Speech by Malcolm Johnson, ITU Deputy Secretary-General

Forum on "Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities: striving for sustainable development goals" - Opening Ceremony

18 May 2016, Rome, Italy

Buon giorno e benvenuti.
Good morning and welcome.

H.E. Mr. Antonio Gentile, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Economic Development, and President of the Italian Task Force for Smart Cities,

Dr Valter Giammaria, President, Tecnoborsa

Senator Vincenzo Gibiino, President OPMI, and Member of the Parliament, Italy

Gulnara Roll, UNECE
 
Excellencies, Distinguished Participants, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, friends, 

It is a pleasure to welcome you to this forum on "Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities: Striving for sustainable development goals".

I would like to thank UNECE, the Ministry of Economic Development of Italy, the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and Tecnoborsa for jointly organizing this forum with ITU in this beautiful and historic venue, and our sponsors Huawei and RSE without whom it would not have been possible.

What better venue for hosting discussions on sustainable cities than the Ethernal City that is Rome. 

For the next few minutes, ladies and gentlemen, kindly "lend me your ears" as I introduce this important topic to you all today.  

We cannot deny that the world is going through a significant rural-to-urban demographic shift. By 2050 almost 70 % of the world's population will be urban residents.  It means there is a more pressing need than ever for cities to tackle poverty, ensure equality, protect the environment, and practice good governance.

With this trend, the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs), as enablers of sustainable development has become increasingly significant. Cities need to get smarter, with technological solutions deployed to address a wide range of common urban challenges. Smart sustainable cities benefit from improved energy efficiency, reduced environmental pollution, increased social inclusion, and offering businesses a better return on investment, and people a happier and healthier environment in which to live. 

And this is important. The aim is not technological innovation for its own sake. Technology must deliver specific social benefits for citizens, and economic benefits for businesses and local authorities. Special efforts should be made to encourage ICT innovations to support environmental sustainability, in keeping with internationally agreements such as the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the "New Urban Agenda".

In essence, becoming a "smarter city" is a journey, longer for some than others. Smart sustainable city transitions can be complex and challenging, requiring a holistic approach encompassing long-term urban planning, appropriate financing, partnerships and engagement.

ITU and UNECE have worked together to develop an international definition of what a smart sustainable city constitutes, as well as a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the "smartness" and "sustainability" of cities, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. 

However, we recognize that there are many other UN agencies, and other organizations, that need to collaborate together to develop the guidance that cities need to achieve smart and sustainable status.

And we need to keep these KPIs under constant review to ensure they are aligned with the latest international agreements. So to do this we are launching today an Advisory Board of experts from a range of UN agencies including: the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UNEP Finance Initiative, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations University (UNU), United Nations Women (UN Women), World Health Organization (WHO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).  Many thanks to all our colleagues for your collaboration.

To further increase international cooperation and collaboration, we are also launching today together with various other UN agencies, municipalities and other organizations an initiative we call  "United for Smart Sustainable Cities" (U4SSC). The initiative aims to advocate policies that will encourage the use of ICTs to facilitate and ease the transition to smart sustainable cities. It will also encourage the integration of ICTs, based on international standards, into urban operations and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is critical that cities are aware of the importance of selecting technologies based on international standards, such as those developed in ITU, to ensure interoperability and the benefits of economies of scale, and to avoid being locked into proprietary technologies.

The launch of these initiatives today will help provide cities around the world with the guidance they need to address the tremendous challenges they face today and in the future.

I hope the discussions which will take place during this forum will help and I thank you all for joining us. As usual with our events such as this we hope to achieve an output from the forum tomorrow which will progress our aim of facilitating Smart Sustainable Cities worldwide.

Grazie mille. Thank you.