The Connected Places Catapult (CPC) has announced its membership of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance, alongside the World Economic Forum and 15 city networks and technology governance organisations
The Smart Cities Alliance aims to advance the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies. This will be achieved through collaborating to agree common principles and standards and helping to build sustainable solutions, centred on human needs.
The G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance unites governments, private-sector partners and city residents around a shared set of principles for the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies.
The World Economic Forum, the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation, serves as secretariat for the Alliance.
Currently, there is no global framework or set of rules in place for how sensor data collected in public spaces, such as by traffic cameras or Wi-Fi hotspots, is used.
The Smart Cities Alliance establishes and advances global policy standards to accelerate best practices, mitigate potential risks, and foster greater openness and public trust.
The CPC joins the alliance as an institutional partner alongside the likes of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Smart City Mission, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Commonwealth Local Government Forum and Cities for All amongst others.
Nicola Yates, CEO of the CPC, said: “Our message has always been that one city is not a market. If we want a scalable, global market for Smart Cities, this can only happen when people come together to agree common ways of working, to build scalable, interoperable solutions centred around human needs.
“That’s why the UK invested in leading the establishment of the first set of smart city standards in 2014 and we are pleased to be joining Global Smart Cities Alliance partnering with the G20 and World Economic Forum to further this mission and the opportunities this can provide to stimulate growth and improve the lives of citizens around the world.”
