Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the industry association that champions the development of the converged wireless broadband ecosystem has announced the establishment of a Connected City Board. The Board aims to help deliver the vision of Connected Cities being pursued by a growing number of cities from around the world.
It provides an exclusive platform for City Managers and CIOs to knowledge-share and create best practices with their counterparts in other cities and also determine the best way to leverage public-private partnerships.
Building on the recent thought-leadership dialogue and roundtable discussions hosted by the WBA with a number of CIOs and senior officials from leading cities including Barcelona, London, New York, San Francisco, San Jose and Singapore, the Board will continue to focus on development of the Connected City plans and blue prints, creation of public-private ecosystems and collaboration mechanisms for resource contributions.
The inaugural meeting of the WBA Connected City Board will coincide with the upcoming Wi-Fi Global Congress in San Jose from October 12th to 15th. The mission of the Connected City Board is to promote the development of the Connected City, and also recognise and disseminate information about the best practices, challenges and opportunities in the development and execution of Connected City plans. Beyond the abovementioned cities, the WBA will also be extending invitations to other cities around the globe. The group will also include representations from major governmental and industry associations that are involved in Connected and Smart City development.
“The discussions with city leaders at our recent WBA events has clearly demonstrated the need for a Connected City Board”, said JR Wilson, chairman of the WBA. “To power the vision for Smart Cities, cities around the world are deploying city-wide Wi-Fi and integrating unlicensed and licensed spectrum-based services and business models for managing connectivity, Internet of Things, Big Data and converged services based opportunities for city residents, visitors and businesses. The WBA, as a global trade association, has a strong heritage in bringing together licensed and unlicensed technologies and creating best practices and de facto industry standards for a diverse ecosystem. This heritage allows WBA to create an environment for City Managers and CIOs to create best practices with their counterparts and relevant industry stakeholders, and to discuss ways to optimise technology to deliver the societal benefit while leveraging public/private partnerships”.
