#connectedinEurope: Joint online workshop on datasets

Cybersecurity and datasets

As one of the last checkpoints prior to their joint final on-site meeting around the OECD Roundtable on Smart Cities and Inclusive Growth in Paris , the cities of the #connectedinEurope programme came together on the topic of datasets and cybersecurity.

Before turning to the main theme of the session, the city of Arnsberg shared with the group their direct experiences with a cyberattack that occurred in October 2023 and whose aftereffects are still occupying their systems. About a week after the global disruptions around the Crowdstrike-incident that halted operations of hospitals, airports, libraries, and other critical infrastructure, this was a very timely input for the cities. (A public account of the story, albeit only in German, can be found in this interesting 5-episode-podcast series.)

Afterwards, the session on datasets started with some curious international examples of datasets leveraged in urban contexts, before the group moved to interactively learn and discuss about their own datasets.

Pictures of cities and post its describing various datasets, and lines drawn between both based on assumptions which belongs to which

Some of the datasets of the #connectedinEurope-cities in this session were:

Menus in school cafeterias
Cinema visits
Heat stress
Grounds with carbon sinks
Biomass in surrounding forrests
Locations for city vouchers
Locations of different trash bins
Air quality
Effective and predicted total electricity consumption

For each of these datasets the group discussed some further backgrounds and possible further enhancements. A reference for the discussion was also the taxonomy for data classification as per the ISCN publication on international Data Strategies for a Common Good-oriented Urban Development.

A table with a taxonomy for data used in smart cities — Taxonomy for Data Classification from the ISCN publication International Data Strategies for a Common Good-oriented Urban Development GIZ

Unlocking data

Utrecht and Krefeld had additional interventions ready with small slide decks to illustrate their process steps when working with their datasets. In both cases the sensible progression from static to dynamic and predictive data and data use is the most current challenge.

This informatory section was rounded up by a look towards the regulatory background on providing datasets as a municipality in the EU, notably through the PSI-directive (2019/1024) on open data and the re-use of public sector information and the respective commission implementing regulation 2023/138 on high-value datasets, as well as a brief comparison of the volume of open data published in the #connectedinEurope cities.

In the last section of the workshop, participants went into breakout sessions to collect further ways of leveraging datasets in their cities. First, they discussed which of the shown datasets from other municipalities could be interesting for their own cities. With a view to the knowledge-matrix (see fig. below), the groups then thought together about which “known unknowns” could be addressed through (new) datasets in the future. Some of the identified knowledge gaps to be filled by data:

Knowledge matrix differentiating "known knowns", "known unknowns", "unknown knowns", "unknown unknowns" — Matrix of knowledge

More granular data on energy usage e.g. of public buildings or in comparing sectors
Better data to validate municipal ambitions and measures for climate neutrality (in 2035)
Granular data on noise levels and noise pollution
Detailed (economic and ecological) impacts of traffic types on surroundings
Meta-knowledge: Better linkage and inventory which data exists and can be quickly connected
Soil information for heat-cold storage

#connectedinEurope: Joint online workshop on datasets

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Cybersecurity and datasets

Unlocking data

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