Singapore joins trial of ITU key performance indicators for smart sustainable cities

Singapore has joined a two-year pilot project to evaluate the feasibility of ITU’s key performance indicators for smart sustainable cities. The pilot project will contribute to ITU’s international standardization of the indicators and the subsequent development of a ‘Global Smart Sustainable Cities Index’ derived from this set of indicators.

Singapore’s ‘Smart Nation’ vision aims to enrich citizens’ lives by capitalizing on the potential of information and communication technology (ICT) to improve environmental sustainability, resilience, and equitable social and economic growth.

The collaboration between Singapore and ITU is part of ITU’s efforts to encourage the adoption of master plans for sustainable urban development by city administrations. The key performance indicators focus on the elements of a smart city that rely on ICT, offering a measure of progress relevant to ICT aspects of urban-development master plans.

“ITU is developing a standard means to measure the success of smart-city strategies as one of the steps in achieving sustainable development,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “Singapore, one of the most connected cities in the world, champions the use of ICTs to improve economic efficiency as well as the happiness and safety of its citizens, making the city state an excellent ally in promoting the value of ICTs in improving quality of life in our cities.”

“Singapore is an ideal testbed for ITU’s key performance indicators for smart sustainable cities as the city state is making good progress in its Smart Nation initiative,” said Chaesub Lee, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. “ITU is pleased to support the aspirations of Singapore’s Smart Nation vision, and we value the support that Singapore has offered to ITU’s planned development of a Global Smart Sustainable Cities Index.”

“Singapore is delighted to participate in this pilot exercise by ITU to trial smart cities’ indicators and develop a global smart cities index. This is an excellent opportunity for IDA to share Singapore’s experience and learn from the other participating cities. Singapore’s Smart Nation journey is not just a process of building infrastructure, but is more importantly about improving lives of citizens and enhancing our economy by being a Smart Nation,” said Leong Keng Thai, Deputy Chief Executive of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

The agreement between ITU and Singapore was signed today at a ceremony held in conjunction with ITU Telecom World 2015 in session in Budapest, Hungary, 12-15 October.

The pilot project will test and verify the key performance indicators as a contribution to their international standardization by ITU-T Study Group 5 (Environment and climate change). Singapore and Dubai are the first two cities to join the pilot exercise, and ITU expects other cities to follow suit.

The results of the pilot project are also expected to assist the standardization work of the new ITU-T Study Group 20 (Internet of Things and its applications including smart cities and communities). The first meeting of ITU-T Study Group 20 is scheduled for 19-23 October 2015 at ITU Headquarters in Geneva.

The key performance indicators were developed by an ITU-T Focus Group which offered an open platform to identify the standardization requirements of smart sustainable cities. The group concluded its activities in May with the release of twenty-one technical reports and specifications. The reports and specifications, in addition to key performance indicators, detail the requirements of smart sustainable cities in areas spanning from the management of electromagnetic fields to smart water management, climate change mitigation and adaptation, intelligent buildings, open data, and cybersecurity and data protection.