Our Mission

We are a global network of cities and communities that supports local and regional administrations of all sizes and digital maturity levels in their digital transformation journey.

We work with our members, partners and independent experts to create sustainable, resilient and inclusive impact for our cities and communities through their digital tools, systems, data and emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, while strengthening digital sovereignty, through applying measures that reduce dependencies and increase digital autonomy.

We focus on interoperability — technical, semantic, organisational, cultural and legal — as the ability of organisations and individuals to interact towards mutually beneficial goals and the effective delivery of services in cities and communities through the exchange of data, information and knowledge, enabled by aligned processes and digital technologies, while respecting privacy, security, ethical principles and digital sovereignty.

This facilitates the seamless sharing and re-use of digital, data-supported and AI-enabled solutions, helping to avoid vendor lock-in, reduce costs and resource consumption, improve efficiency, strengthen resilience and digital sovereignty, and increase the ability of cities and communities to address local and global societal challenges.

We achieve this through Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs), open standards and APIs. We provide interoperability guidance, digital transformation guidance, data and AI governance guidance; digital sovereignty guidance; training and capacity building; knowledge sharing; advocacy opportunities; and access to innovation projects and funding opportunities for our members.