New Delhi: Four Indian cities — Indore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Faridabad — feature in a list of 36 cities across 22 countries and six continents selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to pioneer a new roadmap for smart cities as part of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance.
The list also includes Dubai, Belfast, Barcelona, London, Manila, Moscow, San Jose, Toronto, Melbourne, Lisbon, Istanbul and others.
These 36 “pioneer cities” will adopt policies for privacy protection, better broadband coverage, accountability for cyber security, increased openness of city data, and better accessibility to digital city services for disabled and elderly people, a WEF statement said Tuesday.
The plan will come into motion with the launch of a new global policy roadmap for safe adoption of new technology by the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic hardship it has brought on cities across the world.
The policy is designed to give cities the procedures, laws and regulations they need to use new technology responsibly, the statement said.
‘Keen to collaborate with G20 cities’
K.T. Rama Rao, Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Industries and Information Technology, Electronics and Communication, Telangana, said technology is a “key enabler that can transform our cities into smart cities leading to delivery of improved services to citizens and businesses”.
“We are keen to collaborate with G20 cities in formulating policy frameworks to improve quality of life of our citizens using emerging technologies,” Rao was quoted as saying in the statement.
Jeff Merritt, Head of the Internet of Things and Urban Transformation, WEF, said this plan is rooted in “practical, real-world policies from leading cities around the globe”.
“City governments are on the frontline of a global crisis and need to be able to act quickly and decisively to curtail this pandemic and set course for their economic recovery. Technology is an essential tool in this fight but governments cannot risk falling into the usual traps related to privacy, security and vendor lock-in. That’s where the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance can help,” he said.
The initiative originated in Japan last year from the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
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