Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has secured a leading role in the international standardization of AI-based smart cities, as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly central to the operation of urban infrastructure and public services.
ETRI said it led the creation of the Focus Group on Artificial Intelligence for Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities (FG-AI4SSC) at a recent meeting of ITU-T Study Group 20 in Geneva. Lee Jun-seop, head of ETRI’s Convergence Standard Research Section, was appointed as the group’s inaugural chair.
The new focus group will discuss international standards for connecting and integrating AI technologies used across transport, energy, environment, safety and other urban service sectors. Its central objective is to develop a common standards framework that allows different city services and digital systems to work together more effectively.
Smart cities increasingly rely on multiple systems, including sensors, digital twins, transport networks and energy management platforms. For these systems to exchange data and operate in a coordinated manner, internationally accepted technical standards are required. The rapid expansion of AI into city management has made the development of such standards a more urgent policy and industrial priority.
The initiative is one of the key outcomes of the Citiverse Standards Research Lab project, supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP).
Citiverse refers to a future urban model that connects physical cities with digital environments to solve urban challenges and create new services. ETRI said the new focus group extends its international standardization work from smart cities and digital twins into AI-based urban services.
ITU-T Study Group 20 oversees international standardization in areas including the Internet of Things, digital twins and smart cities. Kim Hyung-jun, a principal researcher at ETRI, has chaired the study group since 2022.
ETRI has been working since last year to build international support for the new focus group. At the ITU-T SG20 Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting held in April, ETRI formally proposed the initiative and secured backing from 22 member organizations. The proposal was then approved at the Geneva meeting.
Ahead of the general meeting, Kim Hyung-jun, Lee Jun-seop and senior researcher Sun Kyung-jae presented Korea’s AI-based smart city policies and Citiverse initiatives at the third UN Virtual Worlds Day and the Citiverse Assembly, drawing interest from participating countries.
FG-AI4SSC will operate for an initial period of one year, with the possibility of extension. Its first meeting is scheduled to take place in Tampere, Finland, in September.
ETRI also recorded several additional standardization achievements at the meeting. One international standard on an IoT-based elevator monitoring framework received final approval. Three other standards, covering an IoT-based metaverse platform, a digital twin visualization system and smart livestock services, received preliminary approval.
Two new standardization work items were also adopted, covering requirements for AI-integrated intelligent digital twins and AI-based active assisted living services.
“FG-AI4SSC is the first international body to begin full-scale standards discussions on the integrated operation of urban infrastructure and citizen services using AI,” said Kim Hyung-jun, chair of ITU-T SG20. “Korea’s role in both establishing the group and securing its first chairmanship marks an important step in strengthening its position in global AI smart city standardization.”
Lee Seung-yoon, head of ETRI’s Standardization Research Division, said the outcome reflected ETRI’s accumulated capabilities in smart city and digital twin standardization. “ETRI will move beyond quantitative achievements and focus on developing standards that carry real influence for industry and markets,” he said.
