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Webinars

Panel Debate: Paving the way towards sustainability with proactive strategies & intelligent transport system

Panel Debate: Paving the way towards sustainability with proactive strategies & intelligent transport system

Panel Debate (OnDemand): Technologies and policies to accelerate the decarbonisation of the built environment

Panel Debate (OnDemand): Technologies and policies to accelerate the decarbonisation of the built environment

Special Reports

Cities Climate Action Summit 2024: unlocking climate finance 

Cities Climate Action Summit 2024: unlocking climate finance 

Cities Climate Action Summit 2024: assessing the role of tech in climate

Cities Climate Action Summit 2024: assessing the role of tech in climate

Smart Cities Reports

SmartCitiesWorld City Profile –Shenzhen

SmartCitiesWorld City Profile –Shenzhen

SmartCitiesWorld City Profile – Sydney

SmartCitiesWorld City Profile – Sydney

Podcasts

Urban Exchange Podcast Episode 18 - Dr. Tavida Kamolvej, City of Bangkok - Holistic disaster resilience

Urban Exchange Podcast Episode 18 - Dr. Tavida Kamolvej, City of Bangkok - Holistic disaster resilience

Opinions

Cities Climate Action Summit 2024 – meet the speaker: Jonathan Carr-West, Local Government Information Unit

Cities Climate Action Summit 2024 – meet the speaker: Jonathan Carr-West, Local Government Information Unit

Cities Climate Action Summit 2024 – meet the speaker: Mark-Emil Talivere, City of Tallinn

Cities Climate Action Summit 2024 – meet the speaker: Mark-Emil Talivere, City of Tallinn

Advisory Panel

SmartCitiesWorld has appointed experts from the global smart cities community to its new Editorial Advisory Board to reflect the changing needs of cities and the physical and digital solutions available.

 

The 17 strong board will meet twice a year to discuss the key issues affecting smart city development and provide expertise as to the direction of SmartCitiesWorld’s editorial agenda. The Board will help to ensure that SmartCitiesWorld’s news and analysis of current and emerging topics continues to be market leading.

 

 


Paul Wilson

Paul Wilson

Advisory Board Chair
SmartCitiesWorld

 

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Lauren Sorkin

Lauren Sorkin

Executive Director
Resilient Cities Network

 

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Okan Geray

Okan Geray

Strategic Planning Advisor
Smart Dubai

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Eunbyul Elena Cho

Eunbyul Elena Cho

Program Manager
WeGo

 

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Jeff Risom

Jeff Risom

Chief Innovation Officer
Gehl

 

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Alice Xu

Alice Xu

Digital Director 

City of Toronto

 

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Mike Lake

Mike Lake

CEO
Leading Cities

 

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Clarence Anthony

Clarence Anthony

CEO & Executive Director

Nation League of Cities 

 

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Martine Delannoy

Martine Delannoy

Smart & Sustainable Cities & Communities Advisor & EU Project Developer

Digital Flanders (Vlaanderen)

 

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Jeff Merritt

Jeff Merritt

Head of Centre for Urban Transformation; Member of the Executive Committee
World Economic Forum

 

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Guilherme Johnston

Guilherme Johnston

Senior Advisor
Interact Programme

EU Funded City and Region Co-operation 

 

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Jung Hoon Lee

Jung Hoon Lee

 Honorary Mayor, Seoul Metropolitan Government

Professor of Technology & Innovation Management, Yonsei University

 

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Dr. Chen-Yu LEE

Dr. Chen-Yu LEE

Director

Taipei Smart City Project

Management Office

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Anu Devi

Anu Devi

 Project Lead, Urban Transformation,

World Economic Forum

 

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Ernesto Faubel-Cubells

Ernesto Faubel-Cubells

Head of Smart City Office 
Valencia City Council 

 

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Raj-Mack

Raj-Mack

Head of Digital City & Innovation

Birmingham City Council

 

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Clare Wildfire

Clare Wildfire

Global Practice Leader

Mott MacDonald

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Harry Verhaar

Harry Verhaar

 VP Global Public & Government Affairs

Signify

 

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Paul Wilson, Advisory Board Chair, SmartCitiesWorld, Chief Business Officer, Connected Places Catapult

Paul Wilson, Chief Business Officer, Connected Places Catapult
Paul Wilson, Chief Business Officer, Connected Places Catapult

Paul is Chair of Smart Cities World’s Advisory Board. He has more than 20 years’ international experience in the B2B Technology Media Telecom sector, including being CMO of TM Forum and SunGard Financial Systems. Paul was a founder of the multi-award-winning Bristol Is Open smart city project in 2014 and created the widely endorsed City as a Platform Manifesto a couple of years later. He went on to advise the UK Government on the design of its £200m 5G Testbeds & Trials Programme.

