In collaboration with the Partnership for New York City, The City University of New York and other organizations from the public, private and voluntary sectors, IBM is convening forward-thinking leaders to explore how cities in the Americas can transform to become smarter.

Hosted by IBM Chairman and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano, our SmarterCities NYC forum will continue the conversation started in Berlin in June to explore new approaches to regional partnership, identify roadblocks, evaluate frameworks for investment and review the tools that are helping our cities meet 21st century realities.

The event will begin at midday on October 1 and will include keynote addresses from major political and business leaders. That evening, IBM will host a very special reception and dinner. The session will continue on October 2, concluding late in the afternoon. The event will be structured in four parts—the third which will allow for peer-to-peer exchange, best-practice sharing and brainstorming to shape the blueprints for smarter cities. More on the program below.

As leaders, we all have a vital stake in ensuring that our cities become more resilient, more sustainable and more secure. Indeed, the health of our planet and of society depends on it. Let's start shaping that future.

To make smarter cities a truly collaborative effort, IBM has sought the guidance of senior leaders from key organizations from business, education, and civic enterprise including:

• Aron Cramer, CEO & President, Business for Social Responsibility 
• Dr. Matthew Goldstein, Chancellor, City University of New York 
• Steve Gunderson, President and CEO, Council on Foundations 
• Amy Liu, Deputy Director, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program 
• Richard M. Rosan, Chief Executive Officer, The Urban Land Institute 
• Raymond C. Scheppach, Ph.D., Executive Director, National Governors Association 
• Petra Todorovich, Director, America 2050 
• Kathryn Wylde, CEO & President, The Partnership for New York City 
• Robert D. Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association

Session I – A Planet of Smarter Cities
In Berlin we discussed how our cities are the perfect platform on which to innovate new solutions for our urbanizing planet. In New York, our first session will delve deeper into the tendencies that are making our cities the focal point of our planet's future. And, it will lay out IBM's view for why and how cities are becoming smarter.

Session II – A Vision for Smarter Cities
It is clear we need a new vision for our cities. For this vision to come to life, we'll also need new leadership requirements, new tools and new models. We'll also need an understanding of the key systems that make up our cities—and how all of these interact, within our cities and between them. This session will describe a vision for smarter cities, laying out a schema of the systems that comprise smarter cities and how these are interconnecting to create a complex web of opportunities for innovation.

Session III – What it Takes to Build a Smarter City – Breakout Discussions
Civic leaders are shaping their own leadership agendas, but they need practical plans to make their vision real. Here, we'll engage participants in several structured discussions about what it takes to build a smarter city. We'll hear from seasoned leaders who have implemented smarter programs in their cities in everything from transportation, healthcare, education, public safety and government services.

• Smarter Healthcare

  Access to quality, affordable healthcare is paramount to individuals living in urban centers. And cities have a complex mix of issues to address including aging population, growing numbers of uninsured people, virus outbreaks, and rapidly escalating costs. They also have an advantage in the close proximity of doctors, nurses, hospitals, universities, research centers and critical support agencies to share and integrate information and to connect collaboratively with social services agencies, emergency services, and other health-related urban services. Smarter Healthcare systems begin to address the societal issues of healthcare through a shared vision; followed by establishing plans to improve delivery and performance; then sharing information; and finally introducing collaborative care. All of these contribute to a healthcare system that creates value and improved quality of life.

• Smarter Transportation

  The economic growth of urban centers is dependent on the efficient movement of people, vehicles, freight and goods. These transportation systems have a huge impact on quality of life. At stake are a range of essential issues, from personal and economic productivity, to environmental sustainability, to social cohesion, to the 'personality' of a city. The discussion of transportation in a smarter city must encompass both the many modes of possible movement within a city, but also movement between the city and world around it. Planning holistically across a city's entire transportation system will require a move beyond traditional solutions of steel, asphalt and concrete. Rather, integrating available and developing technologies—cameras, sensors, dynamic signage, signals, fiber optics, network connectivity and analytics—as vital elements of a smarter transportation system will be needed. This session will examine relationships across the entire system, including elements of other systems touched by it (supply chains, businesses, where and how people live and work, etc.) and how to create transportation systems that are adaptable, responsive, sustainable and economically sound.

