GLOBAL DIGITAL FRAMEWORK INTEGRATED TO DEVELOP ECONOMICALLY COMPETITIVE MUNICIPALITIES.

(2) Cross Reference to related applications (if any). (Related applications may be listed on an application data sheet, either instead of or together with being listed in the specification.)

Not Applicable

(3) Statement of federally sponsored research or development (if any).

Not Applicable

(4) The names of the parties to a joint research agreement if the claimed

invention was made as a result of activities within the scope of a joint research agreement.

Not Applicable

(5) Reference to a "Sequence Listing," a table, or a computer program-listing appendix submitted on a compact disc and an incorporation by reference of the material on the compact disc. The total number of compact disc including duplicates and the files on each compact disc shall be specified.

Not Applicable

(6) Background of the Invention [0001] BACKGROUND: Albert Einstein mentioned that "we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them" (Harris, K., 2015) ¹ and perhaps this is the biggest problem that the world is facing now. Current megatrends such as demographic growth, urbanization, climate change, natural disasters, epidemics, artificial intelligence, global economic interdependence, decentralized terrorism, resources depletion (environmental degradation), cybersecurity risks, economic volatility, and exponential global innovation are dramatically impacting cities as never seen before in human history. These trends are creating more stress in municipal systems, more complexity in cities, highly vulnerable global supply chains, economic uncertainty, systemic risks, global volatility, and new challenges in the area of municipal investments and governmental decision-making processes. Therefore, cities and municipalities will be drastically impacted by these trends in the areas of economic development, food/energy/water supply chains, immigration patterns, culture, regional security, and in the political performance of elected politicians. This context is creating a need for our civilization of having a different kind of thinking to face these complex challenges during the 21 ^st century.

[0002] Therefore, government leaders, business leaders, scientists, and citizens may need to have a different kind of thinking during the 21 ^st century if they want to remain competitive and thrive in the global arena. Governments need leaders with a systems thinking approach making them aware of short and long-term challenges, and with a global and sustainable vision to develop secure, resilient, collaborative, intelligent, and economically competitive governmental systems. Democracies cannot always select the best leaders (since sometimes democratic societies just selects the best speakers), however, science and technology can provide better tools to selected leaders to improve their decision-making and public investment. The present methods, systems, processes, and technologies have the objective of improving the kind of thinking of leaders from more than 100,000 municipalities around the world by making them aware of current megatrends, key sectors, pragmatic and innovative ideas, successful cultural systems, technology risks, community collaboration systems, and strategies in order to have a successful mandate period. The objective of the present invention is to have a global, interactive, pragmatic, efficient, cost-competitive, and multilingual digital framework through the integration and combination of virtual reality tools, videos, behavioral technologies, educational technologies, smart-phone technology, and artificial intelligence (among other technologies) supporting local governments with better decision support tools to develop secure, sustainable, collaborative, resilient, and economically competitive municipalities. To better understand the purpose of the present methods, processes, systems, and technologies, the following paragraphs describe how global megatrends may impact municipalities during the coming decades.

[0003] MEGATRENDS: Municipalities and local governments will face important challenges during the following decades. Some of the global trends are so strong, that may behave as megatrends impacting several sectors and countries around the world. These megatrends may have important impacts on municipalities and cities such as the creation of government deficits, inefficient democratic systems, poverty, refugee crisis, regional chaos, and political unrest. These megatrends may also impact regional economies creating conditions for regional conflicts, a higher competition for regional resources, and consequently, exacerbating nationalistic sentiments among nations. Thus, global leaders must take into consideration some of the most important megatrends affecting global municipalities, which can be summarized in 12 areas. For the purpose of developing the present invention, these megatrends are defined as: (Ml) demographic growth, (M2) urbanization, (M3) climate change, (M4) natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, meteorites, etc.), (M5) pandemics/epidemics, (M6) high reliance on IT/artificial intelligence, (M7) global economic interdependence, (M8) decentralized terrorism, (M9) resource depletion (e.g. environmental degradation), (M10) cybersecurity, (Mi l) economic volatility, and (M12) exponential global innovation (e.g. emerging technologies). These 12 megatrends are creating the need to develop more intelligent, secure, sustainable, resilient, collaborative, and economically competitive municipalities. However, these megatrends will have a different impact depending on the specific municipality, state, and country. Some of the impacts on municipalities are described in the following paragraphs.

[0004] Ml -Population Growth (FIG. I) ² : Although population growth rate has decreased in some parts of the world, it is still expected that more people will be living in the planet by 2050 as shown in FIG.1. The world never had experienced the current level of global population, and perhaps it is difficult to realize the speed of change that our planet is experiencing. Even though some countries experience negative population growth, most emerging economies will experience an accelerated growth. According to the UN, the world's two most populated countries alone, China and India, together constitute about 37% of the world's population. It is expected that during the 21st Century India will be the most populated country in the world. For instance, the Population Reference Bureau highlights that "the global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 7 billion in 2012. