Signing of Smart Society Declaration

20 Mar 2019
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Author: HSD Foundation

During the 'Conference Nederland Digitaal', representatives of a wide coalition including government, entrepreneurs and scientists, have jointly signed the Smart Society Declaration. HSD was one of the parties that signed the declaration.

 

During the ‘From Smart City to Smart Society’ session that took place on 21 March, about 80 organisations and over 100 representatives came together to exchange thoughts and to declare that they will cooperate for the smart society of the Netherlands. 

  

Upscaling and acceleration in Smart Society agenda

Governments worldwide use ‘smart’ solutions to improve the liveability, quality and competitiveness of society. A key aspect of liveability is safety. That is why safety, security and resilience should be part of all smart city initiatives. Smart solutions use data and technology, also when the initiative is not focused on safety and security, which introduces new risks in the fields of makes cybersecurity, privacy, chain dependencies, liabilities and ethics.

 

The Netherlands is internationally recognised as a frontrunner when it comes to innovation in the smart society and security. The cities and the VNG (Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten) created agreements with state secretary Knops to accelerate innovation, to scale up initiatives and to develop standards. These innovations should solve urgent societal problems, such as safety and security with the aid of data and technology.

Characteristic about the Smart Society agenda is the cooperation between government, companies and knowledge institutions and a focus on a set of concrete projects.

 

The G5 were the first to describe five projects in the Smart City agenda of 2019-2020. The Municipality of The Hague leads the theme Safety & Security with 'integrated area security' as their point of focus.

 

Joris den Bruinen, general director HSD: "Safety and Security is a precondition for the quality of life in our country. A Smart City should contribute to that. In addition, data, technology and privacy are crucial for all smart initiatives. That is why we advocate better cyber security. Together we secure the future."

 

Prominent in the execution of the agenda are the meetings that were developed by the VNG that take place once every three months, starting April 2019. The meetings are the place where involved parties meet with each other and work together. The first meeting will be at HSD and will be concluded with a HSD Café Special regarding Smart Cities & Urban Security.

HSD Partners involved