Technology and Data Governance in Indian Smart Cities at the Forefront of the Fight Against COVID-19

TARGET GROUP: PUBLIC

OBJECTIVES

·        To track and monitor infected citizens and organize their healthcare using advanced technologies.

·        To identify key elements for setting up health and quarantine facilities during a pandemic.

SUMMARY

Technology adoption across cities in India and globally has been a key to providing better service delivery to citizens and enhancing the quality of life. The smart infrastructure and solutions adopted by smart cities facilitated their response to the COVID-19 pandemic using data analytics for evidence-based decision-making, including predictive modelling. However, limited information is available on how cities are framing their response while addressing technology and data governance challenges, especially those related to data handling and protection and privacy and security issues. In this context, the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) at the request of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) of India, which is the nodal ministry for India’s Smart Cities Mission, has prepared this publication for sharing practical approaches that cities have adopted on the responsible use of technologies and data to respond to COVID-19. In this regard, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India (Deloitte) supported them to document various challenges and risks faced by select global and Indian smart cities relating to technology and data governance, including handling and management of data along with measures taken by cities to overcome such challenges/risks.

REFERENCE

https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Technology_and_Data_Governance_in_Smart_Cities_India_2020.pdf