The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recently announced a call for comments on the planned work program for the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Strategic Group 5 (SG5) Focus Group on Smart Sustainable Cities (FG-SSC). The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) encourages stakeholders in smart cities-related fields and sectors, as well as other interested parties, to submit comments in connection with FG-SSC's planned work.
FG-SSC, which held its inaugural meeting in May 2013, was established by ITU-T to examine standardization needs associated with efforts by cities seeking to bolster their financial and environmental sustainability through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to more efficiently manage city operations and related infrastructure. The focus group provides government agencies, non-profit organizations, academia, industry groups, and other smart cities stakeholders with a forum for the discussion of standards needs associated with the effective roll-out of smart cities technologies. Its next meeting will be held June 19-20, 2014, in Genoa, Italy.
The work program includes a wide variety of smart cities-related documents, with most planned deliverables expected to be approved between June and September 2014. The current list of FG-SSC documents under development includes:
The development of these documents is being overseen primarily by FG-SSC Working Groups (WGs), including: WG1, ICT Role & Roadmap for Smart Sustainable Cities; WG2, Smart Sustainable Cities Infrastructure; WG3, KPIs, and Metrics for Smart Sustainable Cities; and WG4, Policy & Positioning (communications, liaisons, and members).
The U.S. State Department, which serves as the official U.S. representative to the ITU, is currently working to bolster U.S. input into the FG-SSC, and encourages stakeholders to provide feedback to the focus group on this important topic. To express interest in submitting comments or participating in a meeting to develop U.S. input on the focus group's work, please email FG-SSC vice chair Franz Zichy, electronic engineer at the U.S. State Department, at [email protected] by Friday, March 28, 2014, with a copy to [email protected]; in the email, please note which document or documents you are most interested in reviewing.
For more information about the FG-SSC, please visit the focus group's website.