The 2010 Global Cities Forum, hosted by Mayor Daley of Chicago, has become a key international forum that attracts leaders from global cities like Paris, Amman, Shenyang, Moscow and Abu Dhabi .  This year’s conference focused on many topics that concern mayors of global cities, and on the first day, the mayors themselves came together to discuss some of these issues in a collaborative roundtable.  I was invited to address the group on the topic of governmental innovation and the new infrastructure.   The conversation examined multiple infrastructure topics including water protection, green buildings, education and technology.  While I concentrated on technology issues, what was exciting to hear was the importance being placed on technology and how it can help address each of these infrastructure topics.  During the roundtable, each of the other topic areas would quickly circle back to the technological impact, and what’s more, these conversations carried on throughout the day among the mayors in attendance.

Open Government and creating a citizen driven government also dominated many conversations.  Mayors globally are working through how to leverage the renewed interest citizens have in deep engagement with their governments.  We touched upon the power of opening up government’s data stores (our open government data initiatives), co-creation of new online services (focused on cap and trade issues on local environments and street and transportation management) and how to leverage the cloud (regional planning and Eye on Earth discussions). The point is really to think about the challenges in our communities – and then by  working together, apply whatever combination of technology, solutions and programs will have the greatest impact for people. 

On the policy front, discussions were active on green topics including the Masdar project in Abu Dhabi and we were able to highlight the power savings functionality within Windows 7 and other Microsoft products that are helping contribute to a carbon positive building environment.  A presentation on Free Water Districts led to conversations about the renewed interest in water based cooling of data center assets.  And, the education reform discussion highlighted technology and the incredible investments that Microsoft and Chicago have made jointly in multiple charter school initiatives.  The discussion also touched on the City’s focus on vocational white collar education projects that  have an impact on the middle class unemployment issues affecting cities.  Each of these points connected directly back to projects that Microsoft had invested in jointly with the Mayor of Chicago.

Forums like this one in Chicago, provide a venue for conversations among government leaders to share and invest in programs and best practices – whether it’s to improve efficiencies, grow local software economies, invest in security and safety, impact climate change or ready the workforce of tomorrow. And each case is marked by something else --- the commitment of leaders to fundamentally do things differently based on the opportunities enabled by innovation. To rethink the very structures we’ve built in government, rather than just plugging technology into existing frameworks.  And most importantly, to embrace IT as a tool for truly unleashing the talent, creativity, and passion of their people.

By Matt Miszewski, General Manager Worldwide Government Microsoft Corp.




Link to original post