Page 201 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

 Ministry of Science and Technology

This is the ministry that launches or should promote the research of SSC within the high technology research
programmes.
 Ministry of Environment
Similarly to the municipal unit, the Ministry of Environment must work transversally to ensure that actions are taken
across the other ministries towards a more sustainable country, considering and integrating the role of ICTs. They
should also be involved in monitoring and measuring the current state as well as the improvements achieved. This
ministry also organizes awareness campaigns to encourage sustainable habits, sometimes together with other
ministries like the transportation or energy ministries. Climate change units must also work on the inclusion of ICTs
into national and local climate change programs.
 Ministry of Energy
Even if there are examples of cities deploying first pilot projects of the so‐called smart grids, the electrical grid, faring
system and policies, is still remit of the central government. Therefore the support of the Ministry of Energy is needed
for the deployment of smart grids at the national level. The same can apply regarding other energy systems such as
the natural gas network with the deployment of smart meters. This ministry should develop policies that promote
and regulate the upgrade of the energy networks to become smarter and more efficient.
 Health Unit
The health unit can benefit from the features developed in the frame of the SSC in order to provide a better service
to the patients or service users, and at the same time, increasing its efficiency. There are the technological solutions
that can be comprised in the term "e‐Health". This includes solutions such as telemedicine, healthcare information
systems or health apps on smartphones to name a few. At the same time, the health unit can benefit from applying
the concept of cooperation that is intrinsic in SSC initiatives. For instance, it can be synchronized with the emergency
units both to react quickly to an emergency that will need medical resources, and/or alert emergency services in case
of a pandemic.
 Ministry of Education

Similarly to the health unit, the Ministry of Education can take advantage of technological solutions to improve its
services. This includes e‐learning which can be useful for children that cannot attend school or to make long life
learning more accessible to adults, among others.
 Transportation Unit or Ministry
Although urban mobility is usually remit of the municipal government of each city, regional or national governments
are entrusted with ensuring good connectivity between cities and towns as well as international destinations. Thus,
multiple units will have to get together and collaborate in order to cover the transportation‐related requirements of
SSC.
 Ministry of Public Security

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is the principal police and security authority, as well as the government agency
that exercises oversight and is ultimately responsible for day‐to‐day law enforcement. The Ministry operates the
system of Public Security Bureaus, which are broadly the equivalent of police forces or police stations. The MPS must
work transversally to ensure the safety and security of the cities, as well as emergency responses that rely on the
wide usage of ICTs.
Adapted from the author's analysis and reviewed contributions.

4.3 City services companies

Among the companies that provide services for the SSC, it is possible to identify two main groups.
The first are the traditional providers of city services, such as water management, waste collection
or transportation, which should add new functionalities to become more efficient and smart. This
first group is usually contracted by the municipality. The second group are the new companies that
specialize in SSC and provide new services derived from SSC such as (but not limited to) mobile
applications, sensor deployment or software for fleet management. The companies in this second
group, depending on the services they offer, can either be contracted by the municipality or offer

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