The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has spearheaded the establishment of a new consultative body responsible for discussing international standards for AI-based smart cities and has secured the position of its inaugural chair. As a result, the role of domestic researchers is expected to expand in the process of establishing international standards for AI-based urban operation and management systems.

ETRI announced that the establishment of the 'AI-based Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities Focus Group (FG-AI4SSC)' was approved at the recent General Assembly of the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) SG20 held in Geneva, Switzerland, and that Lee Jun-seop, Head of the Convergence Standards Research Division, was appointed as the inaugural chairman. SG20 is a research group that oversees the development of international standards in the fields of the Internet of Things (IoT), digital twins, and smart sustainable cities and communities.

FG-AI4SSC is a consultative body that discusses a standard framework for linking and integrating individually operated urban services, such as transportation, energy, environment, and safety, based on AI. Enhancing interoperability between urban data and digital systems and establishing common standards for AI-based urban operation models were presented as major tasks.

The launch of this focus group is also aligned with the 'Citiverse Standard Research Lab' project, which is being pursued with the support of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute of Information and Communication Technology Planning and Evaluation (IITP). Citiverse is a concept that implements urban services by connecting real-world cities with digital spaces, and recently, discussions on it as a next-generation urban model combining digital twins and AI have been expanding at international organizations, including the ITU.

ETRI has been leading discussions on establishing a focus group since last year, and after presenting an official proposal at the SG20 Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting held in April of this year, it secured the support of member institutions and obtained approval at this general assembly. The first meeting of the new focus group is scheduled to be held in Tampere, Finland, this coming September.

At this general assembly, ETRI secured additional achievements, including the approval of an international standard for an IoT-based elevator monitoring framework and progress on standard proposals related to digital twin, smart livestock farming, and metaverse platforms. In addition, new standardization projects in the fields of AI-based digital twin and life support services were adopted.

The industry believes that as AI spreads across the entire operation of urban infrastructure, securing international standards will impact the future competitiveness of smart city platforms and the digital twin ecosystem. The launch of this focus group is considered significant as it marks the beginning of full-scale discussions to establish common standards for AI-based urban operation models.