Eighth Meeting of United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) – Madrid, Spain, 19 September 2024

Leonidas Anthopoulos
Professor, University of Thessaly

Dr. Leonidas Anthopoulos is a Professor in e-business at the University of Thessaly, Greece. During his current mission and at his previous job positions (as an Expert Counselor at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as a Special Advisor of the Mayor of Trikala, Greece and as an ICT project manager at the Information Society S.A. (Greece)) he planned and supervised several critical projects, worth mentioning the smart city of Trikala. He is the Director of the “Intelligent Production Systems and Smart Cities” Research Institute and the Director of the Postgraduate Program in Agile Management at the University of Thessaly, Greece.

He is a member of numerous committees, worth mentioning working for the ITU (Rapporteur of Q13 of the SG5), he is the head of the Smart and Sustainable cities’ working group for the Greek Standards, the Associate Editor of the IET Smart Cities journal etc. He is the author and editor of several book collections, which can be located in Cities, Technological Forecasting and Social Change and Government Information Quarterly (ElSevier), ACM Computing Surveys monograph for Springer etc. His research interests concern, among others, smart city, e-Government, Enterprise Architecture, Strategic Management, etc.​

Cristina Bueti​​
ITU and U4SSC Secretariat

Cristina Bueti is the ITU Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities. She is also the Counsellor of ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C)” and the Counsellor of the Focus Group on metaverse at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). She also serves as TSB/ITU focal point for Latin America. Cristina Bueti graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, Law and International Cooperation and Development of the University of Florence, where she completed postgraduate studies in International Cooperation and Telecommunications Law in Europe. She ​also holds a specialization in Environmental Law with a special focus on Telecommunications. In 2003, Ms. Bueti built on her academic credentials by completing a specialized course in peace keeping and international cooperation with special focus on telecommunications at the Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, before joining the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva in January 2004. As part of the International Women’s Day 2016, she was named as one of the twenty Geneva-based inspirational women working to protect the environment. She has authored over 40 reports on telecommunication issues. A native Italian speaker, Cristina is also fluent in English, French and Spanish.​​​

Patricia Carmona
Department Officer, Market Intelligence, Policies and Competitiveness Department, UN Tourism

Patricia Carmona holds a Degree in Law from Alcalá de Henares University, Spain, and a Master in International Business Management from the ICEX-CECO Centre of Studies for Economy and Trade Business School, Madrid, Spain. She has been working at UN Tourism (World Tourism Organization) since October 2015, currently serving as Department Officer in the Market Intelligence, Policies and Competitiveness Department, focusing on policy and governance, tourism competitiveness, destination management, and tourism for rural development. She coordinates the Committee on Tourism and Competitiveness (CTC) and the Best Tourism Villages by UN Tourism initiative. Patricia Carmona has over 15 years of professional experience, including 7 years as a Senior Consultant at ICEX Spain Trade and Investment. Previously, she worked at the Economic and Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, at AMETIC, the Spanish national association representing the ICT and digital technology industry in Spain, and as an International Consultant in the Legal Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). She is a Spanish national and speaks fluent Spanish, English, French, and Italian.

Wendy Teresa Goico Campagna
Vice-Chair, U4SSC

Career Diplomat. A determined, committed, and goal-oriented professional whose primary objective is to put her knowledge into practice, ensuring that everything functions with the highest professional standards possible. Her competencies include public relations, strategic planning, project management, adaptability, teamwork, multicultural environments, customer service, responsibility, and perseverance, among others. Wendy Teresa Goico Campagna is a native Spanish speaker and is fluent in multiple languages: English, French, and Italian. With over twenty-five (25) years of service to the Dominican State, Wendy Teresa Goico Campagna is a fonctionnaire (Economic and Cooperation Affairs) at the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations based in Geneva, Switzerland. She also serves as the focal point of the Permanent Mission to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Wendy Teresa Goico Campagna has completed various training programs in Digital Transformation, covering a broad range of topics from Artificial Intelligence to e-waste management, and has participated in several international events in these areas.

