Page 544 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

awareness and know‐how, and limitations within the technology architecture
(components/systems integration/communication/local vs global).

For the purposes of this Technical Report, the focus is placed on challenges related to
standardization and policy perspectives. Other challenges will be addressed in future studies.

Lessons learned: Standardization and policy perspectives

Innovations in the ICT field are the result of a highly complex and continuously changing
environment. To ensure the efficiency and the effectiveness of ICT products, tools and systems,
standardization is essential. Standards contain the technical specification or other precise criteria
designed to be used consistently as a rule, guideline or definition. Their adoption ensures a clear
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reference in terms of technical specifications, quality, performance and reliability . The objective
of standard development is to ensure that products and services are suitable for their purpose,
enabling comparability and compatibility through a form of best practice summary, which evolved
from the experience and expertise of all interested parties.
With regards to smart water management tools in cities, there are some trade‐offs. Since this
market is in its initial stages, standardization within this sector can either spur creativity and
maximize the added value of technology for cities, or hinder further development within this sector.
However, it must be stressed that timing is essential as it bridges research and innovations. Sensible
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standards introduced at the right moment can produce universal benefits . In this regard, adequate
standardization can serve as a risk management and technology roadmap guideline, enabling the
strategic implementation of smart water management plans and projects.

Since smart water management solutions depend on ICTs, interoperability is also crucial. If the
solutions are not interoperable, their effectiveness is highly restricted, especially in terms of
enterprise networking. Interoperability of ICT products and their components refers to its ability to
work with other systems or products without special effort on the part of the user. Standardization
is an essential component for ensuring that ICT products, tools, and systems are produced and
implemented in an efficient, equitable, and ecologically sustainable manner.

Reinstating its role as a standardization organization, ITU has developed key ICT standards in
ubiquitous sensor networks (USNs), Internet of things (IoT), and machine‐to‐machine (M2M), in
order to ensure that there is compatibility, interoperability, and certain levels of quality maintained,
therefore contributing to the reduction of risks. However, the current pace of technological
development demands further efforts, and pushes standardization and research to advance in
parallel.
Recognizing the need for further standard development in this area, the ITU FG‐SWM will be
conducting a crucial gap analysis on smart water management tools, products and solutions. The
analysis will provide the necessary guidance to produce sensible standards within this field, thereby
steering the market in the right direction, and helping to make sure that the right tools can lead to
the right solutions in cities.
As standardization provides a measure by which to judge the quality of an ICT product or tool, it is
a key instrument for securing policy initiatives. In turn, proper policies will support the effective
implementation of smart water management solutions in both developed and developing countries.
Though policies have been developed and deployed to target smart water initiatives, they have been
met with mixed results, and in most cases, the focus has been placed on smart water metering
alone. In some cases, these policies have fostered development and more research and innovation

534 ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications