Our annual NIST Global Cities Team Challenge conference was held at the Washington Convention center last week. SMART Emergency Medical Teams held center stage in the Public Safety pavilion, with visitors from around the world sharing ideas with Brenda Bannan, myself and SMART team members. Attendees heard several visionary keynotes, and the surprise announcement of DHS’ sponsorship of the 2018 Global Cities Team Challenge! The NIST/DHS partnership makes a strong statement on the importance of smart cities efforts – and the urgent need to address cyber threats to infrastructure for the 21st century.
Here’s an excerpt of the press coverage from GovTech.com:
“The protection of our privacy should never be taken lightly, and a global challenge backed by two federal entities is working to ensure that privacy protections remain a top priority.
Now in its fourth year, the 2018 Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) — co-sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — will focus on “designed-in cybersecurity” for smart city systems, ultimately providing more secure and resilient protection of citizen privacy.
This new phase of the GCTC is called the Smart and Secure Cities and Communities Challenge (SC3), and was made public on Aug. 29 at the 2017 GCTC Expo in Washington, D.C.”¹
¹ 2018 ‘Global City Teams Challenge’ Seeks to Solidify Cybersecurity for ‘Smart City’ Systems. Govtech.com, August 29, 2017.