The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) recently jointly released the international standard "Information Technology — Smart City Data Utilization — Part 1: Framework." This international standard was led by Chinese experts as project leaders, developed jointly with experts from 11 countries including South Korea, Canada, Japan, Australia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, and Mexico. It represents another landmark achievement by China in the field of international standardization for smart cities, providing a top-level framework for building a global consensus on smart city data utilization.
This international standard establishes, for the first time, a unified framework for smart city data utilization, systematically defining the core characteristics and connotations of smart city data utilization from five major aspects: data availability, data usefulness, data usability, data good governance, and data empowerment. By treating smart city data utilization as an organic whole and breaking through the limitations of a single perspective, it effectively fills the gap in comprehensive international standards in this field.
Smart city data utilization is a key production factor driving cities from "experience-based management" toward "data-driven governance." By leveraging the multiplicative and multiplier effects of data elements, it can powerfully drive the modernization of urban governance systems and governance capabilities, providing a core engine for advancing the comprehensive digital transformation of cities and consolidating the foundation for building a Digital China. The release and implementation of this international standard will activate the core value of data as a strategic urban resource and asset, promote efficient, sustainable, comprehensive, and innovative data utilization, give full play to the role of data as a fundamental resource and innovation engine, drive the upgrading of refined urban governance and services, and provide a unified technical reference for global smart city data utilization.