SmartCitiesWorld Summit is the flagship city-focused
event during London Climate Action Week
OnDemand Virtual Panel Discussion: AI in city operations – from pilots to everyday practice
Cities are already trialling AI in areas like traffic optimisation, public safety, and citizen communication, but many of these deployments remain isolated pilots.
This webinar looks at what it takes to move AI into the mainstream of local government operations, where it can reliably support frontline staff, improve service performance and free up capacity. It will explore how councils can prepare their data, modernise workflows and put the right governance in place so AI tools are trusted, auditable and aligned with public value, not just short-term efficiency gains.
The discussion is rooted in real operational contexts – highways, planning, environmental services and regulatory functions – and focuses on how cities can scale AI safely across departments.
Key talking points:
- Choosing operational use cases where AI can deliver clear service improvements and staff productivity gains
- Integrating AI into existing case management, asset management and control room systems rather than creating new silos
- Building governance frameworks for transparency, accountability and human oversight in public-sector AI
- Developing skills, procurement models and change programmes that support long-term adoption, not one-off pilots.
Speakers
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Mark Wheeler CIO Montgomery County |
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Jung Hoon Lee Professor of Technology & Innovation Management Yonsei University
Jung-Hoon Lee is currently a Professor of Technology & Innovation Management at the Graduate School of Information, Yonsei University in Seoul, and Honorary Mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government (former chair of Smart City Committee 2018-2020). At the national level, he is currently a member of the National Smart City Committee, and also the Chair of the Public Data Open/Usage Committee in the Open Data Strategy Council, as well as a working committee member of the National Data Policy Committee in the Republic of Korea. |
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Katherine Flesh Director of Transportation, Cities & Infrastructure Industry, Americas Microsoft
Katherine Flesh is Director, Transportation & Critical Infrastructure, Americas at Microsoft where her transportation expertise helps public sector organisations use AI and cloud technology to advance safer, more resilient, and more efficient transportation systems. She brings 25+ years of experience in modernising infrastructure, improving operational performance, and guiding digital transformation across transportation, state and local government and AEC firms. |
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Sandra Baer USA Brand Ambassador SmartCitiesWorld
Sandra has worked with city leaders and smart city companies, worldwide, for over 25 years, helping them discover the power of partnerships across city ecosystems to build trust, support city innovation and discover new paths to bigger, bolder urban transformation.
She leads Personal Cities, a smart city company focused on city identity and placemaking, social inclusion and equity, climate actions and the acceleration of digital technology investments to support innovators and entrepreneurs. She is most passionate to help city leaders “think differently” and form new coalitions that will help us meet the challenges of our uncertain and continually evolving world.
She is confident that our commitment to improving urban life and our enduring collaborative relationships will enable us to create a future that all of us want to visit. |
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Luke Antoniou SmartCitiesWorld
Luke has been reporting on the implementation of smart technologies that benefit citizens and the public sector since 2017.
He has a particularly keen interest in smart and sustainable mobility and its role in influencing the decisions of urban planners, citizens and governments alike.
As rapid urbanisation continues, he keeps his finger on the pulse of the myriad urban challenges facing local and central governments, making new connections in the public and private sectors and finding new angles from which to cover the latest smart city developments around the world. |
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