Since March 2023, has assumed the responsibility, on behalf of the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic, for coordinating the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) within the ITU. From July 2022 to July 2023 has been appointed to serve as a Member to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pension Plan management Board elected by the General Council, decision of 26 July, 2022. From July 2021 to November 2022, she served as Counsellor (Economic and Commercial Affairs) at the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). From July 2014 to July 2021, she served as Counsellor, in charge of the Trade, Investment, and Tourism Section and Trade Representative of ProDominicana (CEI-RD) at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Canada. She dedicated her efforts to increasing and strengthening the existing relations between the Dominican Republic and Canada in an integrated manner, by promoting exports and attracting foreign direct investment to the country. She developed a new trade and investment strategy while enhancing the profile of the Dominican Republic, ultimately raising its image. From October 2017 to August 2021, she has been an active member of the Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT) – Ottawa Chapter, and since 2019, she continuing her role as Honorary and Founding Member of OWIT-Dominican Republic Chapter. In 2007, she was appointed as Counsellor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic (MIREX). In the same year, she became the Honorary Representative (by decree) of the Center for Export and Investment of the Dominican Republic (now Pro-Dominicana). From 2007 to 2014, she served as Counsellor for Commercial and Economic Affairs at the Embassy of the Dominican Republic to the Kingdom of Belgium, concurrent embassy to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, and the Republic of Poland, as well as the Mission of the Dominican Republic to the European Union. During her tenure, she was responsible for bilateral investment and export promotion, tourism promotion, foreign investment, and the export of national products. Notable achievements include supporting the placement of Dominican products in the Brussels market, organizing multiple trade missions, and reactivating the Belgian-Luxembourg-Dominican Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where she served as Honorary Vice President for a period of two (2) years. In 1996, she embarked on her civil service career in the Dominican State, initially serving as an Architect at the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) from 1996 to 2007. During this period, she held two noteworthy positions: Deputy Director of the General Directorate of Control, Maintenance, and Supervision of National Tolls, and Deputy Director of Buildings, where she oversaw government construction projects. Wendy Teresa Goico Campagna completed her Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) in 1998. She further pursued her education and obtained a Master’s Degree in International Trade from the Institute of Education, Administration, and Development (ISEAD), accredited by the Complutense University of Madrid (2009-2010). Additionally, she has actively engaged in various trade promotion courses to enhance her expertise in the field.

Ramón Ferri
Co-leader of the Thematic Group on City Platforms

Ramón Ferri has a Batchelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in “Project Management”, both from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). He also has successfully completed an advanced course in “Local Public Management” at the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP).

Mr Ferri has been digitally transforming the Public Administrations where he has worked for more than 20 years, namely the Provincial Council of Valencia, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, the City Council of Valencia and SEGITTUR.

In 2015, he was awarded the Professional Career Award at the National Congress of Innovation and the Public Sector. In 2016, he received the Award for the Best Director of Local Administration awarded by Enertic, and in 2024, he was awarded the Sapiens Professional Career Award by the College of Computer Scientists of the Valencia Community. Currently, Mr Ferri is coordinating the Smart City Platforms thematic group of the U4SSC initiative.

Okan Geray
Chair of U4SSC and Thematic Group Leader

Dr. Okan Geray has more than 25 years of experience in consulting and advisory roles across various industries. He has consulted for a number of organizations in Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Turkey and Dubai. He worked at A.T. Kearney global management consulting firm for 6 years and was a member of the Global Telecommunications and Higher Technology core team before he joined Dubai Government in 2002. He has fulfilled strategic planning and policy roles in Dubai eGovernment, Dubai Smart Government, Smart Dubai Office and is currently working in Dubai Digital Authority as the Strategic Planning Advisor. His responsibilities include Strategic Planning, Strategic Performance Management and Policy Making among others. Dr. Geray was the Co-Chair of the Enhancing Innovation and Participation Working Group, part of the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) global initiative. This working group addressed Smart Governance, Smart Economy and Smart People aspects in smart cities. He has led the two thematic groups “Guidelines on Strategies for Circular Cities” and “City Science Application Framework” in U4SSC. He is currently leading “Guiding principles for Artificial Intelligence in cities”, and co-leading “Enabling People-Centered Cities through Digital Transformation” in U4SSC. Dr. Geray is the Co-Rapporteur of ITU Study Group 20, Question 7 on “Evaluation and assessment of Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities”. He is a member of the IEC-ISO-ITU Joint Smart Cities Task Force (J-SCTF). He is also a member of the ITU Focus Group on Metaverse and is co-chairing Working Group 7 on “Economy, Competition and Regulation”. He was also the Co-Chair of the “Data Economy Impact, Commercialization and Monetization” Working Group, part of the ITU Focus Group on Data Processing and Management. Dr. Geray holds a double major B. Sc. degree in Industrial and Computer Engineering from Bosphorus University in Istanbul Turkiye, an M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. degree in Systems and Control Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in USA. He has published book chapters, several journal and conference papers, and teaches as an adjunct lecturer. ​

