New York, UNHQ, 12 July 2018, 1.15 – 2.30pm
For more information please contact
Cristina Bueti or visit:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/2018Cities are powerful engines of economic growth, fueled by intensive interpersonal communication and high concentrations of specialized skills. Given that an estimated 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, sustainable urbanization has become a key policy point to administrations across the world. Here information and communication technologies (ICTs) and its applications, including, inter alia, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and artificial intelligence, have a crucial role to play in facilitating the transition to smart sustainable cities (SSC). The United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative is a UN initiative supported by 16 UN bodies to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11: "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable." The U4SSC Initiative serves as the global platform to advocate for public policy and to encourage the use of ICTs to facilitate and ease the transition to smart sustainable cities to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness.
The side event was jointly organized by the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media, Greece, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations New York.
This side event provided a platform to:
- debate the impact of frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and internet of things (IoT) on cities;
- present the international key performance indicators (KPIs) for Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC), developed by U4SSC, that establishes a criteria to evaluate ICT's contributions in making cities smarter and more sustainable and that provides cities with the means for self-assessments in order to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs); and
- discuss the opportunities and challenges faced in shaping smart and sustainable cities at the local level.
To provide a platform to debate the impact of frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and Internet of Things (IoT) on cities, to present current national and international initiatives such as the United for Smart Sustainable Cities and to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced in shaping smart and sustainable cities at the local level.
Intended audience
Leading specialists in the field, from city planners to engineers, designers, policy-makers, government officials, regulators, academia and standards experts.
Location: UN Headquarters, Conference Building,
Conference Room EProgramme (1.15 – 2.30pm, 12 July 2018)Opening Remarks
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H.E. Mrs Maria Theofili, Permanent Representative of Greece to the UN [ Biography ]
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Dr Chaesub Lee, Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU [ Biography ]
Moderator: Mr Guilherme Canela, Counsellor of Information and Communication for MERCOSUR, UNESCO [
Biography ]
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Dr Chaesub Lee, Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU: "ITU Helping to Achieve the SDGs" [ Biography | Presentation ]
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Mrs Sophia Papathanasopoulou, Head of National Broadband Planning Dep’t, General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Post, Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media, Greece [ Biography | Presentation ]
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Ms Kari Eik, Secretary General, Organization for International Economic Relations (OiER): "Smart Sustainable Cities Approach" [ Biography | Presentation ]
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Mr Alexandre Barbosa, Head of the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br), Brazil: "The Importance of ICTs for both Fostering and Monitoring Smart and Sustainable Cities" [ Biography | Presentation ]
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Eng Bruno Peters, Director, Smart Cities, Deputy Regional Director, IBI Group: "Oportunities and Challenges of Smart City Investments" [ Biography | Presentation ]
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Ms Meera Alshaikh, Project Manager, Smart Dubai: "Smart Dubai" [ Biography | Presentation ]
Closing Remarks
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Ms Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary, UNECE [ Biography ]
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The outcomes of this side event will be presented by Greece at the ITU Plenipotentiary 2018 that will be held in Dubai from 29 October to 16 November 2018.
CO-ORGANIZERS:
