OREANDA-NEWS. June 30, 2015. Smart Cities Council and Alstom hosted together an event at the Innovative City conference held in Nice (France) on 24-25 June to promote next genThe eration initiatives for smart grid and smart city developments internationally. With speakers convening from Europe and the U.S., the event combined the public and private sectors to further identify solutions for overcoming common barriers city leaders face when transforming their grids and moving toward smarter cities. 

Urban growth is happening at unprecedented rates. Today, 3.5 billion people live in cities across the globe, growing to 6 billion by 2050. The rapid pace at which urbanisation is occurring brings new challenges to municipalities, from water sourcing and transportation, to waste and distributed energy resources management.  City councils need to address these problems but often do not know where to start, or how to take a holistic approach. 

The Smart Cities Council defines a smart city as one that embeds digital technology across all city functions. The Council offers objective, vendor-neutral guidance to help city leaders make informed decisions on how to improve their community’s livability, workability and sustainability. With input from Lead Partner Alstom, the acclaimed Smart Cities Council Readiness Guide is a conceptual roadmap used globally to address growth strategies by focusing on universal principles that unite key areas such as energy, transportation, water and public safety. 

“With more than half of us living in cities now, it has become clear that we can't fix the planet unless we fix cities. And you can't have a smart, sustainable city without smart, sustainable energy,” said Jesse Berst, Chairman of the Smart Cities Council. “That's why Alstom's pioneering work in smart grids, control systems and microgrids is so important to all of us. They provide the foundation for a smart city.” 

By switching to a greener economy and producing energy entirely from renewable sources, local authorities can save money while incorporating the environment into their cities’ ecosystem. That is just one topic which was discussed at “Smart Cities Now: Building Blocks for an Urban Vision”. Global smart cities technology experts and advisors engaged with U.S. and European city leaders to discuss how the public and private sectors can work together to help cities achieve these goals. The market for smart city technologies is growing rapidly, valued today at \\$8.1 billion and forecasted to grow nearly fivefold by 2018 reaching \\$39.5 billion (ABI Research).

“With smart grid demonstrations delivering phenomenal results, it is clear that microgrids are the essential building blocks to resolving the next energy transition challenges around the world,” said Laurent Schmitt, Vice President of Strategy and Innovation for Alstom. “The Smart Cities Council Readiness Guide offers a very pragmatic approach to implementing smart grids and ICT as the backbones to the future of smart cities.”

About the Smart Cities Council

The Smart Cities Council is the trusted advisor to equip cities with tools and knowledge to cope with expanding populations, shrinking budgets and aging infrastructure. It is comprised of the world's foremost smart city practitioners advised by unbiased, independent experts, including top universities, national laboratories, standards bodies, climate advocacy groups and development banks. The Council’s goal is to accelerate the growth of smart cities worldwide by providing city leaders with best practices and vendor-neutral guidance on technology, finance, policy and citizen engagement. For more information, visit www.smartcitiescouncil.com or view a brief introductory video about the Smart Cities Council.