
Our Alliance is creating smart city governance
Led by the World Economic Forum, the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance is the largest global initiative aiming at ensuring responsible and ethical use of smart cit...
Mobilising global action for more inclusive and sustainable cities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to rethink the way we live. It is transforming industries and how we do business. It is intensifying social and environmental crises in our communities. And it is challenging fundamental assumptions and global trends, such as urbanization, that have cemented over more than 200 years since the First Industrial Revolution.
As the world prepares to build back stronger and better, we have new tools available to support this effort. A growing suite of connected devices and smart technologies, commonly referred to as the internet of things (IoT), offers a means to reimagine and transform physical spaces—our homes, offices, factories, farms, healthcare facilities and public spaces—to be more adaptive, customized and even anticipate new needs before they arise. New models for public-private cooperation and shared community services are also changing the way in which cities provide services to residents and business, blurring the lines between government and the private sector.
The World Economic Forum's Platform for Shaping the Future of Urban Transformation is working with more than 100 global partners to ensure that these changes deliver a future that is more sustainable, resilient and prosperous for all. This includes, for example, initiatives with the Government of Brazil to support small and medium-sized enterprises and advance social mobility, collaboration with the G20 to modernize city services, and partnerships with wearables companies to help manage and avert the spread of COVID-19.
Key initiatives:
The events of 2020 have forever changed the trajectory of IoT and its role in society. New applications of IoT – from public health surveillance to global supply chain integration – are delivering enormous benefits while also drawing attention to significant gaps in the governance of these technologies. Together with global leaders from across the IoT ecosystem, our Platform is driving collective action to help realize the potential of IoT and build a connected world that benefits all. To learn more, visit https://www.weforum.org/connectedworld
COVID-19 and the global economic crisis is forcing cities to revisit and recalibrate long-term strategic plans and economic development strategies. Our Platform provides an independent and impartial forum for public-private collaboration on these matters while also advancing new frameworks and policy tools for improved planning. Complementing this work, our Platform serves as secretariat for the foremost global initiative to advance the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies with partners representing more than 200,000 cities and local governments. To learn more, visit https://www.weforum.org/cities
Chief executives from the world's leading real estate companies have identified four key pillars—livability, sustainability, resilience and affordability—that are necessary to drive a transition of the real estate ecosystem and the built environment. Our Platform curates and convenes public and private sector stakeholders to advance these changes at a local level. To learn more, visit https://www.weforum.org/realestate
Featured Blog series: Cities of Tomorrow
Led by the World Economic Forum, the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance is the largest global initiative aiming at ensuring responsible and ethical use of smart cit...
Cities across the world account for most of our carbon emissions and energy use, yet they cover only 3% of the earth’s land surface. As the global population grows, so does new constructi...
Technology is disrupting every country and industry around the globe.
Air transport is a vital industry that contributes substantially to economic development and improved living standards. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ...
A rushed pace of life, crowded city spaces, tiring commutes – it can be tough to stay healthy when living in a big city. The World Economic Forum is responding by working to create innova...
The World Economic Forum is fostering new approaches to maximizing private-sector investment in infrastructure by connecting multilateral development banks (MDBs) and governments with ins...
The World Economic Forum was the first to draw the world’s attention to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the current period of unprecedented change driven by rapid technological advances...
Catalysing public-private action towards a shared & decarbonised urban mobility future According to current trends, emissions from mobility will double by 2050. Passenger vehicles acc...
Net Zero Carbon Cities’ mission is to create an enabling environment for clean electrification and circularity, resulting in urban decarbonization and resilience. The program aims to do t...
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent more than 90% of all companies globally and are the primary drivers of social mobility, creating seven out of 10 jobs. With impact in e...
The Challenge:Many institutions have focused their attention and resources on security, data protection and privacy. Not only has this approach failed to harness the full value of data, b...
The World Economic Forum with the Council on the Connected World produce the only publication that tracks governance gaps related to the Internet of Things (IoT). This report surveyed mor...
This report provides cities with an actionable strategy to enable cities take a systems approach to climate resilience strategies. A systems approach leverages linkages across multiple in...
This report draws global attention to how the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened stark inequalities in cities around the world. This report makes the urgent case for greater urban inclusion, ...