 

Today he is a senior advisor to UK5G and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab. He has lived in London, Hong Kong and Geneva, and worked extensively in America. These days he enjoys living with his family in rebel-city Bristol, England.

 

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Lauren Sorkin, Executive Director, Resilient Cities Network, Co-Chair of SmartCitiesWorld Advisory Board

Lauren Sorkin, Executive Director, Resilient Cities Network
Lauren Sorkin, Executive Director, Resilient Cities Network

At GRCN, Lauren works on urban resilience, sustainable finance, climate risk, stakeholder engagement, and urbanization trends.

 

Before joining GRCN, Lauren led the Asian Development Bank’s first ever climate change investment plan before moving to the ADB’s Vietnam Office to mainstream climate risks and opportunities in the country’s US$7 billion portfolio.

 

Previous to the ADB, she led knowledge management efforts for two USAID programs: the Eco-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program in China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam; and the Initiative for Conservation in the Andean Amazon in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

 

She has published work on biofuels, climate change, infant mortality and HIV/AIDS. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Tufts University and a Master of Science in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics.

 

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Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Advisor, Smart Dubai

Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Advisor, Smart Dubai
Okan Geray, Strategic Planning Advisor, Smart Dubai

Okan has nearly 25 years of experience in management consulting in various industries and countries. He has worked in A.T. Kearney global management consulting firm before he joined Dubai Government in 2002. He has worked in Dubai eGovernment, Dubai Smart Government, and more recently in Smart Dubai as the Strategic Planning Advisor after its establishment. His responsibilities over the years included Strategic Planning, Policy Making and Global Thought Leadership.

 

He was the Co-Chair of Enhancing Innovation and Participation Working Group in United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) joint global initiative supported by 17 UN agencies. This working group addressed Smart Governance, Smart Economy and Smart People aspects in smart cities. Additionally, he has led two deliverables globally in U4SSC; namely “Guidelines on Strategies for Circular Cities” and “City Science Application Framework”. Currently, he is leading “Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in Cities” thematic group.

 

He was the Co-Chair of “Data Economy Impact, Commercialization and Monetization” Working Group in ITU Focus Group on Data Processing and Management. He is also the Co-Rapporteur of ITU Study Group 20 Question 7 on “Evaluation and assessment of Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities”. He is a member of SDG11 Global Council.

 

He holds double major B. S. degrees in Industrial and Computer Engineering from Bosphorus University in Istanbul Turkey, an M.S. and a Ph.D. degree in Systems and Control Engineering from University of Massachusetts in USA. 

 

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Alice Xu, Digital Director, City of Toronto

Alice Xu, Digital Director, City of Toronto
Alice Xu, Digital Director, City of Toronto

Alice Xu is a proud public servant at the City of Toronto for the last 20 years, In her role as Director, Digital City, she oversees the Connected Community/Smart City program in the City of Toronto's Technology Services Division.

 

The Connected Community team is committed to delivering broader quality of life value for Toronto through the use of data, technology and processes. Prior to joining Technology Services in 2019, Alice spent over 10 years cutting her teeth in the vehicle and business licensing and regulatory world, where she navigated regulatory challenges like ride-sharing and rooming houses. 

 

Alice leads the work on Toronto's Digital Infrastructure Strategic Framework, the City’s first Council-adopted strategy that provides direction and guidance to decision-making associated with Digital Infrastructure. She is also leading the work on ConnectTO, a program the seeks to bridge the digital divide through leveraging public assets

 

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Clarence Anthony, CEO & Executive Director, Nation League of Cities

Clarence Anthony , CEO & Executive Director, Nation League of Cities
Clarence Anthony , CEO & Executive Director, Nation League of Cities

Clarence E. Anthony is CEO and Executive Director of the National League of Cities (NLC), the largest and oldest organization representing America's cities, towns and villages and their leaders. Under his leadership, NLC helped deliver billions of dollars in direct federal relief through the CARES Act and historic American Rescue Plan Act to help support local governments respond, recover and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic. In this time, NLC also ushered passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, delivering transformative investments in transportation, broadband and water to communities across the country. 

