It is a great pleasure to share with you ITU’s latest work on smart sustainable cities.
Allow me to start by commending Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his unwavering commitment to digital technology. Bold initiatives like the “Smart Cities Mission” are a testament to India’s vision of a smarter and more sustainable future for all.
The focus of this initiative is on sustainable and inclusive development. Building efficient, resilient and affordable ICT infrastructure and services is the cornerstone of accelerating the deployment of ICT and other emerging technologies to reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are central in providing secured and reliable connectivity in remote and marginalized areas, giving people the means to participate in the digital economy and take advantage of the benefits that new technologies have to offer.
This is particularly crucial because cities have already begun harnessing frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, Blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) for sustainable development.
As the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), ITU plays an important role in shaping the development of these advances. With major events like our annual “AI for Good Global Summit,” we have taken the lead within the UN system in promoting the inclusive global dialogue necessary to ensure that artificial intelligence proves a force for good, including in the area of smart cities.
Today, our cities are facing many challenges.
Population Growth - By 2030 more than 8.5 billion people are expected to be living in urban areas. If cities are to be able to absorb and adapt to this increase, they will gradually have to undergo changes in every respect: technology, mobility, sustainable development, etc.
Climate change - Cities account for more than 70 per cent of global carbon emissions and 60 to 80 per cent of energy consumption.
Energy transition - Current trends are towards a change in our energy model, replacing fossil fuels with a new efficient model with renewable energy sources. This new roadmap will entail numerous innovations in the energy and technology sectors such as transport, buildings, agriculture, industry and recycling. Urban mobility based on efficient, sustainable energy sources, with low fossil-fuel consumption, is one of the major tends and greatest challenges for innovation.
Water shortage - Today, more than 748 million people have no access to clean drinking water and 2.5 billion have no decent sanitation system. And these figures keep rising. Assuring access to enough high-quality water, protecting resources together with properly managing the waste generated, will require specialisation and investment.
Disruptive technology - Technological transformation will mean that some products and services that have until now been common features of society will disappear. This change on a global scale will mean transforming the economy, new ways of working, ongoing education, the emergence of new products and services and, in short, a whole new way of life, as we strive to achieve a healthier, more sustainable environment.
Efficient infrastructure - In order to be able to keep up with the forecast growth in the world’s population living in cities by 2030 will call for an annual investment of 3.3 billion dollars and more complex infrastructure for basic services and mobility.
Creating a more sustainable future means transforming cities towards a healthier, more sustainable model, and we can only do this if all of us, United Nations bodies, governments, businesses and the public are actively involved.
It is vital that we take a human centric approach when it comes to harnessing the potential of ICTs for Smart Sustainable Cities. Each city is unique and must take into consideration the city’s priorities and the needs of the most vulnerable groups, ensuring that no one is left behind.
ITU has been working closely with its membership to develop tools and guidance to support the development of sustainable, efficient and inclusive ICT infrastructure.
We have a dedicated study group on IoT and smart cities and communities, ITU-T Study Group 20. The group has been developing international standards to enable the coordinated development of IoT technologies, including machine-to-machine communications and ubiquitous sensor networks. A central part of its work is the standardization of end-to-end architectures for IoT, and mechanisms for the interoperability of IoT applications and datasets employed by various vertically oriented industry sectors.
The transition to Smart Sustainable Cities will call for extensive collaboration, drawing on a wide range of expertise. The development of these international standards, which we called ITU-T Recommendations, involves a collaborative process that brings together policymakers, regulators, mobile operators, manufacturers, academia members and technical experts from all over the world.
A new Focus Group 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. The group will report to Study Group 20, proposing standardization approaches to the security, privacy and interoperability of datasets and data-management systems in the IoT and smart city domains.
The ICT infrastructure of a smart city must ensure openness and interoperability, and this can only be achieved with common standards. ITU has recently developed standards ensuring the security of networks in urban areas. Our standards outline how smart grids can help build more controllable and efficient energy systems.
And ITU’s work on standards for 5G systems, which will help make smart sustainable cities a reality, is also underway. As I mentioned in my opening remarks this morning, one of the most important areas of ITU’s work this year will be the international standardization of 5G, with our World Radiocommunication Conference next October in Egypt.
Another key important aspect of leveraging ICT infrastructure for making cities smarter, safer and more sustainable is having the tool to measure the effectiveness of existing infrastructure and establish a baseline scenario for future development.
Here, I would like to highlight the work of the “United for Smart Sustainable Cities Initiative.” This UN initiative, coordinated by ITU, UN-Habitat and UNECE along with 13 other UN bodies, supports cities in achieving SDG 11 – to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.”
One of the most important tools that this initiative has developed is the Key Performance Indicators of Smart Sustainable Cities. These KPIs evaluate the contribution of ICTs in three key aspects: the environment, the economy, and culture.
This set of indicators represent a valuable tool to support cities around the world in measuring and refining their smart strategies. They function as a diagnostical tool for the city to evaluate its current smart strategy and projects, highlighting strengths and areas of improvements that would become future reference points for the city in refining its approach to smart development.
More importantly, they are designed to align the outcomes of smart projects to the Sustainable Development Goals. The results obtained from implementing the KPIs would highlight how each project has helped the city in reaching the targets of the SDGs and to what degree.
These indicators are developed based on the ITU-T international standard, ITU-T Y.4903/L.1603 “Key Performance Indicators for Smart Sustainable Cities to assess the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals” through a collaborative process.
Over 50 cities worldwide including Dubai, Singapore, Valencia and Pully, have already partnered with the initiative in implementing these indicators − with the most recent case being the city of Moscow.
In the case of Moscow, ICT is recognized as the key contributor in revitalizing its social services and transportation system. Moscow scores particularly high in the e-service area where the city has deployed over 200 e-social services for the citizens.
The “United for Smart Sustainable Cities Initiative” is open to the participation of all stakeholders interested in driving smart-city innovation. New important partners like the UN Global Compact are joining the initiative.
I would like to take this opportunity to invite India to join our KPI project. Given India’s commitment to smart sustainable cities in the past few years, I believe that this KPI project would offer India a strong platform to showcase its smart strategies and progress on the SDGs to the rest of the world.
In addition, the “United for Smart Sustainable Cities Initiative” has also released guidelines on enhancing innovation and participation in smart sustainable cities using ICTs and the group is currently working on finalizing a new strategic guideline that would support cities in using different tools and mechanisms to finance smart sustainable cities projects, as well as capitalizing on the impacts of frontier technologies.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
I strongly believe that collective efforts and multi-stakeholder dialogues are essential to building the smart and sustainable cities that we want to see in the world.
With the upcoming establishment of ITU South Asian Area Office and Technology Innovation Centre here in India, I am confident that India will play an important role in the development of international standards that will make our cities smarter and more sustainable.
Thank you very much.