Cities and communities
Cities: giant systems with countless subsystems
Cities need planning to be able to deliver safe food and fresh water, reliable access to electricity, efficient transportation, security, and many other services to provide a decent quality of life to their citizens. They need information and communication technology to enable strong and symbiotic economy and governance. However, to become truly smart, in addition to electricity, cities need sensor networks, computer hardware, data and control centres, etc. Interoperability is a must so that new things can connect and communicate with existing installations and systems from many different vendors.
IEC work for smarter cities and communities
The IEC doesn't have a single suite of standards for smart cities. Instead, the IEC has a systems committee for smart cities that coordinates the work of dozens of IEC technical committees which develop over 1 800 standards that are used by technical experts to make cities smarter. This includes, for example, smart energy, water management and sanitation, mobility, health care, smart buildings and city services.
These standards also serve as a basis for testing and certification.
Making connections work
Technology together with data are the foundation of a smart city. The Internet of Things (IoT) enables ongoing data collection and together with artificial intelligence makes possible the analysis of data in real-time. This helps formulate an overall picture of what is going on in a given area and further optimize outcomes.
Major efficiency improvements can be achieved by horizontally interconnecting individual systems, such as telecommunication, transportation, and security. Such an approach provides increased information sharing and coordination as well as an opportunity to create new services.
Technology and data open up great possibilities but they also increase potential privacy and security risks. Standards help protect city data and people.
A need for harmonization
The complexity of cities means that many different organizations will need to cooperate in a systems approach to deliver the many services and systems that will help make cities smarter.
The IEC systems committee on smart cities has prepared a reference architecture and standardization roadmap in cooperation with other organizations. Its aim is to identify and close gaps and develop relevant international standards as building blocks for tailor-made solutions.

Smart cities

Orchestrating infrastructure for sustainable smart cities

World Smart City Forum

SyC Smart Cities
To foster the development of standards in the field of electrotechnology to help with the integration, interoperability and effectiveness of city systems.