital media, Smart Cities, Cloud and Big Data and M2M/IoT as well as emerging and disruptive technologies. Helping technology start-ups in the UK and internationally. Over recent years and in complement to the acceleration in the development of Smart/Future Cities and Sustainable Urbanisation John has undertaken in these areas. Operating as a UK Government Advisor to Ministerial level John has briefed both UK and Government Ministers and Government Departments on Smart Cities and respective applications. This has included providing international workshops, mentoring and consulting at senior levels in Government and large corporations. He has designed and run awareness and implementation workshops for international companies and Governments to upskill and develop both thinking and practical journey mapping that resulted in the development of business cases and funding allocation/approval for proof of concept pilots/trials. Over the past two years John has been working with the UK Government Digital Service, with a specific role with the Global Digital Marketplace Programme to lead on subnational (state, provincial and municipality) strategy and technology engagement. He has engaged closely with UK and International accelerators and incubators linking to smart cities and Govtech start-ups.
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 Kari Eik
Secretary General, OiER, Leader, U4SSC Implementation Program
Secretary General of the Organization for International Economic Relations, Austria, Vienna and Leader of the UN`s United for Smart and Sustainable Cities U4SSC Implementation Program which is supporting cities, regions and communities worldwide in identifying needs, finding sustainable solutions, partnerships and investments. Vice Chair of the ITUFocus Group on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies (FG-AI4EE). Board member of the World Council for SDG 11.
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 Ramón Ferri
Smart City Officer, Valencia
Ramón Ferri is the Head of the Smart City Office of Valencia since February 2018, who is responsible for coordinating the digital transformation in the city. He holds a degree in Computer Science and a master’s degree in project management from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). He also studied the advanced course of "Local Public Management" at the INAP.
He was an ICT project engineer at the ETRA R&D company, being project coordinator in the framework programs III, IV and V of the European Union. Since 2001 he combined his work as an analyst for ICT projects in the Provincial Council of Valencia with that of a senior technician of the Vice-Rectorate for R & D & I of the UPV. From 2005 to September 2007, he was the head of the ICT projects section of the Diputación de Valencia. From September 2007 to February 2018 he was head of the ICT service of the Valencia City Council. Ramón Ferri won the prize for professional career in National Congress of Innovation and Public Sector in 2015. In 2016 he also won the Best Local Administration Manager Award granted by Enertic.
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 Paolo Gemma
Vice Chairman, U4SSC
Paolo Gemma is a senior Specialist and representative of Huawei on issues related to energy saving and environmental sustainability. Prior to joining Huawei, Dr. Gemma was working with Nokia Siemens Networks, where he was responsible for EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) and electrical safety areas. He also worked in the Siemens Communications Division. Dr. Paolo Gemma also plays an active role in international standardization activities. Since 1993, he has been engaged in ETSI(European Telecommunication Standard Institute) activities and he also participates in the development of EMC standards. In 1997, Dr. Gemma joined ITU-T Study Group 5 on Environment, Climate Change and Circular Economy as a Rapporteur and he is now the Chairman of Working Party 2 “Environment, Energy Efficiency and the Circular Economy”. In 2002, Paolo Gemma was appointed as the Secretary of the Committee ETSI TC EE and as of 2009 he holds the position of Chairman of the EEPS EE (eco Environmental product standard) working group. Paolo Gemma is a graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Genoa.
