Technology
Smart Dubai collaborates with ITU at Malaysia meet to finalize first Smart City Index after joint piloting phase
Smart Dubai, the government office driving Dubai's citywide transformation into a smart city, in conjunction with its strategic partners in Dubai, effectively finished its pilot stage for the initial Smart City Index with the ITU, a specialized United Nations company; and held official discussions to further revise the first global standard set of smart city KPIs, to measure smart city transformation across 3 main topic areas; namely economy, environment, society and culture.
The conversations were held as part of the ITU-T Study Group 5 on Environmental and Climate Change Meeting from 20-27 April 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The delegation from Dubai was led by Nasser Al Marzouqi, from TRA, who is also UAE agent to the ITU and presently Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 20 & Vice-Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 5; Noora Al Suwaidi, Head of Strategy & Performance Management at Smart Dubai Office; and Dr. Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Consultant at Smart Dubai Office.
At the conclusion of the ITU-T Study Group 5 on Environmental and Climate Change Meeting, Dr. Aisha bin Bishr, Director-General of Smart Dubai Office praised the delegates who represented Dubai and said, "We take pride in the opportunity to work with the ITU and given that April 2015 our groups have been working together closely with our strategic partners in Dubai to contribute to the advancement of the first global Smart City Index. The index will be the global plan for Smart city improvement in the near future, with Dubai as the very first pilot city. Through the Smart City Index, we are encouraging leaders across the world to uplift their cities, with people's quality of life at the. Dubai has actually effectively completed its very first pilot stage for the Smart City Index, and has actually contributed the outcomes of the on-site KPI recognition go to by ITU and more ideas concerning modification of existing as well as addition of brand-new KPIs.".
Bin Bishr continued, "Climate change and sustainability are real issues today and as city leaders, we acknowledge that we have to do something about it now to maintain the cities of the future. That is why sustainability and quality of life are at the heart of the Smart City index. The Index will assist cities worldwide grow smart in a sustainable manner that will protect the environment and contribute to the very best possible lifestyle for everybody.".
In conjunction with the ITU-T Study Group 5 meeting at Kuala Lumpur, the 11th ITU Symposium on ICTs, the environment and climate modification was held. Throughout the seminar, Noora Al Suwaidi, Head of Strategy & Performance Management at Smart Dubai Office made a discussion entitled 'Transforming Cities for People's Happiness' and also participated in a panel discussion representing Dubai. She said, "The seminar raised awareness of the capacity for ICT to attend to ecological difficulties and motivate all stakeholders to incorporate wise options for the sustainable future of smart cities and metropolitan living. It is an opportunity to deal with the ITU in the global smart and sustainable city index that will benefit Dubai and the other smart cities around the globe.".
"At the Malaysia satisfy, we worked closely with delegates from the ITU and other UN agencies such as The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to go over and modify the KPIs to help cities accomplish smart and sustainable advancement goals. Substantial deliberations were made to address the problems faced by cities at varying levels of advancement," concluded Dr. Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Consultant at Smart Dubai Office.