 

Mr. Anthony began his career in public service as mayor of South Bay, Florida, for 24 years. Mr. Anthony has served as president of the Florida League of Cities and National League of Cities. He was part of the founding group of Palm Beach County Black Elected Officials, the tourism development board, Discover Palm Beach County. Following his time in office, Mr. Anthony represented local governments on the world stage as founding treasurer and interim manager of United Cities and Local Governments. He later founded Anthony Government Solutions, a firm focused on strategic visioning, policy development, and management restructuring for government and private sector organizations. 

 

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Ernesto Faubel-Cubells, Head of Smart City Office Valencia City Council

Ernesto Faubel-Cubells, Head of Smart City Office Valencia City Council
Ernesto Faubel-Cubells, Head of Smart City Office Valencia City Council
 

Ernesto Faubel-Cubells has been the IT Project Leader in the Municipality of Valencia since 1994, holding different levels of responsibility. Currently, Head of Smart City Office, since September 2022.  

 

Since December 2017, Ernesto was the Project Coordinator of MAtchUP European SSC-01 project and from January 2023, the Coordinator of the South supernode of Citcom.ai (TEF project for Artificial Intelligence). Representative of the City of Valencia in different international networks/initiatives (Scalable Cities, Living-in.eu, U4SSC, RECI). In U4SSC, he was co-chair of the Thematic group on Urban Platforms and part-time teacher at UPV, from 1996 to 2019. 

 

He is Vice President of the Professional Board of Computer Engineers in Valencian Region 

 

Qualifications: Computer Engineer/Master in CAD/CAM/CIM by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV). Diploma in 'Advanced Course in Local Government Management' by National Institute of Public Administration (INAP). Diploma of University Expert in e-education by UPV. CISA, ITIL and PRINCE2 Certifications

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Eunbyul Elena Cho, Program Manager, WeGo

Ms. Eunbyul Elena Cho - Program Manager - WeGo
Ms. Eunbyul Elena Cho - Program Manager - WeGo

Committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities, Eunbyul establishes smart city regional partnerships and creates opportunities for implementation of smart city projects worldwide at the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO).

 

Eunbyul has a comprehensive understanding of international development cooperation and multilateral governance. Prior to joining WeGO, she was dedicated to bringing sustainable development at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) of Korea, managing OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), Working Party on Development Finance Statistics. Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), Korea’s Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP), and facilitated various collaboration between MOSF and the multilateral development banks.

 

Eunbyul grew up in both Korea and the UK, holds Master’s degree in Development Policy from KDI School of Public Policy and Management, Graduate Program in INSEEC Grandes Ecole, Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and in Journalism from Ewha Womans University.

 

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Mike Lake, CEO, Leading Cities

Mike Lake, CEO, Leading Cities
Mike Lake, CEO, Leading Cities

As President and CEO, Michael develops and establishes relationships with municipal governments, businesses and universities internationally, creating a global network of partner cities dedicated to implementing Smart City solutions that improve the quality of life in cities.

 

Leading Cities builds bridges between academia and action, between business and government, and between urban problems and solutions.Among its signature programs are AcceliCITY- among the largest, most prestigious smart and resilient city solutions focused competitions- and AcceliGOV—a competition of cities vying for globally sourced, expert-vetted, pre-paid pilot projects.

 

Michael’s career in public service spans from serving three United States Presidents as Special Assistant for White House Operations and Presidential Advance to serving the former Prime Minister of Ireland as a policy research analyst.

 

He is the only American nominated for the inaugural UK Smart Cities Awards 2017 in the category “Smart City Leader & Promoter and has been recognized globally as a pioneer in the space of Smart Cities for his leadership in networking cities across internationally.

 

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Jung Hoon lge, Honorary Mayor, Seoul Metropolitan Government Professor of Technology & Innovation Management, Yonsei University

Jung Hoon lge, Professor of Technology & Innovation Management, Yonsei University
Jung Hoon lge, Professor of Technology & Innovation Management, Yonsei University

Jung-hoon (John) Lee is currently professor of Technology & Innovation management at the Graduate School of Information, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. He also serves as the Honorary Mayor of Seoul Metropolitan Government since August 2023. 


He is director of the Center for Digital Transformation Technology Management & Information Systems Intelligence Lab. Professor Lee was also a visiting scholar with Stanford Graduate School of Business (2011~2012) and a visiting academic fellow at the Center for Technology Management at University of Cambridge (2020~2021). 


Professor Lee’s recent research and consulting practices focuses on “AI•Data-driven Smart City” for last 15 years, specially the IT-based service design and implementation in urban planning and development. He has been involved in several leading national R&D projects with the South Korean government, including developing a national strategy and vision for Smart City, analyzing and designing Smart City services and 
implementation and developing Performance Management Systems for Smart City Governance & Operations.

