Datafund was at the UN: Smart cities must put the people, not data, first

On April 8, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe hosted Day of Cities in Geneva and invited Datafund to participate in a side panel on potentials of blockchain for Smart Cities.

In his presentation, Gregor Žavcer focused on how personal data and privacy should not be taken hostage just to increase the efficiency of smart cities.

The main thing we emphasised was that when designing smart cities we need to keep in mind that a city is defined by its people and therefore the people must be put first. This includes providing an adequate level of privacy and ensure a two-sided data exchange.

The panel was also a really great opportunity for us to spend two days presenting and promoting our Fair Data Society initiative to decision makers and key stakeholders. We had some promising talks with projects that are working on smart cities and the accompanying data economy.

It was very encouraging to see tangible interest in Fair Data Society principles from smart cities designers. They have shown that they are keenly aware of the importance of personal data and we’re looking forward to continue our talks with them. We hope that as many smart cities as possible will operate on the Fair Data Society principles and become part of Fair Data Society.

Smart cities are, in a limited capacity, here and they will generate an increasing amount of data tied to the individual. That’s why it is crucial that we start developing good practices for handling that personal data now, otherwise we’ll be stuck with a digitally infused physical panopticons.