Recently, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Joint Technical Committee on Information Technology (ISO/IEC JTC 1) published the international standard “Information technology — Data use in smart cities — Part 1: Framework” (ISO/IEC 25005-1:2026). The standard marks another milestone in China’s participation in international smart city standardization and provides a high-level framework for building global consensus on smart city data utilization.

Smart city data utilization is a key driver in the transition from experience-based urban management to data-driven governance. As a key factor of production, data can generate cumulative and multiplier effects across urban systems. It not only contributes significantly to modernizing China’s urban governance system and capacity for governance, but also serves as a core driver for city-wide digital transformation and the development of Digital China. As smart city development worldwide becomes increasingly data-driven, cities have faced a common challenge: the lack of mature and comprehensive international standards for data utilization. Existing research and practices have largely remained confined to individual perspectives, making it difficult to fully unlock the potential of data as an integrated resource.

To address these global challenges, the framework establishes five dimensions of smart city data utilization: data availability, data quality assurance, ease of data use, data use security, and data-enabled innovation. The five dimensions are designed to support the effective, sustainable, comprehensive, and innovative use of data as a strategic urban resource and asset. Building on these dimensions, the framework establishes, for the first time, a unified system for smart city data utilization and systematically defines its core characteristics and scope, addressing a gap in comprehensive international standards in this field. In practical applications, the framework can strengthen cities’ overall capacity to support data utilization and facilitate city-level ICT (information and communication technology), big data, artificial intelligence, and smart city services. Globally, the standard will also promote deeper collaboration among different standards development organizations on sustainable data utilization and address the needs of multiple stakeholders from diverse perspectives.

The standard is expected to help cities make more effective use of data to improve urban governance and public services, while providing a common technical reference for smart city data utilization worldwide. The standard was developed under ISO/IEC JTC 1/WG 11 (Smart Cities Working Group). In December 2020, the Chinese delegation submitted a technical contribution and promoted the establishment of an ad hoc group on smart city data utilization, laying the groundwork for the systematic research and development of a series of standards.

To date, the Chinese delegation has helped initiate four international standardization projects under the ISO/IEC 25005 series on smart city data utilization. As an important component of the series, the newly released Part 1 provides a foundation for the development of subsequent standards, while also guiding gap analysis and the formulation of a development roadmap for the series. It thus paves the way for further standardization in the field of smart city data utilization.
The development of the standard was led and coordinated by Renmin University of China, together with the China Electronics Standardization Institute, Heilongjiang University, Shandong Institute of New Generation Standardization, Nanjing University, Tsinghua University, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Tianjin Normal University, and other universities and research institutions, as well as a range of industry and research partners, including Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., China Unicom Smart City Research Institute, Inspur Smart City, and others. In addition to experts from China, experts from 11 countries, including the Republic of Korea, Canada, Japan, Australia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, and Mexico, participated in the joint development of the standard.

An Xiaomi, professor at the School of Information Resource Management, head of the Information Resource Management Standards Empowerment Research Team, and director of the Smart City Research Center at Renmin University of China, served as project leader. PhD student Zhang Hongwei and PhD graduates Wang Lili, Huang Jie, Ma Guanghui, Xu Jicang, Bai Wenlin, and Kuang Miaomiao participated throughout the development of the standard.

Looking ahead, the Information Resource Management Standards Empowerment Research Team at Renmin University of China will continue to play an active role in the development, revision, and research of international standards, deepen international exchange and cooperation, and continue to contribute Chinese expertise and practical solutions to international standardization.