Smart and Sustainable Cities

Lifts, escalators and moving walks are essential elements for the transportation of society. With this work safe access and accessibility for all is provided. Furthermore, this work encompasses energy efficiency and adherence to the United Nations' sustainability goals namely 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 which are integral components of the standards.

Until 2022, the lift and escalator industry lacked dedicated ICT standards—aside from those addressing cybersecurity. Initially, the approach within ISO and CEN was to integrate all relevant topics directly into the core product standards, often referred to as the "product bible": ISO 8100-1/2 and ISO 8103-1. Notably, ISO 8103-1 was published at the end of 2024 as a new global escalator standard, mirroring the European EN 115-1 requirements. This marked a major milestone for the industry, as it was the first time that European safety standards for escalators and moving walks would be applied globally.

As the field evolved and specific topics became increasingly complex, supplementary standards were introduced to support and expand upon the core documents.

It soon became apparent that ICT, due to its rapid advancement, remained insufficiently covered. In response, a strategic initiative was launched to assess the situation, define a roadmap for the future, and close this gap. Developing new standards and technical specifications in this area is now a top priority (further details in the following chapters).

At the same time, the core product standards must continue to be maintained, with general ICT aspects gradually integrated into them.
Another major challenge faced by ISO/TC 178 and the global lift and escalator sector is the current dynamic in China. The country is rapidly developing its local standards, with significantly shorter release timelines and fewer stakeholders involved compared to the ISO and CEN processes. This highlights the critical need for SAC to remain actively engaged in ISO and to adopt ISO standards as national standards. To address this, additional partnerships have been formed, and regular exchange meetings are held to ensure the highest possible level of influence and alignment.

Lifts, escalators, and moving walks are vital for ensuring safe and efficient access to buildings. Globally, there are over 18 million lifts and escalators in operation, with nearly half located in Europe. Each year, more than 1 million new units are installed. Approximately 325 million passengers use lifts daily, while escalators and moving walks support over 10 billion rides every day.
In the coming decades, the population aged 65 and above is projected to grow by nearly 33%, with those over 80 doubling in number. As the global population ages, accessibility becomes increasingly critical. Multi-floor buildings will require vertical transportation systems, including lifts, escalators, stair lifts, and platform lifts, to accommodate the growing demand for accessible infrastructure.
As essential components of building functionality, lifts, escalators, and moving walks are classified as modes of transport. They ensure safe access for all and are designed for free and independent use by passengers. This underscores the importance of robust safety measures to protect users.
By establishing harmonized safety and performance standards, these efforts support the development of resilient, accessible, and low-impact urban environments that are better prepared for demographic and environmental change.

Accelerating the use of digital twins, as the existence of the semantic repository allows the digital twin to manage semantics while the physical twin is managing data. This methodology will ensure a consistent continuum between the physical twin and the digital twin.

The following impacts are identified at a general level:
The Internet of Things (IoT) addresses many societal challenges including climate change, resource and energy efficiency and ageing.
In the emerging IoT economy, voluntary global standards can accelerate adoption, drive competition, and enable cost-effective introduction of new technologies.
Standardisation facilitates the interoperability, compatibility, reliability, security and efficiency of operations on a global scale among different technical solutions, stimulating industry innovation and providing greater clarity to technology evolution.
Interoperability between IoT networks operated by different companies along the value chain opens up opportunities to address EU Policy objectives, e.g. greater resource efficiency for a more circular economy, sustainable and responsible supply chains through transparency and traceability, and others

The number of connected devices is expected to exceed 20 billion by 2020. This market will be fostered by proper interoperability standards. Europe is strong in IoT innovation and has made significant technical contributions (AIOTI) including in some specific standardization contexts. AIOTI now has a recognized presence at the ISO level, and it is now key to concretize this presence so that European innovation is well represented.