Friday, 16 December 2016

WCCD Welcomes Cambridge, Ontario as a WCCD Platinum ISO 37120 certified city!

   










FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 16, 2016 

City of Cambridge joins world-class cities receiving ISO Platinum certification
 
From L to R: Dr.  McCarney,  Mayor Doug Craig, City Manager Gary Dyke
On Friday, December 16, the World Council on City Data (WCCD) officially recognized the City of Cambridge with ISO 37210 Platinum certification. The City becomes the third and smallest city in Ontario, and only the sixth in Canada, to receive this internationally-recognized certification. It is awarded to cities who reach the highest standard in collecting and sharing data, and using it for effective decision making.

“Receiving the ISO certificate is a prestigious honour,” said City of Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig. “It demonstrates how our small city can make a big impact on the world stage. We have now joined a network of innovative cities across the globe committed to sharing data to improve services and quality of life for our communities. It opens the door for us to collaborate and learn from each other to take Cambridge to the next level.”

The WCCD is the global leader in standardized city data that helps create smart, sustainable, resilient and prosperous cities. Cambridge’s membership in the WCCD gives the City the opportunity to compare best practices with other cities and actively participate in a worldwide organization that uses standardized metrics to find solutions to shared problems. Cambridge’s ISO 37120 data is now viewable on the WCCD Open City Data Portal (accessible through www.dataforcities.org) which allows for local, national and international comparisons.

“We heard from citizens that they want us to be transparent, accountable and innovative,” said Cambridge City Manager, Gary Dyke. “The ISO certification recognizes excellence in all three: transparency in providing open data; accountability in our decision making; innovation in becoming leaders worldwide by meeting the highest standards of service delivery planning.”

The ISO certification comprises 100 indicators around 17 themes on city sustainability and quality of life. It is awarded to cities based on the recommendation of an independent third-party verifier who reviews city data.

“As the World Council on City Data continues to build a network of cities committed to high caliber data across Canada and the globe - we are particularly proud to welcome the City of Cambridge,” stated WCCD President & CEO Dr. Patricia McCarney.  “As a true innovator for smaller communities across the country, Cambridge’s commitment to open data to inform infrastructure investment and drive evidence-based planning and decision making, marks the city as an exemplar of a smart, innovative and inclusive city in Canada and on the global stage. On behalf of the WCCD, I congratulate Mayor Craig, City Manager Gary Dyke and the entire Cambridge team for this tremendous accomplishment and the city’s ongoing commitment to open, internationally standardized and comparable city data.”

To learn more about the WCCD and the certification, please visit www.dataforcities.org.

Primary Media Contact:
Andrea Montgomery
Interim Director of Communications
Office of the City Manager
City of Cambridge
montgomerya@cambridge.ca
(519) 740-4680 ext. 4606 / cell: (289) 983-1781

WCCD Contact:
James Patava
Director of Communications
World Council on City Data
(416) 966 – 2368 / cell (416) 970-3544
James.Patava@globalcities.ca


Thursday, 15 December 2016

The WCCD and ISO 37120 are helping to create a ‘culture of data’ in cities across Canada and globally which engenders a ‘culture of innovation’– the essence of a smart city.

   
As the WCCD continues to forge ahead as a leader in the global smart cities space, the organisation continues to drive the development of ISO 37122: Indicators for Smart Cities, to complement the already published ISO 37120 with cities across the world already reporting data to the WCCD Open City Data Portal.
The need for data to drive smart city solutions is a central tenet of the WCCD in its support to cities
and nations committed to national and global smart cities agendas. As the number of cities adopting ISO 37120 continues to grow across Canada and globally, cities now have standardised definitions and methodologies for a set of key performance indicators as tools through which to become more sustainable, and smarter.
Image via http://rethink-iot.com/


A New ISO Standard for Smart Cities: ISO 37122 


This new ISO standard is currently slated for publication in 2017. This new standard – another global first – is currently in the draft stage within TC-268, Working Group 2, led by Dr. McCarney, where globally standardized indicators and methodologies are being finalized.

The key elements of a smart city, as envisioned by TC-268 include the following themes: smart connected infrastructure, smart environment, smart economy, smart government, smart living and smart mobility. The WCCD global network of cities will meet at the 2017 Global Cities Summit (in partnership with the Executive Council of Dubai) from March 7th-9th, 2017, in Dubai. The theme of the Summit will be Cities on the Global Stage - Data as the Universal Language. 
Key elements of ISO 37122

While the growing global debate continues around what exactly constitutes a smart city, the WCCD believes that building a culture of data and having globally comparable, standardised city data that enables cities to learn from each other, is at the core of becoming smart and sustainable.

While this might seem like a lofty goal, tools like ISO 37120 and the culture of city data that it entrenches within a city will make the goal of city sustainability and smartness much more realistic and eventually achievable.
To read more about the WCCD and its trailblazing path in the smart city space, check out the following article in Cities Today. 

Monday, 12 December 2016

WCCD Foundation Report #11: Makkah, Saudi Arabia

   
#DATAFORCITIES  is a weekly publication of the WCCD that highlights a data point from each of the WCCD Cities – and, more importantly, shows how each city is harnessing standardized data to build the sustainable, prosperous, smart, resilient and inclusive cities of tomorrow.

Every week – and starting with the WCCD Foundation Cities for the next twenty weeks - a WCCD City will be profiled  with a short, 3 page snapshot and promoted throughout the week with innovative visualisations across Twitter (#dataforcities), Facebook and LinkedIn. 

A fully downloadable and shareable PDF of the profile can be found here. 


Previous reports can be found in the News and Updates section of the WCCD website



Monday, 5 December 2016

WCCD Foundation Report #10: Buenos Aires, Argentina

   
#DATAFORCITIES  is a weekly publication of the WCCD that highlights a data point from each of the WCCD Cities – and, more importantly, shows how each city is harnessing standardized data to build the sustainable, prosperous, smart, resilient and inclusive cities of tomorrow.

Every week – and starting with the WCCD Foundation Cities for the next twenty weeks - a WCCD City will be profiled  with a short, 3 page snapshot and promoted throughout the week with innovative visualisations across Twitter (#dataforcities), Facebook and LinkedIn. 

A fully downloadable and shareable PDF of the profile can be found here. 


Version en español

Previous reports can be found in the News and Updates section of the WCCD website