Convening cities to collaborate on common
challenges –Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard to
run learning exchange for city CIOs
As urban leaders from around the world gather for Smart City
Expo World Congress this week in Barcelona, Mastercard today
launched a unique global network for urban co-development. As part
of its City Possible program, Mastercard is connecting cities with
academia and businesses to identify common challenges that can be
best addressed through collaboration.
Sixteen cities are becoming founding members of the global City
Possible network – representing a diverse mix of geography and
size: Athens, Aurora, IL, Baltimore, Dubai, Dublin, Helsinki,
Honolulu, Kansas City, Melbourne, Prague, San Diego, and Altamonte
Springs, FL, as well as the Greater Sydney communities of
Campbelltown, Canterbury Bankstown, Liverpool, and Wollondilly. The
network is open for additional cities to join.
“The superpower of cities is their freedom to collaborate –
allowing them to build on each other’s progress”, says Miguel
Gamiño, who heads up global city partnerships for Mastercard. “By
bringing together city leaders from across the globe, City Possible
promotes the sharing of ideas and best practices – aimed at
advancing more connected and inclusive urban communities. What
unites all our public, private and academic partners is their
commitment to make technology work for all people, and finding
scalable solutions for universal needs.”
As a key component of City Possible, Mastercard is partnering
with the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard
University (TECH) which will host a series of programs to foster a
regular learning exchange among global city leaders. The first
convening will take place this week at Smart City Expo in Barcelona
and focus on urban planning, mobility services and data insights.
Participants will also have access to an online community where
they can continue the dialogue with their peers.
“As urban areas around the world continue to grow, cities face
common issues – how to provide a healthy environment, safety,
affordability and economic opportunity for their communities”, says
Prof. David S. Ricketts, fellow at TECH. “Faced with limited
resources and competing priorities, city leaders look for solutions
that have been tested elsewhere. Through our learning exchanges, we
want to equip CIOs and other urban leaders to better navigate this
dynamic environment.”
When the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by
the United Nations in 2015, they called for “making cities
inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. In order to accelerate
local level delivery of the SDGs, the United Nations Global Compact
Cities Programme will work with City Possible. Through the
collaboration with Mastercard, participating cities can access the
City Possible network to identify shared challenges and seek
sustainable business models to address them.
“Knowledge sharing and robust relationship building between the
private sector, civil society, and local and territorial
governments is vital for achieving the SDGs -- and this mind-set
sits at the heart of our Local 2030 initiative”, comments Michael
Nolan, director of the Global Compact Cities Programme. “We are
thrilled at the opportunity to work with Mastercard through their
City Possible program to build the capacity of our city partners to
create transformative projects that can attract investment and
advance local delivery of the Global Goals.”
Once key challenges that are shared by cities across the globe
have been identified, City Possible will provide a framework for
co-creating, testing and scaling solutions – connecting cities with
private sector players that are equally committed to
people-centered design. By closely collaborating with companies
such as Microsoft, HERE Technologies and now also IDEMIA,
Mastercard works to address urban challenges in a more holistic
way.
“As the global leader in Augmented Identity, IDEMIA has the
ambition to provide a secure environment enabling citizens and
consumers alike to perform their daily critical activities such as
pay, connect, travel and vote in the physical as well as digital
space”, comments Nathalie Oestmann, SVP Global Innovation Strategy
for Financial Institutions activities at IDEMIA. “We look forward
to building on our long-standing relationship with Mastercard in
order to shape future banking and payment experiences in an
increasingly urbanized world.”
One of the areas that exemplifies the advantages of city-to-city
collaboration is public transit. After Mastercard had helped
Transport for London (TfL) to transform its ticketing system by
introducing contactless technology in 2014, cities around the world
including Sydney, Singapore, Vancouver, Boston and New York have
adopted or embraced solutions that are using the same global
standard. Other areas where cities and people could benefit from
greater efficiency and better, more inclusive experiences include
the disbursement of social benefits and a unified access to
municipal services.
City quotes:
Georgios Kaminis, Mayor, Athens:“Athens has acquired deep
expertise in public-private partnerships and we are extremely
excited to join the City Possible program. Mastercard is a key
partner and we are already working closely to enhance the city’s
tourism and technology sector. By joining this global initiative we
continue to work towards developing smart city solutions. Sharing
best practices and knowledge with other cities is the best way
moving forward.”
Mayor Richard C. Irvin, Aurora, IL:“The City of Aurora is
honored to collaborate with private and public innovators to help
solve a variety of challenges from public safety, economic
development and digital equality through the use of smart
technology. Successful innovation is greater than just
technology alone. It requires the ability to generate ideas from
across the board and the proven capacity to implement them for
improved City services.”
Mayor Catherine E. Pugh, Baltimore:“As one of the United
States’ oldest urban cities, we strive daily to provide a modern,
safe and equitable environment for our residents and
visitors. As such, we are honored to serve as a founding
member of Mastercard’s City Possible initiative which will not only
give us the unique opportunity to collaborate with other cities and
discuss our common challenges but to actually identify possible
solutions that can be scaled and implemented worldwide.”
Younus Al Nasser, Assistant Director General, Smart Dubai
& CEO, Dubai Data Establishment:“The core of Smart Cities
is built on the premise of knowledge and experience sharing.