 

He is active in leading the development of 5-year master plans for smart cities, he served as associate project manager for Seoul Metropolitan Government and Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea’s second largest metropolis. 

 

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Jeff Merritt, World Economic Forum

Jeff Merritt, Head of Centre for Urban Transformation; Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum
Jeff Merritt, Head of Centre for Urban Transformation; Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum

Jeff Merritt is an internationally-recognized expert in the area of smart cities, the internet of things, emerging technologies, and government innovation with more than two decades of experience driving social change in the U.S. and abroad.

 

He leads a growing international team at the World Economic Forum with locations in 14 cities around the globe from San Francisco to São Paulo. Prior to joining the World Economic Forum, he served as New York City’s first-ever Director of Innovation.

 

Key highlights from this work include helping organize the first entirely online public election in U.S. history; laying the groundwork for the world’s largest, fastest municipal Wi-Fi network; orchestrating the launch and roll-out of the world’s largest city top-level domain; and leading the creation and adoption of new guidelines and tools to promote the responsible and equitable expansion of the internet of things and smart city technologies.

 

He holds a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Michigan.

 

 

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Martine Delannoy, Smart & Sustainable Cities & Communities Advisor Digital Flanders (Vlaanderen)

Martine Delannoy Digital Flanders (Vlaanderen)
Martine Delannoy Digital Flanders (Vlaanderen)

As Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities Policy Advisor and EU Project Developer at Digital Flanders (Belgium), Martine is a proven and recognized expert working at the crossroads of the EU /urban/ regional context, digital technology and the governmentIn all her endeavours she tries to combine four elements: Collaboration, bringing together experts, using what exists, facilitating co-creation and sharing the results. Martine contributes to forward thinking governments through proactive advice and projects that convince stakeholders of the value and feasibility of emerging digital technology integration.  

 

With a degree in Social Sciences from the University of Ottawa (Canada) and lifelong learning in the fields of smart cities, public management, strategic foresight and technology, Martine has a systemic view of changes in the present and the ability to translate these with multi-disciplinary experts into opportunities and areas of action for an ever smarter future. She has worked since the year 2000 in the technology sector and helped form European smart cities over the past 17 years

 

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Guilherme Johnston, Senior Advisor Interact Programme EU Funded City and Region Co-operation

Guilherme Johnston Senior Advisor Interact Programme EU Funded City and Region Co-operation
Guilherme Johnston Senior Advisor Interact Programme EU Funded City and Region Co-operation

Guilherme is passionate about cities and helping them becoming more sustainable and resilient. He is currently a Senior Expert for European Union's Interact programme supporting cross-boarder collaborations between European cities and regions and their international counterparts.

 

Previously Guilherme  worked for a series of international city related organisations such as Connected Places Catapult, 100 Resilient Cities, ICLEI, and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions leading projects in Europe, Latin America, and South-East Asia.  

 

Guilherme  also worked for UK's Foreign Development and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) in Brazil leading on projects supporting cities and states in the country to improve their urban infrastructure and reduce their carbon footprint. This included the development of Green House Gas Inventories for Brazilian cities hosting major sporting events such as the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics 

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Jeff Rison, Gehl Innovation Officer, Copenhagen

Jeff Rison, Gehl Innovation Officer, Copenhagen
Jeff Rison, Gehl Innovation Officer, Copenhagen

As CIO, Jeff is passionate about the relationship between human experience & design and works to apply people-first design principals to communal ecosystems, such as streets, public space, food systems, and energy. Working at the intersection of urban governance, business and culture, Jeff delivers projects that are economically viable and socially equitable, as well as sustainable in terms of using energy, land and time.

 

With degrees in Architectural Engineering from the US and City Design and Social Science from London School of Economics, Jeff’s multi-disciplinary background has shaped his cross-cutting holistic approach to all projects. He has worked with both public and private clients as well as non-governmental organizations in Europe, USA, Latin America, India and China.

 

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Chen-yu Lee, Director, Taipei Smart City Project Management Office

Chen-yu Lee, Director, Taipei Smart City Project Management Office
Chen-yu Lee, Director, Taipei Smart City Project Management Office

Chen-yu Lee is a consultant for Taipei Computer Association (TCA) as well as the director for Taipei Smart City Project Management Office (TPMO) established by Taipei City Government. TCA was built in 1974 and is the leading industrial organization in Taiwan.

