Dive Brief:
- 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) announced the "Data Platform and Data Exchange CoLab" challenge last week, a program that will identify data challenges and develop a "master data platform and exchange" in one select city, beginning in October.
- Cities across 100RC's entire global network are invited to apply to the CoLab by submitting information on their current data platforms, capabilities, challenges and goals. The winning city will be announced at the World Cities Summit in Singapore in July.
- Later this year, the selected city will workshop with various city leaders and vendors to address key project elements including a data set inventory, data governance model, data privacy and digital rights framework, and data platform architecture.
Dive Insight:
The mission of 100RC is to help cities around the globe become more resilient to physical, social and economic challenges. And while much of its work with cities has involved developing plans to maintain resilience during natural disasters or wide-spread diseases, data resilience is an equally important topic for cities worldwide.
100RC President Michael Berkowitz explained this in a statement, nothing that today's cities are "being inundated with data, but often lack a citywide system to analyze that data and then effectively make and execute decisions." Some cities also lack sufficient systems to secure data, leaving them vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches. Atlanta was a recent notable example of this, falling victim to a ransomware attack earlier this year that Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said came as a complete "surprise."
While the master data platform will only directly affect the city in which it is implemented, the CoLab will have a wide-reaching impact on all participants, allowing city leaders to "foster collaboration that leads to impactful and replicable practices that advance urban resilience," according to a 100RC statement. Collaboration has long been a key objective of 100RC's mission. In February, it launched a Resilience Accelerator designed to help 100RC cities develop strategic partnerships to advance projects.
100RC is not the only organization encouraging cities to come forward and share best practices regarding data. This week, the City of Columbus, OH is hosting a Smart City Hackathon to leverage its data hub through collaborative solutions.