Joining Mastercard’s City Possible network opens a global array of
use cases Dubai can learn from and contribute to. We have already
begun working on our first collaborative project with Mastercard,
where we are analyzing their data to provide insights on current
and future performance levels of Dubai’s economy. Through the
network we look forward to working on several cross-border projects
with cities across the globe.”
Jamie Cudden, Smart City Lead, Dublin City Council:“We
are delighted that Dublin is a founding member of Mastercard’s City
Possible initiative. We strongly believe that successful cities of
the future will be the ones that embrace a shared collaboration
model and work alongside industry, academia and entrepreneurs to
solve city challenges, improve service delivery while also
delivering the best outcomes for its citizens.”
Mayor Jan Vapaavuori, Helsinki:“As the power of cities in
the global arena is growing so does the responsibility we share. We
are proud to be a founding member of City Possible and explore this
new approach to solving urban challenges together with global
cities and the private sector.”
Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Honolulu:“Honolulu is excited and
honored to be part of City Possible. Our city sits in the most
isolated chain of islands on the planet, but our vibrant population
has tapped new technologies to both stay connected and innovate on
the world stage. City Possible will help us shape our preferred
future and bring to life a powerful vision for both residents and
our 10 million annual visitors alike. Honolulu is proud to host the
2019 US Conference of Mayors, where government and global
technology leadership gather on an annual basis to explore cities
of the future. Our partnership with Mastercard and City Possible
will be a highlight of the mayors’ Honolulu experience.”
Mayor Sly James, Kansas City:“Kansas City is proud to
partner with Mastercard and Civic Leaders from around the world to
develop Smart and sustainable solutions to chronic problems that
all mayors face: education, economic opportunity and civic
efficiency. ‘Smart Cities’ solutions and programs are not about
technology – they are about people, and how we can use technology
as a tool to improve the quality of life for our residents and
visitors. We are excited to be part of the global network of City
Possible communities that are collaborating to use tech and policy
as complementary tools to establish 21st Century Communities for
21st Century Citizens.”
Lord Mayor Sally Capp, City of Melbourne:“As a city
fuelled by a burgeoning knowledge economy, Melbourne is incredibly
excited to embrace new opportunities and connect with the world
through the City Possible program. Through our Smart City office
we’re keen to share the data, knowledge and insights we’ve gathered
while we explore and adopt innovative solutions being used globally
to solve some of the major challenges faced by growing cities in
the 21st century.”
Michal Fiser, Chairman of the Board, Operator ICT,
Prague:“Prague has the ambition to become one of the world
leaders in the field of collection and analysis of city data.
We believe that data will be essential for the
cities of the future. The city of Prague looks forward to
joining the City Possible program to tap into best practices among
world cities and strengthen our urban economy based on knowledge
and innovations.”
Frank Martz, City Manager, City of Altamonte Springs,
FL:"Altamonte Springs is a forward-thinking City with a long
history of public-private partnerships including transit and real
estate partnerships, and many first-of-their-kind water and
wastewater innovation projects. Innovation and sustainability
are core values for us. We know that working together with
leading-edge private sector partners can create a formidable
team. Mastercard understands that the best solutions for
communities require the public and private sectors meshing together
with purpose! We are honored to be a Global Founding member
with Mastercard on their City Possible program.”
Mayor Cr George Brticevic, Campbelltown:“Our city’s
population is expected to double over the next 20 years and we are
already taking steps to ensure we are ready to accommodate the
needs of our growing community including planning for jobs,
transport, housing and digital inclusion. Collaborating with other
cities will enable Campbelltown to learn from their experiences,
share our own expertise and benefit from the economies of scale
that come with sharing solutions to the challenges faced in all
countries across an increasingly urbanized world.”
Mayor Khal Asfour, City of Canterbury
Bankstown:“Canterbury-Bankstown is the largest Council in NSW
by population, and we’re expected to have 500,000 residents by
2036. We’re already using technology infrastructure, community
engagement and connectivity to ensure Canterbury-Bankstown is a
great place to live, work and play now and in the future. But,
councils cannot do everything – which is why partnerships like City
Possible are so important. By breaking down silos and building
relationships, we can make a far greater impact than working in
isolation.”
Mayor Wendy Waller, Liverpool:“We’re extremely excited to
be working with Mastercard on City Possible and look forward to
working together on ways to encourage people to stay in the city
for longer. Liverpool is working strategically to build a vibrant
city with an 18-hour economy, and we recognize that collaborative
partnerships such as the one we are about to enter into with
Mastercard offer us opportunities to deliver on that promise.”
Mayor Judith Hannan, Wollondilly:“Wollondilly is a
dynamic shire, always seeking new ideas and ways to strengthen
our local community. The digital age, and the advent of smart
technology, is a great tide of opportunity and challenge.”
From November 13 - 15, Mastercard will be participating
in Smart City Expo World Congress, an annual global gathering
of urban and business leaders. At the event, Mastercard invites
delegates to experience City Possible through a series of talks and
demos.
About Mastercard
Mastercard (NYSE:MA), www.mastercard.com, is a
technology company in the global payments industry. Our global
payments processing network connects consumers, financial
institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than
210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and
solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping,
traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more
secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on
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Mastercard CommunicationsBernhard Mors, +49 173 69 78
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