“Smart cities begin with people, not technology,” Jeremy Goldberg, worldwide public sector director of critical infrastructure at Microsoft, told the technology magazine Technology Record. In the article, he highlights that to deliver on the promise of smart cities, and build trust among the people using their services, urban leaders need to refocus their priorities on data.
However, priorities change from person to person, while cities also need to improve on the delivery of their services. Data sharing is one way to achieve such efficiencies, Goldberg told Technology Record. He highlights that new infrastructure has to support anonymised data collection and analysis to ensure public trust.
Microsoft and its partners are working to support smart cities in service delivery and transparency. According to Goldberg in the article, “People need to not just be told that their privacy is being protected, but also to experience it and have some active role in it.” He continues that Microsoft can provide public sector partners with the technologies they need to bring this level of transparency to people.
Among its current efforts, the American tech giant is working with the World Economic Forum to develop solutions to address the challenges faced by elderly, visually impaired and physically disabled citizens.
