The Discovery Park District's Digital Trust Initiative at Purdue

About one-third of smart city projects fail and around 80 percent of prototypes don’t scale and reach their desired scope.(1) Poorly implemented smart city investments undercut civic trust and can have far-reaching economic and social consequences. US Ignite’s Fostering Civic Trust guide purports an ecosystem of trust that places people at the core of the smart city movement by focusing on five policy domains: (i) Data Governance; (ii) Cybersecurity; (iii) Privacy; (iv)  Community Engagement; and (v) Equity. The connected community in the Discovery Park District (DPD) is partnering with US Ignite and XQ Message to develop governance models and policies to govern its digital environment to foster digital trust. The effort will build on the trust framework introduced in US Ignite’s Fostering Civic Trust Guide by adding the sixth policy domain—sustainability—to understand how DPD can meet its economic, social, and environmental needs now and into the future.