The Future Cities Catapult (FCC) has set up a network aimed at bringing together groups involved in the development of standards for smart cities.
Named the City Standards Network, it involves standards organisations, government specialists in the field, city networks and industry, and will encourage knowledge sharing and best practice, and provide tools and methods to support the adoption of standards.
Speaking at the launch event, FCC’s chief information and technology officer Jarmo Eskelininen (pictured), said: “We are in a pretty good position for the kind of standards we have for smart cities, but it is difficult to say that we actually run our cities in a standards driven way.
“That’s one of the functions we want to manage in the network, not just standards creation but all kinds of utilisation of interoperability across our cities and reaching outside the UK.
The network is beginning with two full-time and one part-time staff members within the FCC, and it is looking at a number of possible workstreams. Eskelinin said these include the creation of a live database of standards, a mapping tool, a case study library, a terminology guide for key terms, and involving cities in scoping out and piloting standards.
It also aims to develop routes to take evidence from pilots and good practice into the formulation of standards, and to help UK standards organisations align their efforts with those of similar bodies overseas.
Better solutions
Rob Whitehead, programme director for knowledge and communications at FCC, said: “The network will encourage the standards being developed to be guided by the needs of cities and inform the relationships between cities and prospective suppliers to help provide better services and solutions.”
FCC is one of the Government backed Catapult organisations, which supports the development of products and services to build smart places around the UK.
Image from Future Cities Catapult
