Four cities join those pledging support for manifesto for the use of data platforms in smart places
A group of UK cities has signed up to a new manifesto and set of principles for the development of smart cities.
US based communications industry organisation TM Forum published its City as a Platform manifesto this week with 40 cities as signatories, the UK contingent including Belfast, Leeds, Liverpool and Milton Keynes. The Future Cities Catapult and the European Commission have also signed the document.
It includes 10 common principles as a guide for the deployment of platforms, public policy and design of smart city programmes.
One of the prime requirements is for the use of open standards and open APIs to support a vendor neutral approach in deploying technology, with industry agreed architecture models.
Others include the enforcement of privacy and security of personal data; a common approach to federation of data and services between cities; and bringing together public and private stakeholders in digital ecosystems.
There are also principles to support the encouragement of start-ups and an alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal.
The thrust of the manifesto is to provide a cohesive approach to the deployment of platforms for managing the huge quantities of data provided by sensor networks, enterprises, city agencies and the public.
The publication has won the approval of a member of the UN’s Broadband Commission. Suvi Linden, a former minister of communications for Finland, said: “The cities that use modern digital technology to create a better experience for each and every citizen, are the true smart cities. TM Forum’s city platform principles offer great guidelines to achieve this goal.”
Image from Huawei
