The first Smart Dublin Advisory Network meeting took place on the 12th October in the Mansion House.  The plan is for the network to meet every six months to help guide the work of Smart Dublin as it develops and implements its strategy and programmes.  The first meeting mainly focused on introducing Smart Dublin and undertaking some initial workshop exercises to brainstorm initial ideas and feedback and to do so preliminary backcasting.  The first task was a quick introduction and for each person to say in one word a quality they hoped Smart Dublin would fulfil.  Here’s a list of those aspirational words – which I have grouped into triplets – a list against which to judge over the next few years how successful Smart Dublin has been.

Connectivity              Networking              Integrated
Collaborative            Cooperation             Sharing
People                       Community              Engagement
Well-being                 Safe                           Quality-of-life
Accessible                 Sustainable              Diversity
Data                           Insight                       Problem-solving
Strategic                    Joined-up                  Agile
Transformative        Future-proofing       International
Innovation                Start-ups                   Testing
Socio-technical        Curiosity                    Easy

Interestingly, efficiency, economy and open – which are three of the four key terms that have to date underpinned Smart Dublin’s work (along with engagement) – were not suggested. Personally, I think it’s a fascinating list in terms of what it prioritizes as key attributes of a successful smart city and it would be interesting to compare this list to other lists produced by stakeholder groups in other cities.  A brief post about the advisory board meeting and the Smart Dublin showcase that followed its first meeting can be found here.

Rob Kitchin