These are the Smart Government news stories that the FreeBalance Strategy and Innovation group found most interesting from July 2nd to July 9th.
BLOOMBERG MISSION TO SAVE AMERICAN CITIES: Jerry Bowles of Diginomica reports on Michael Bloomberg’s efforts in smart city technology adoption and the use of open government. Bloomberg’s desired result is city government “data- driven, evidence-based” decision-making. This is another example of cities taking charge of the environmental sustainability agenda in many countries.
http://diginomica.com/2017/06/30/can-michael-bloomberg-save-american-cities/
CITIES TAKING CENTRE STAGE: More evidence from Marvin Rees in Open Democracy on the expanding role of empowered cities. Rees quotes Michael Bloomberg’s view that nation state-led “negotiations over a global treaty on climate change long suffered from the same faults that doom other kinds of international treaties: nations are hesitant to agree to any restrictions until everyone else has agreed to them.”
https://www.opendemocracy.net/marvin-rees/it-s-time-for-cities-to-lead
IS THE ‘SMART CITY’ ALL HYPE IN INDIA?: Gurbir Singh of the New Indian Express is underwhelmed by smart cities adoption in India. “On the ground, however, there has been very little progress. After three years of the announcement, 89 cities have been selected, but with little to show in urban transformation.”
http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2017/jul/03/smart-cities-still-struggling-on-drawing-boards-1623412.html
FINANCIAL BENEFITS OF OPEN DATA: Paper by Maarja Toots, Keegan McBride, Tarmo Kalvet, and Robert Krimmer concludes that the financial benefits of open data is not yet well-understood. The paper concludes with 10 policy recommendations aimed at making open data more commercially viable, and personal data more secure.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maarja_Toots/publication/317408555_Open_Data_as_Enabler_of_Public_Service_Co-creation_Exploring_the_Drivers_and_Barriers/links/59394d3f0f7e9b32b71bd2d9/Open-Data-as-Enabler-of-Public-Service-Co-creation-Exploring-the-Drivers-and-Barriers.pdf
UNITED STAGES FALLING BEHIND IN OPEN DATA? Jason Shueh of Statescoop describes how the U.S. ranks 4th in open data, in the most recent Open Data Barometer. The trend in the U.S. shows increasing open data from cities and states.
http://statescoop.com/us-ranked-4th-in-open-data-by-world-wide-web-foundation