Arne Ingebrigtsen
CEO, City of Kristiansund, Norway

Arne Ingebrigtsen is the Chief Executive Officer, serving the City of Kristiansund, Norway. Previously an entrepreneur from the global private sector with several nominations and awards, including Europe Fast 500. Now innovating the Norwegian public sector. Kristiansund established the first municipal master plan in Norway based on the UN SDGs and U4SSC Key Performance Indicators. Kristiansund was top 3 in the European Public Service Awards, won the Farmand price, the Framsikt price and several others after innovating the city’s services under his leadership. He is also serving as a board member at Innovation Norway. His expertise lies in the area where technology meets its beneficiary.

Vahid Khatami
Leader of Thematic Group on Lessons Learned From Building Urban Economic Resilience at City Level During and After COVID-19

Vahid Khatami is an Associate Economic Officer with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva, where he serves as the secretary to the Working Party on Land Administration. He specializes in socio-economic analysis, urban and housing management. Vahid holds advanced degrees in International Relations and Economics and has previously worked at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, where he developed significant expertise in macroeconomic analysis and AI-driven solutions.

Barbara Kolm
Austrian Economics Centre; Co-Leader of the Thematic Group on Enabling People-Centred Cities through Digital Transformation

Dr. Barbara Kolm, Vice President of the Austrian Central Bank, Director of the Austrian Economics Center (#1 Independent Think Tank in Austria and #21 in the world), Professor of Austrian Economics at the University of Donja Gorica, Montenegro, and serves on several supervisory boards Vienna Insurance Group, Supervisory Board of Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein; Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien. She was appointed Vice-Chair of the UN ITU Focus Group on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies (AI4EE) and Chair of the Thematic Group on the United for Smart Sustainable City Index. She has given numerous talks on the most pressing economic issues of our time, such as the geopolitical challenges posed by a rising China and the need for serious economic reforms to the bloated welfare states in Europe. She has successfully managed private enterprises and non-profit organizations, and has been engaged in other entrepreneurial activities, for instance building the Austrian Economics Center from scratch to being the leading think tank in Austria within 12 years. Additionally, she is the founder and organizer of the Free Market Road Show, a forum for discussions and the exchange of ideas, in co-operation with over 100 leading think tanks and universities.​

Tania Marcos
Vice-Chair, U4SSC

Tania is Head of the Smart Cities Unit at the Spanish Association for Standardization (UNE), where serves as Manager of the Standards Committee CTN 178 “Smart cities”, and acts as the national focal point for the development of Standards for Local Governments, which assist their transformation into smart cities/smart tourism destinations. She represented the Spanish Government at the 1st IEC-ISO-ITU World Smart City Forum held in Singapore. She is the Representative of the CEN-CENELEC-ETSI Sector Forum on Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities, towards the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC) of the European Commission. She is also Vice-chair of ITU-T Study Group 20 on Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C), on behalf of the Spanish Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure (formerly Information Society and Digital Agenda), within the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. Regarding the UN initiative United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11, Tania participates at the Thematic Group on City Platforms, co-leading WG3 for transitioning to a new architecture framework for future city platforms. Senior Standardization Programme Manager, Tania has acted as secretary, expert or convenor to different CEN/CENELEC/ETSI & ISO/IEC structures, dealing with Quality & Sustainability for public and private sectors: performance indicators, evaluation & conformity assessment, energy & environment, transportation, ICT public procurement, healthcare, accessibility, management systems, eco-design, etc.

