How Can Smart City Open Standards Be Achieved?

The MITRE Smart City Summit featured a major stance from Michael Dunaway, program lead for Global Communities Technology Challenge program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The stance: the importance of smart city open standards.

Some of his points included opportunity for future growth of digital technologies to improve city infrastructure, prevent obsolescence through interoperability, and better understanding of what it means to be a smart city. The main idea is that smart city open standards can help said smart cities stay ahead of the curve by keeping up with new technologies as they emerge and innovate.

Paul Doherty, CEO and well-known smart city strategist for The Digit Group, Inc., thinks that Dunaway and NIST do not hold all the answers on how to implement open standards. He specifically mentions data framework structures and asks what should that actually look like, especially when there are many other people and organizations around the globe looking to solve the same questions.

Paul’s Thoughts

“So here’s the thing…We get word from NIST that they are leaning toward creating a certain type of data framework container structures for smart cities and the article it was a little light on the actual ‘Well, what are we going to do?’

One of the things that I would caution is that there are a number of very smart people around the world that have created consortiums where they’re learning from each other on the fly. I would hate to see time and resources wasted on a focus just by NIST, instead of being part of a larger picture, because, again, it can’t be US-centric, because cities are not, but there should be some type of discussions, talks with hardware and software manufacturers, people that are creating…innovations, and the money people, to actually make sense of what a data framework should be.”

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

How Branded Moving Trucks Help Storage Facilities Attract More Customers
August 1, 2025

You know that feeling when you see the same truck three times in a week? First at the grocery store, then outside your friend’s place, then stuck in traffic next to you. By the third sighting, that company name is burned into your brain. Smart storage facility owners figured this out years ago. They’re…

Read More
Winter is Coming: 9 Battle-Tested Strategies to Shield Your Commercial Property from Skyrocketing Insurance Costs
August 1, 2025

The numbers are brutal. Insurance deductibles that used to be a manageable $2,000 flat fee have morphed into percentage-based nightmares tied to property values. What was once a minor business expense can now hit six figures with a single burst pipe or ice dam incident. Meanwhile, insurance premiums have surged 20.4% on average, leaving property…

Read More
From Zero to 460% Engagement: 6 UGC Campaigns That Broke All the Rules
August 1, 2025

Picture this: You spend months crafting the perfect marketing campaign. Professional photographers, expensive equipment, polished copy. You launch it and… crickets. Meanwhile, your competitor posts a simple challenge asking customers to share their stories, and suddenly they’re swimming in engagement, leads, and brand loyalty. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. The biggest mistake brands make with…

Read More
Purpose Factory Event 2025
Lights, Camera, Action
August 1, 2025

The Purpose Factory Event 2025 emerges at a moment when organizations are being challenged to redefine what success really means. Beyond profits and projections, the gathering champions a model of growth that intertwines cultural impact with strategic vision. It’s a forum where companies explore how values can be engineered into operations, not just marketed in…

Read More