Singapore to pilot global smart cities index

Singapore has joined a two-year pilot project to evaluate the feasibility of the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) key performance indicators for smart sustainable cities.

“Singapore is delighted to participate in this pilot exercise by ITU to trial smart cities’ indicators and develop a global smart cities index,” said Leong Keng Thai, Deputy Chief Executive of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). “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.”

Singapore signed up to the pilot project during the ITU Telecom World 2015 in Budapest, Hungary. The city-state will contribute to ITU’s international standardisation of the indicators and the subsequent development of a ‘Global Smart Sustainable Cities Index’ derived from the set of indicators.

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

The collaboration 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.

“Singapore is an ideal testbed for ITU’s key performance indicators for smart sustainable cities as it 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.”

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

The results of the pilot project are also expected to assist the standardisation 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.