Seizo Onoe
Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU

Seizo Onoe took office as Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 1 January 2023. Known in the industry as “the father of LTE” (Long-Term Evolution mobile broadband), he now aims for global outreach to bridge standardization gaps, deliver the benefits of technology widely and speedily, and ensure meaningful and affordable broadband access for everyone. Before his election as TSB Director by ITU Member States, he completed an over 30-year career with Japanese mobile operator NTT DOCOMO. In 2021, he became Executive Vice President and Chief Standardization Strategy Officer for NTT Corporation and a Fellow of NTT DOCOMO. From 2017, he served as NTT DOCOMO’s Chief Technology Architect and President of its subsidiary DOCOMO Technology. From 2012 to 2017, he served as NTT DOCOMO’s Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, a Member of the Board of Directors, and Managing Director of R&D Innovation Division. Earlier, he served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of NTT DOCOMO’s R&D Strategy Department and Managing Director of the company’s Radio Network Development Department. Mr Onoe holds a Master’s degree in electronics from the Kyoto University Graduate School of Engineering.

Aarth Saraph
Associate Programme Management Officer, United Nations Environment Programme

Aarth Saraph is a Project Manager at the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Unit in Paris. He is currently coordinating the UNEP-IEA Digital Demand Driven Networks Initiative, working on a range of projects to support the digitalisation of energy systems, including two supporting grid digitalisation in New Delhi and Bogota. Aarth previously worked on the UNEP/UNDP/WRI GCF Readiness Programme and the Mediterranean Investment Facility, working with governments, banks and financiers to kick-start investment in clean energy technology markets and assist countries access sustainable finance. Aarth has a master’s degree in economic policy from the Paris School of International Affairs.

Warren Smith
Curshaw Commercial and Dangersmith SARL, Co-leader of the Working Group on Intergenerational Procurement for People-Centred Cities

Warren has almost 30 years experience across private and public sectors, leading transformative projects to introduce new ways of thinking and working in procurement. He joined the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) in 2012, with responsibility for ensuring the UK government’s Digital Marketplace directly supported digital transformation. He introduced user-centred, design-led, data-driven and open approaches to public contracting – the foundational step-change in procurement envisioned in the UK Government Transformation Strategy. Between 2018-2021, Warren led the GDS Global Digital Marketplace Programme, helping emerging economies make their public procurement more transparent, improve systems that govern public spending, improve scrutiny through better quality open data, and build institutional capability and capacity to ensure sustainable change. In addition to co-leading the U4SSC Thematic Group on ‘Procurement for Smart Sustainable Cities’, Warren has also led a Thematic Group of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials, focused on ‘GovTech Commissioning’, supported the OECD Working Party of Leading Practitioners on Public Procurement as a peer reviewer, and contributed to the development of the OECD ‘Integrating Responsible Business Conduct in Public Procurement’ report. Warren is Founder and Principal Consultant at Dangersmith SARL, and now operates through Curshaw Commercial.

Bettina Tratz-Ryan
Gartner; Co-Leader of Working Group 2 of the Thematic Group on Enabling People-Centred Cities through Digital Transformation

Bettina Tratz-Ryan is a Vice President Research and responsible for intelligent urban ecosystem research that includes smart city and industry stakeholders, as well as the digitization efforts in the manufacturing ecosystems and Industrie 4.0 transformation roadmaps. As part of her smart city research, she analyzes the strategic citizen impact and business value of data and information analytics, Internet of Things, data marketplaces and exchanges, applications and complex architectures for cities and their industry partners. Her expertise integrates technology models with services and business measures for subsystems such as transportation, mobility, microgrid and buildings. She also works on the business impact related to the Industrie 4.0 framework. Mrs.Tratz-Ryan understands to build green IT and environmental sustainability roadmaps compliant to DIN EN ISO 14001. Mrs. Tratz-Ryan has more than 26 years of industry experience in IT networking for telecommunications, utilities, transportation, healthcare and local governments.