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July 18, 2019

Mastercard's Global Network, City Possible, demonstrates how Cities can truly become Smart Cities.

City Possible Mastercardf

City Possible Mastercard

City Possible Dubai

Photo: Dubai. Image Credit: Eugene Kaspersky. Dubai is a founding member of the City Possible global network.

City Possible Athens

Photo: Athens, Greece. Image Credit: Tilemachos Tampakas. Athens is a founding member of the City Possible global network.

City Possible Melbourne

Photo: Melbourne, Australia. Image Credit: Carlos Y. Melbourne is a founding member of the City Possible global network.

At the just-concluded United States Conference of Mayors in Honolulu, Hawaii, Mastercard demonstrated how collaboration and technology could help the city administrations and the city residents.

Mastercard recently launched “City Possible,” a unique global network for urban co-development. Mastercard is connecting cities with academia and businesses to identify common challenges.

Sixteen cities, representing a diverse mix of geography and size, became founding members of the global City Possible network: Athens, Aurora IL, Baltimore, Dubai, Dublin, Helsinki, Honolulu, Kansas City, Melbourne, Prague, San Diego, Altamonte Springs FL, and Greater Sydney communities of Campbelltown, Canterbury Bankstown, Liverpool, and Wollondilly. The network is open for additional cities to join.

Miguel Gamiño leads the global city partnerships for Mastercard. According to him, “The superpower of cities is their freedom to collaborate - allowing them to build on each other’s progress.” “By bringing together city leaders from across the globe, City Possible promotes the sharing of ideas and best practices - aimed at advancing more connected and inclusive urban communities. What unites all our public, private, and academic partners is their commitment to making technology work for all people, and finding scalable solutions for universal needs.”

As a critical component of City Possible, Mastercard is partnering with the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard University (TECH). TECH will host a series of programs to foster a regular learning exchange among global city leaders.

“As urban areas around the world continue to grow, cities face common issues - how to provide a healthy environment, safety, affordability and economic opportunity for their communities,” says Prof. David S. Ricketts, a fellow at TECH. “Faced with limited resources and competing priorities, city leaders look for solutions that work. Through our learning exchanges, we want to equip CIOs and other urban leaders to navigate this dynamic environment better.”

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for “making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.” Through collaboration with Mastercard, participating cities can access the City Possible network to identify shared challenges and seek sustainable business models to address them. United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme will work with City Possible. “We are thrilled at the opportunity to work with Mastercard,” Michael Nolan, Director of the UN Global Compact Cities said.

French multinational company IDEMIA is also collaborating with Mastercard for City Possible. IDEMIA specializes in security and identity solutions. “We look forward to building on our long-standing relationship with Mastercard,” said Nathalie Oestmann, SVP Global Innovation Strategy for Financial Institution’s activities at IDEMIA. “It would shape future banking and payment experiences in an increasingly urbanized world.”

According to Mastercard, City Possible will provide a framework for co-creating, testing, and finding solutions to crucial challenges shared by cities across the globe. Mastercard would connect cities with private sector players that are equally committed to people-centered design. By closely collaborating with companies such as Microsoft, HERE Technologies and now also IDEMIA, Mastercard works to address urban challenges more holistically.

Mastercard explains that one of the areas that exemplifies the advantages of city-to-city collaboration is public transit. Mastercard had helped Transport for London to transform its ticketing system by introducing contactless technology in 2014. Now cities around the world, including Sydney, Singapore, Vancouver, Boston, and New York have adopted solutions that are using the same global standard. Through City Possible, cities could benefit from greater efficiency, and better, more inclusive experiences in the disbursement of social benefits and unified access to municipal services, Mastercard elaborated.

Younus Al Nasser, Assistant Director-General, Smart Dubai & CEO, Dubai Data Establishment, said that Knowledge and experience sharing build Smart Cities. Joining Mastercard’s City Possible network opens a global array of uses for Dubai. “We have already begun working on our first collaborative project with Mastercard. Through the network, we look forward to working on several cross-border projects with cities across the globe,” he stated.

The Mayor of Kansas City, Sly James, said, “Kansas City is proud to partner with Mastercard and Civic Leaders from around the world.” “Smart Cities programs are not about technology - they are about people, and how we can use technology as a tool to improve the quality of life for our residents and visitors.” “We are excited to be part of the global network of City Possible that is using tech and policy to establish 21st Century Communities for 21st Century Citizens.”

“Athens has acquired deep expertise in public-private partnerships, and we are extremely excited to join the City Possible program,” said Georgios Kaminis, Mayor of Athens, Greece. “Mastercard is a key partner, and we are already working closely to enhance the city’s tourism and technology sector.” “By joining this global initiative, we continue to work towards developing smart city solutions. Sharing best practices and knowledge with other cities is the best way of moving forward,” he concluded.

Source: Mastercard

|GlobalGiants.Com|


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Edited & Posted by the Editor | 7:44 AM | Link to this Post




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