Standards support development of smart cities: ISO President

"Smart City is a global issue. Further cooperation of international standards organizations will promote the development of smart cities," said Zhang Xiaogang, President of International Organization for Standardization (ISO), on Wednesday at Quality and Standards Conference 2015 in Singapore.

Zhang Xiaogang, the first Chinese President of ISO who is also the President of China's Ansteel Group Corporation, delivered a keynote speech on "ISO-towards a smarter world". The speech echoed with the conference topic "Towards a Smart Nation", in which Zhang stressed the importance of standards in supporting the building of smart cities as well as smart nations.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), 60 percent of the world's population will live in cities by 2030, and 70 percent by 2050. Smart cities are considered to be the answers in facing the challenge of rapid demographic growth and urbanization.

Zhang said the concept of smart city is multi-dimensional. " Smartness" in smart cities is displayed in various aspects, such as smart utilities, smart buildings and smart transportation. Smart cities should not only have smart policies and objectives, but also smart infrastructure. The key point to ensure a successful smart city is strong standards and conformance infrastructure.

"Without strong support of standards, smart cities will be impossible," stressed Zhang. He further elaborated that standards can support smart cities in three categories, that is, in infrastructure planning, management and measurement at the first level; in products, services and systems at the second level; and in interoperability and seamless exchange of information.

Zhang also noted that a smart nation is not just an expanded smart city or many smart cities combined. A smart nation needs a national vision and strategic plan. Building a smart nation also needs the inclusion of industry and enterprises, as well as support of national policies and funding for smart initiatives.

"Standards promote connectivity and interoperability between smart cities, facilitate exportability of smart products and services offered by enterprises, and enhance coordination between smart city-related bodies," said Zhang.

Noted the role that standards play in building smart cities, a lot of countries, cities, organizations and even some big enterprises are developing their own standards on smart city.

Zhang said developing standards separately may arouse overlaps, thus it's a redundant job. He said ISO has joined hands with organizations, such as International Electrotechnical Commission ( IEC) and ITU, UN specialized agency for information and communication technologies, in standards development of smart cities by establishing the joint working group.

Zhang also called on further cooperation of international standards organizations, which will promote the development of smart cities. Endi