Strengthen Data & AI synergies to improve smart cities’ services facing new climate and societal challenges
Cities across Europe are facing considerable challenges in terms of growth, pushed by the rapid evolution of communities. The European Commission’s strategies and communities’ rapid development has led cities towards continuous and dynamic resilience. By providing services with both leveraging data and AI systems potential[2], as a part of their twin transition, more than 240 EU cities have taken initiatives to support citizen needs[1]. Cities and communities are now called to explore functioning patterns to enhance and strengthen Data & AI synergies while facing challenges on data availability, reliability, data interdependency and ethical issues for the fair use of AI[3].To face the identified challenges, the approach to new services’ definition and implementation must lead policymakers and technology providers to understand how better design AI algorithms and data interoperability models while assessing the humans-agents interaction mechanism, thus overcoming social barriers, and enhancing social trust in Data & AI systems for urban/peri-urban areas. The way policymakers and technology providers conceive such services is changing, as well as the way citizens’ attitude. Can the synergy between data and AI systems, with a human-centric and cross-sectoral approach, be the key to achieving the goals of the dual transition?
The session will present the different perspectives bringing together different stakeholders (from policy makers to research centres, and from public sector representatives to private sector ones). Moreover, it will map and put together several (on going and/or just started) relevant initiatives that all together will make a concrete and sustainable use of data and AI for cities and local communities possible.
[1] https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/2020-07/jrc120399_Misuraca-AI-Watch_Public-Services_30062020_DEF_0.pdf
[2] Herath H, Mittal M, Adoption of artificial intelligence in smart cities: A comprehensive review. International Journal of Information Management Data Insights, (2022) 2(1) 100076.
[3] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/662936/IPOL_BRI(2021)662936_EN.pdf
Presentations of the session:
Roberto Di Beranrdo presentation (Introduction)