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 Okan Geray
Strategic Planning Advisor, Digital Dubai
Dr. Okan Geray has more than 20 years of experience in management consulting in various industries. He has consulted for several organizations in Netherlands, France, Italy, South Africa, Turkey and Dubai. He has worked in A.T. Kearney global management consulting firm for 6 years and was a member of global Telecommunications and E-business core team before he joined Dubai Government in 2002. He has worked in Dubai eGovernment, Dubai Smart Government, Smart Dubai Office and more recently in Dubai Digital Authority after its establishment. His responsibilities include Strategic Planning, Strategic Performance and Impact Management, and Policy Making. He has Co-Chaired Enhancing Innovation and Participation Working Group in United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) joint global initiative by ITU and UNECE by addressing Smart Governance, Smart Economy and Smart People aspects in smart cities. He has been designated as the Leader for “Guidelines on strategies for circular cities” and also “City Science Application Framework” deliverables during the second phase of U4SSC initiative. He is also a Co-Rapporteur for ITU Study Group 20 Question 7 regarding “Evaluation and Assessment of Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities”. He holds double major B. S. degrees in Industrial and Computer Engineering, an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and a Ph. D. degree in Systems and Control Engineering from University of Massachusetts in USA.
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Barbara KolmDirector, Austrian Economics Center & Vice President, Austrian National BankDr. Barbara Kolm, Vice President of the Austrian Central Bank, Director of the Austrian Economics Center (#1 Independent Think Tank in Austria and #21 in the world), Professor of Austrian Economics at the University of Donja Gorica, Montenegro, and serves on several supervisory boards Vienna Insurance Group, Supervisory Board of Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein; Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien. She was appointed Vice-Chair of the UN ITU Focus Group on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies (AI4EE) and Chair of the Thematic Group on the United for Smart Sustainable City Index. She has given numerous talks on the most pressing economic issues of our time, such as the geopolitical challenges posed by a rising China and the need for serious economic reforms to the bloated welfare states in Europe. She has successfully managed private enterprises and non-profit organizations, and has been engaged in other entrepreneurial activities, for instance building the Austrian Economics Center from scratch to being the leading think tank in Austria within 12 years. Additionally, she is the founder and organizer of the Free Market Road Show, a forum for discussions and the exchange of ideas, in co-operation with over 100 leading think tanks and universities. |
Robert Lewis-Lettington
Chief of Section, Land, Housing and Shelter, UN-Habitat
Robert Lewis-Lettington is Chief of the Land, Housing and Shelter Section at UN-Habitat. He is a lawyer by training and has worked in both public and private international law for more than twenty years. Robert’s principal areas of expertise are international institutions and processes, human rights and humanitarian law, environmental law, science and technology law and urban development. Robert is also an experienced programme and project manager having worked in most geographic regions and a large number of countries. Robert also plays the bagpipes badly.
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 Tania MarcosVice-chairman, ITU-T Study Group 20, ITUTania is Head of the Smart Cities Unit at the Spanish Association for Standardization (UNE), where serves as Manager of the Standards Committee CTN 178 “Smart cities”, and acts as the national focal point for the development of Standards for Local Governments, which assist their transformation into smart cities/smart tourism destinations. She represented the Spanish Government at the 1st IEC-ISO-ITU World Smart City Forum held in Singapore. She is the Representative of the CEN-CENELEC-ETSI Sector Forum on Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities, towards the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC) of the European Commission. She is also Vice-chair of ITU-T Study Group 20 on Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C), on behalf of the Spanish Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure (formerly Information Society and Digital Agenda), within the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. Regarding the UN initiative United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11, Tania participates at the Thematic Group on City Platforms, co-leading WG3 for transitioning to a new architecture framework for future city platforms. Senior Standardization Programme Manager, Tania has acted as secretary, expert or convenor to different CEN/CENELEC/ETSI & ISO/IEC structures, dealing with Quality & Sustainability for public and private sectors: performance indicators, evaluation & conformity assessment, energy & environment, transportation, ICT public procurement, healthcare, accessibility, management systems, eco-design, etc. |
 Dmitry Mariyasin
Deputy Executive Secretary, UNECE