• Smarter Public Safety

  Public Safety is essential to the long-term health and vibrancy of a city. It is among the most important reasons that individuals and businesses choose to locate in a particular city. Today, a host of innovative, community-based approaches and new technologies are proving effective in helping to reduce urban crime and improve emergency response. However, equating public safety with 'crime prevention' would oversimplify the challenge and the opportunity—especially if the ambition is to create a smarter city. To feel safe, citizens must have confidence in the entire city environment and its ability to resist threats of many types (natural disaster, terrorism, etc.) This session will highlight how smarter cities are using advanced technologies and innovative approaches to anticipate and prevent crimes, better respond to emergencies and provide enhanced citizen services.

• Smarter Energy & Utilities

  New technologies, system level analysis, and optimization dramatically improve the delivery of a city's basic utilities: energy, gas, and water. These basic utility services are the foundational elements—and, in fact, a prerequisite—for any Smarter City implementation. Once these foundational elements are in place, suppliers and consumers alike can understand the demands in real-time through the use of broadband data streams, digital sensors and advanced analytics leading to better decisions. By providing real-time information about prices and the flow of energy, an intelligent utility system helps balance the load and supports citizens and utilities in making smarter, more responsible choices about the way they buy, sell and manage electricity, water, gas, and other resources. This session will highlight several best practices that are already in place to ensure a more dynamic and efficient use of these services.

• Smarter Education

  Fundamental to smarter cities is an education system that can deliver the skills needed to sustain a city's success. It requires bringing together industry, government and academia to create an education system that is highly adaptive to individuals' needs, that fosters creativity and innovation, and that views the city itself as a valuable learning environment. Today work flows across the globe like water, driving a new need for life-long education, skills acquisition and talent refreshing throughout a person’s life. Our current education systems served the industrial era well, but a services and knowledge-based economy has altered the landscape and requires different skills and ways of learning. This session will present examples of how new technologies and interconnectedness are reshaping learning, transforming partnerships, driving innovations and enabling the acquisition of new skills to successfully run our 21st century economy.

• Smarter Government Services

  Government services are essential to the economic health and quality of life of all citizens and businesses in the community, as well as being fundamental to the daily functioning of a city. These services are becoming more integrated into the fabric of everyday life. To thrive in the future, cities must make thoughtful decisions about the service priorities that will support the vision and growth goals for the city. These decisions must be grounded in assessments of current needs and insights about future trends and challenges. City leaders must drive the vision, assessments, and implementation plans to make these new and improved services a reality. Effective services must be citizen-centric and business-centric, offer greater transparency and improved resource sharing across agencies. This session will explore the leadership and implementation approaches that have established innovative services that are making a difference in leading communities today.

Session IV – Culture and the Smarter City
A smarter city is a cultured one. Whether through art, music, theater, dance, film, food or sports, culture makes a city come alive. Culture adds vibrancy, attracts new constituents, generates revenue opportunities and draws acclaim. More and more it is the difference between a stagnant city and a sustainable one. Listen as the leaders of some of our greatest cultural institutions talk about the factors that inspire them to do business in our cities.

Session V – Seizing the Opportunity
Forward-thinking city leaders are seizing the opportunity to make their cities, their regions and their countries smarter. We will hear about their bold steps and imaginative approaches to designing smarter solutions for their cities. This session hopes to offer our participants prescriptive ideas and blueprints for how mayors and other city administrators can map a path to a smarter city.

Session VI – The Leadership Challenge
Now more than ever, smarter cities need smarter leadership. Global competition for energy, talent and business is testing city leaders everywhere. Resources are low and demands are high. Whether you are trying to reinvigorate a stagnating city or manage an expanding one, let's not become victims of our own inaction. Let's take on this leadership challenge and explore those new requirements for managing and leading change in our cities, in our societies and in our world at large.