WEF forms G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has announced the formation of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance. The alliance includes 15 city networks and technology governance organisations from all over the world. The aim of the alliance is to promote the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies by establishing global norms and policy standards for the use of connected devices in public spaces. The decision to form such an alliance took place in June 2019 parallel to the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. So far, the alliance has committed to co-design and present a global policy framework on smart city technologies before the G20 Riyadh Summit in Saudi Arabia which will be held in November next year. It is currently accepting nominations from public and private entities, interested in contributing to global policy standards. The first policy design workshops with city leaders will be held on November 2019 during the Smart City Expo World Congress in Spain.