Dmitry Mariyasin was appointed Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe on 1 March 2021. Prior to joining UNECE, Mr. Mariyasin was the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Armenia (since December 2018, after being Deputy Resident Representative in 2017-2018) leading a team of 120 people. From 2011 till 2016 he was the Regional Partnership Advisor and Team Leader in the UNDP’s Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy covering the Europe and the CIS region, based in Istanbul. In this function, he led a team of 20 that supported UNDP’s partnerships with new development donors and partners in the region, including strategic partnerships with Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia and Slovak Republic. Earlier, Mr. Mariyasin had worked in the UNDP Regional Support Center in Bratislava, Slovakia (2011-2014), the Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS at UNDP headquarters in New York (2008-2011); and in the UNDP Country Office in Moscow, Russia (2002-2008). Mr. Mariyasin holds a PHD in Economics from the Moscow State University, a Masters in Public Administration degree from New York University (Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service), as well as a degree in public administration from the Moscow State University and in international economics from the Russian Foreign Trade Academy. Mr. Mariyasin is a national of Russian Federation, is married and has two sons and one daughter. |
 Nasser Saleh Al MarzouqiChairman ITU-T Study Group 20: Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C)Mr. Nasser Al Marzouqi is the Chairman of the ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C)” which provides the specialized IoT standardization platform necessary for the convergence to rest on a cohesive set of international standards. The focus of the research conducted by ITU-T Study Group 20 will be on identifying and analyzing emerging applications and global solutions for IoT and smart cities, which will contribute to improving the interoperability of various IoT-based technologies, a key factor in ensuring end-user and market acceptance of IoT solutions. Nasser Al Marzouqi is currently working for the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority in the United Arab Emirates in the International Affairs Division. He also functions as the UAE representative to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and has been closely involved in the major ITU conferences and events. He received his Master’s degree in Telecommunication Engineering from Latrobe University in Australia. The TRA in the UAE has been at the forefront of pioneering developments in the field of ICT and in providing an optimal enabling environment in which the UAE’s ICT sector can flourish. Mr. Al Marzouqi is a firm proponent of converting existing systems to high-efficiency systems, helping to bridge the digital divide and to increase global communication and the transition to smart sustainable cities. |
 Gulnara Roll
Secretary to the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
The Committee is an intergovernmental body which joints senior government officials responsible for national policies on housing, urban development, smart sustainable cities and land administration from 56 countries in the UNECE region. Ms. Roll supports the cooperation between the national as well as local authorities, experts and other stakeholders engaged in the Committee’s activities. Ms. Roll is working with the UNECE since 2009. Prior to joining the UNECE, Ms. Roll worked as Scientific Officer at INTAS - International Association for the promotion of scientific co-operation with the countries of the former Soviet Union in Brussels, Belgium; as Senior Research Fellow in International Relations at the University of Tartu in Estonia; and Urban Planner at St. Petersburg Urban Planning Institute in Russia.
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 Warren Smith
Leader of the Thematic Group on Procurement Guidelines for Smart Sustainable Cities
Warren has over 25 years experience across private and public sectors, leading transformative projects to introduce new ways of thinking and working in procurement. He joined the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) in November 2012, with responsibility for ensuring the UK government’s Digital Marketplace directly supported digital transformation. He introduced user-centred, design-led, data-driven and open approaches to public contracting - the foundational step-change in procurement envisioned in the UK Government Transformation Strategy. Between 2018-2021, Warren led the GDS Global Digital Marketplace Programme, helping emerging economies make their public procurement more transparent, improve systems that govern public spending, improve scrutiny through better quality open data, and build institutional capability and capacity to ensure sustainable change. In addition to co-leading the U4SSC Thematic Group 'Procurement Guidelines for Smart Sustainable Cities', Warren also led a Thematic Group of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials, focused on ‘GovTech Commissioning’, supported the OECD Working Party of Leading Practitioners on Public Procurement as a peer reviewer, and contributed to the development of the OECD ‘Integrating Responsible Business Conduct in Public Procurement’ report. Warren now operates independently as Founder and Principal Consultant at Dangersmith SARL, registered in Paris, France.
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