Introducing G3ict’s New Inclusive Smart Cities Advisory Committee

For more than three years, G3ict has been working to define what it means for a city to be both smart and inclusive and to support them with resources and guidance. We have benefited from strong partnerships with companies like Microsoft and AT&T and with leading civil society organizations like the World Blind Union, World Enabled, and the International Disability Alliance. We have worked with leading cities like Barcelona, New York, Mexico City, and Rio de Janeiro to support their strong commitment to digital inclusion.

Today, as we prepare to celebrate World Cities Day on October 31^st, I am excited to announce and introduce G3ict’s new Inclusive Smart Cities Advisory Committee. We have convened this diverse and powerful group of global leaders to help us continue expanding the scale and impact of our work with cities worldwide.

Our new Advisory Committee includes disability leaders with deep knowledge of and expertise in disability rights, cities, assistive technologies, information technologies, and Smart City solutions. Please meet the members of the G3ict Inclusive Smart Cities Advisory Committee:

• Lidia Best is Chair of the UK’s National Association of Deafened People (NADP). She is an internationally recognized accessibility expert and advocate for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. She brings technical expertise to her role as Vice-Chairman of ITU JCA-AHF (International Telecommunication Union Joint Coordination Activities on Accessibility and Human Factors).

• Hannes Juhlin Lagrelius leads the World Blind Union (WBU) Global Program for Inclusive and Accessible Urban Development. He works closely with UN-Habitat to implement their milestone agreement on disability inclusion, Universal Design, and accessibility for cities.

• Karen Tamley is President and CEO of Access Living, a center for independent living serving the city of Chicago, Illinois. She served as Chicago’s Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities for 14 years and was appointed by President Obama in 2016 to serve on the United States Access Board.

• Cid Torquato is the Municipal Secretary for Persons with Disabilities for the city of São Paulo, Brazil. He is also a technology and innovation leader and was the founder of the Brazilian Chamber of Electronic Commerce.

• Yuval Wagner is the Founder and Chair of Access Israel, the country’s leading organization for promoting accessibility and inclusion for people with disabilities. He is an accessibility innovator promoting future technology accessibility and is Chair of the Technical Board of Accessibility at the Israeli Standards Institute.

For more information on each committee member, visit our G3ict Smart Cities for All website.

G3ict is honored to have the collaboration and commitment of these amazing leaders and we look forward to working together with our global partnership ecosystem to continue shining a spotlight on the opportunities for cities to leverage technology and data in support of greater
inclusion – to be truly Smart Cities for All.