Report produced in partnership with Deloitte reveals benchmarks for responsible and ethical use of technology
Governing Smart Cities, a report released today by the World Economic Forum, provides a benchmark for the ethical and responsible use of smart city technologies by analyzing the inner workings of 36 pioneering cities. The authors of the report seek to help City leaders identify gaps, protect long-term interests, and keep up with the pace of technology.
According to the report, cities of all sizes, geographies and levels of development have serious governance gaps, such as failing to designate a person responsible for cybersecurity or failing to assess privacy risks when acquiring new technology systems. However, leaders can close these gaps and protect long-term interests by acting now.
Produced in association with Deloitte, the report follows the call to action of the G20 ministers in 2019 that resulted in the creation of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance. The Alliance and its partners represent more than 200,000 cities, local governments, leading companies, startups, research institutions, and civil society communities. It acts as a platform to help cities strengthen their knowledge, experience and governance of smart city technologies.
The 36 pioneer cities surveyed span six continents and 22 countries, and have populations ranging from 70,000 to more than 15 million. Policy experts and government officials were interviewed from January to March 2021 to assess the implementation of a set of five essential policies identified by the G20 Alliance last year.
Key results
- Almost all cities surveyed, including those that are generally considered the world’s leading cities, have critical policy gaps related to the governance of smart city technologies.
- Despite an unprecedented increase in global cybersecurity attacks, most cities have not designated a specific government official as the ultimate cybersecurity officer.
- While most cities recognize the importance of protecting the privacy of their citizens, only 17% of surveyed cities conduct privacy impact assessments before implementing new technologies.
- Less than half of the cities surveyed have processes in place to ensure that the technologies they purchase are accessible to elderly residents or people with limited physical capabilities.
- Open data policy is perhaps the only area in which most of the cities in the sample have achieved a basic level of implementation. Even here, only 15% of pioneer cities have integrated their open data portals with their broader city data infrastructure, which is a necessary step in making a city “open by default”.
“Cities continue to invest heavily in new technologies to automate and improve city services and urban life. However, our findings validate our fears that most cities are falling behind when it comes to ensuring effective oversight and governance of these technologies, ”said Jeff Merritt, director of Internet of Things and Urban Transformation at the Economic Forum. World . “The G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance is working with cities around the world to address this gap, starting with more than 15 policy workshops with city officials this summer.”
“Cities have a variety of opportunities to become more resilient and sustainable. Technology is an enabler but, to realize its full potential, cities must review their governance, operational and financial models. Herein lies the greatest challenge that cities face. Deloitte is proud to have worked with the Forum on this initiative. It is essential for all of us to become aware of the complexity of the problems and focus on how the moment that we are all living can be a key opportunity “, said Miguel Eiras Antunes, global leader of Smart Cities, Deloitte Global.” Now is the time to a great urban transformation. Addressing urban challenges through the lens of sustainability,
How to act
The report concludes that city leaders and officials must take action before these governance gaps become a material risk and affect residents. The report’s authors also call on national legislators, civil society, and the business community to help support local governments to overcome these challenges. Inclusion, data privacy and cybersecurity attacks are top concerns and the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance is mandated to help cities close the governance gaps this report has uncovered. Cities seeking help identifying and addressing their political gaps are encouraged to contact the Alliance through its website.