CIPE’s Executive Director, Andrew Wilson, was quoted in a Forbes article on the topic of smart cities. The section he is quoted in can be found below.
Read the full article by author Brian Peccarelli.
Mind the Governance Gap
One of the most insightful views on the topic came from Andrew Wilson, Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise, an NGO that helps emerging markets build the governance structures they need to support private enterprise growth in their regions.
“It’s very easy to celebrate smart cities, especially when you are sitting in Manhattan, or in places like London or Hong Kong,” he explained. “But let’s be honest, there are a lot of governments in the world that can’t deliver basic services today. How do we expect them to adapt technology and turn cronies or family members who get government jobs into good electronic governance standards? Where do we find the entrepreneurs and the forward thinkers in emerging market countries to start developing those technologies? Where does the money come from? These are all real-world practical barriers that exist in any sort of smart city adaptation and we need to give more thought to that.”
Wilson’s notion of a possible “governance gap” that can become amplified as the smart city movement continues to gain momentum is an important aspect of this story. Possible risks associated with a lack of data governance standards become even clearer when you consider a recent U.S. congressional committee report, which found that the primary objective behind roughly 500 different smart city projects underway in China is domestic surveillance.
For more, read the full article.
Published Date: August 20, 2019