The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) facilitated a two-day workshop, Smart and Sustainable Cities: Leveraging Technology for Smart, Safe, and Sustainable Buildings and Cities in India, on July 10-11,in New Delhi, India. This was the second of six workshops held in India under the United States Trade and Development Agency's (USTDA), U.S.-India Standards and Conformance Cooperation Program (SCCP), Phase II. The SCCP II coordinates with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). This workshop was co-hosted with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
More than 80 people were in attendance during the course of the two-day workshop, including individuals from U.S. companies, U.S. standards developing organizations, U.S. government, Indian government ministries, regulators, private-sector organizations, trade associations, smart city experts, standards developers, and individual companies.
Presentations by U.S. and Indian experts from both the private and public sectors focused on standards-related aspects of smart and sustainable cities and building codes in India. U.S. private-sector speakers included individuals from the International Code Council (ICC), the Digit Group, Inc., EcoDomus, and New Urban Informatics. The USTDA and the U.S. Commercial Service kicked off the workshop with opening remarks.
The Indian smart cities sector was represented by the following private and public organizations: BIS, CII, Rocky Mountain Institute, Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, AEON Consultants, En3 Sustainability Solutions, Larsen and Toubro, Johnson Controls India, Intel Technologies India, Narnix Techno, and StudioPOD.
Participants engaged in lively conversation with presenters about best practices for creating and sustaining smart cities across India. Discussions about the recent flooding and droughts in India highlighted a pressing need to enforce building codes and safety. Attendees agreed that standards harmonization, certification, and compliance, are key to enhancing foreign investment in India.
This workshop brought together many of the sector's stakeholders to reflect upon how technology, codes, and standards can be leveraged to support smart, safe, and sustainable buildings and cities in India.
The agenda, presentations, and photos from the workshop can be found on the SCCP II Sharepoint.
The U.S.-India Standards and Conformance Cooperation Program (SCCP) Phase II is a comprehensive project to facilitate interaction and engagement between the public and private sectors in the United States and India. The goal is to increase cooperation in the areas of standards, conformity assessment, and technical regulations in three sectors of interest to industry: smart and sustainable cities, water and sanitation, and clean energy.
Sponsored by the USTDA and coordinated by ANSI and CII, the program aims to facilitate India's development of transparent and streamlined standards, conformity assessment, and a technical regulations system. SCCP also aims to provide information on U.S. and Indian standards and conformance and U.S. technical assistance to facilitate increased U.S.-India trade and investment; encourage greater Indian public and private sector participation in international and regional standards and conformity assessment fora; and support increased cooperative exchange between U.S. and Indian counterpart organizations working to address trade-related issues at the technical level.
The next SCCP II workshop will be held in Bangalore on September 5-6, 2019 on Smart Cities and 5G Network Technologies. Interested participants can reach out to [email protected] for more information.