The World Economic Forum (WEF) announced that it has selected 36 cities across 22 countries and 6 continents to pioneer a new roadmap for safely adopting new technology. The roadmap, which was developed by the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance, is designed to give cities the procedures, laws and regulations they need to use new technology responsibly, according to a WEF statement.
“This roadmap is not about theoretical ideas and pipe dreams, it is built on practical, real-world policies from leading cities around the globe,” said Jeff Merritt, Head of the Internet of Things and Urban Transformation at WEF.
A group of 36 ‘pioneer cities’ have agreed to collaborate with global experts to enhance their city policies in areas such as privacy protection, better broadband coverage, cyber security, increased openness of city data, and better accessibility to digital city services for disabled and elderly people.
According to Will Cavendish, Digital Services Leader at Arup, which is participating in the program, the Covid-19 pandemic has “driven a step change in the use of digital services in cities, and many of these changes will only accelerate beyond the pandemic”. For this reason, the new roadmap has a key role to play in ensuring that new technologies are deployed in an “inclusive, transparent and mutually beneficial manner”.
A full list of the ‘pioneer cities’ can be found here.