This report makes a case for the need for systematic digitalization in cities, the need to pursue an outcomes-based planning, design and implementation of digitalization projects, the str...
This report was prepared in collaboration with PwC and identifies how cities can rethink traditional revenues and financing mechanisms to enable cities to build back better and provide cl...
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent more than 90% of all companies globally and are an important driver of social mobility, creating seven out of 10 jobs. Unfortunately, t...
The World Economic Forum’s Real Estate community has developed a vision for the future of real estate. It is a future in which buildings provide comfort, are equipped for the most unprece...
Cities cover 3% of the earth’s land surface yet they create more than 70% of all carbon emissions. To keep global temperature increases to 1.5°C or below, cities have to achieve net-zero....
As economic powerhouses, cities drive growth and innovation, create jobs, improve livelihoods, and advance prosperity. In India, cities contribute around 70% of the country’s GDP and appr...
Spurred by continued technological advancement, the world today is more connected than ever. This presents a tremendous opportunity to build a more sustainable and prosperous future for a...
The power of infrastructure to shape economies and societies is enormous. Infrastructure underpins commercial life, provides vital social services and supports human interaction around th...
A home is more than a building or a place of shelter. It is where we take care of the people and things that mean the most to us. Turning a physical structure into a place of comfort, saf...
Recent technological advancements have ushered in a new era of the “internet of bodies” (IoB), with an unprecedented number of connected devices and sensors being affixed to or even impla...
How people and goods get around our cities is undergoing considerable change. As new mobility options are introduced, cities and communities are trying to lower emissions, improve safety ...
Cyber resilience involves more than security. It requires focus on protecting critical functions, not only assets. Cybersecurity challenges, including privacy issues, remain largely under...
Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are critical to the global economy; however, they are losing ground in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. SME contribution to US GDP fell nearly f...
The technological advances of the Fourth Industrial Revolution have fundamentally altered society in ways both seen and unseen. This digital transformation has changed how people live and...
About 90% of cities around the world do not provide affordable housing or of adequate quality. The cost of housing, as well as location, prohibits people from meeting other basic living c...
At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017, global leaders highlighted the development of the internet of things (IoT) as one of the most significant emerging technologies, harbourin...
The world is urbanizing and the Fourth Industrial Revolution is transforming life at an unprecedented rate. Cities must be “agile” – able to move quickly and easily – to enable their citi...
The industrial internet represents one of the most promising and transformative applications of the Internet of Things (IoT).
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Urban Development and Services Initiative has released its new whitepaper on the Circular Economy in Cities: evolving the model for a sustainable urba...
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Urban Development and Services Initiative has released its new whitepaper on Collaboration in Cities: From Sharing to ‘Sharing Economy’ . This report ...
The need for cities to fully harness the potential of data constantly flowing through them has never been more urgent. Data Driven Cities: 20 Stories of Innovation, highlights examples fr...
The World Economic Forum has released a report taking a deep dive on migration and cities, exploring the types, causes and patterns of migration, the most affected corridors and cities, t...
As this World Economic Forum report emphasizes, the future of cities largely depends on the way urbanization is managed and public-private collaboration is leveraged to implement the New ...
The report highlights the reforms required at state and local levels to implement smart cities in India. It recommends institutional, business-environment and sector-specific reforms to e...
The World Economic Forum has released a new report, Inspiring Future Cities & Urban Services
10 of the best urban innovations that are having a positive effect on quality of life and economic development.
During the past 15 years, the Internet revolution has redefined business-to-consumer (B2C) industries such as media, retail and financial services. In the next 10 years, the Internet of T...
With 54% of the Chinese population living in cities, China has six megacities of more than 10 million inhabitants and 103 cities of more than one million inhabitants. This presents China ...
Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, was selected as the inaugural Champion City of the World Economic Forum’s Future of Urban Development Initiative in January 2012. As the inaugural cit...
The World Economic Forum with the Council on the Connected World produce the only publication that tracks governance gaps related to the Internet of Things (IoT). This report surveyed mor...
Tim Berners-Lee, inventor de la World Wide Web, ha lanzado una campaña para convencer a gobiernos, compañías e individuos de firmar un conjunto de principios agrupados en un “Contrato par...