 

Before serving at TCA, Dr. Lee used to work in Institute for Information Industry (III), which is to strengthen the competitiveness of information industry. Dr. Lee has worked on numerous central government projects, including Smart City Promotion Project, Cloud Computing Industry Project, UX Project, E-learning Project, etc., and had over 15 years of research experience in ICT related industry.


TPMO aims to implement an eco-system to combine industry and government resources to develop smart solutions that can satisfy public demands. Since TPMO was established in 2016, Dr. Lee has vigorously led the team to assist Taipei City Government with diverse Smart City projects, including Top-down policy and bottom-up POC (Proof of Concept) projects.


With long-term observation on smart city industry, Dr. Lee is considered one of the experts that able to provide professional analysis and strategic advice service to both smart city and ICT industry development.

 

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Raj-Mack, Head of Digital City & Innovation, Birmingham City Council

Raj-Mack Head of Digital City & Innovation Birmingham City Council
Raj-Mack Head of Digital City & Innovation Birmingham City Council

Raj is Head of Digital Birmingham, which is a city-wide partnership made up of over 40 organisations from the private, public and third sectors, working together to exploit the economic and social benefits of digital technologies for businesses and citizens across the city. Raj is a graduate of Aston University.

 

Digital technologies are one of the major drivers of economic growth, underpinning innovation and through the partnership, Digital Birmingham is influencing the use of technologies to deliver inclusive and local solutions to encourage and develop skills that will enable Birmingham businesses and citizens to exploit the economic, environmental and social benefits of digital innovation.

 

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Harry Verhaar, VP Global Public & Government Affairs, Signify

Harry Verhaar, VP Global Public & Government Affairs, Signify
Harry Verhaar, VP Global Public & Government Affairs, Signify

Harry Verhaar has over 30 years of experience in the lighting industry and is Head of Global Public & Government Affairs for Signify. He is responsible for the strategy, outreach and stakeholder management on energy & climate change, resource efficiency and sustainable development, with a key focus on the role of the LED lighting revolution. 

 

Since 2003, he has been the architect of the lighting strategy on energy and climate change, which has resulted in a global momentum on phasing out of old lighting technologies.

He is an active member of a number of partnership and stakeholder networks, among which The Climate Group; Regions20, the World Green Building Council and of the UN Environment Science Business Policy Forum. He is responsible for Philips’ relationship management with the UN and is a founding member of UN Environment’s en.lighten program and the SE4All’s Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform. He is chairman of the European Alliance to Save Energy and is president of the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association.

 

He holds a MSc in Solid State Luminescence from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Signify became the new company name of Philips Lighting as of May 16, 2018

 

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Clare Wildfire, Global Practice Leader - Cities, Mott MacDonald

Clare Wildfire, Global Practice Leader - Cities, Mott MacDonald
Clare Wildfire, Global Practice Leader - Cities, Mott MacDonald

Clare is Global Practice Leader for Cities with global engineering, management and development consultancy, Mott MacDonald, and has worked with some of Europe’s highest profile city districts on smart and sustainable outcomes.

 

She has a background in the built environment, working as a building services engineer on low impact buildings. Her current role involves using systemic engineering at both building and city scale to facilitate the accommodation of more people in urban areas whilst consuming fewer resources, improving resilience and achieving enhanced social outcomes.

 

She brings a practical understanding of construction and development drivers and processes at both macro and micro level. Combining this with engagement in policy she is able to bring insight into the technical, political, financial and behavioural aspects of sustainable development.

 

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Anu Devi, Project Lead, Urban Transformation, World Economic Forum

Anu Devi Project Lead, Urban Transformation, World Economic Forum
Anu Devi Project Lead, Urban Transformation, World Economic Forum

Anu leads the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance that accelerates the responsible adoption of technology for urban transformation goals at the World Economic Forum.

 

Prior to the Forum, Anu shaped digital innovation, operational intelligence and internet of things (IoT) projects and initiatives through business strategy, management and marketing.  She managed the HyperCat Smart City Accelerator Program to inform one of the largest city regeneration projects in the UK and co-led the dissemination activities of two consortia proving out IoT capabilities for industry and cities. 

 

Anu completed her Masters in Environment Change and Management, and Doctorate in Social Policy and Population Health at the University of Oxford.  Her academic research on measuring global access to water by accounting for quality and quantity influenced the WHO/UNICEF JMP criteria. In her spare time, Anu teaches yoga and meditation to help others find methods to reduce stress and practice self-awareness to achieve wellness.   

 

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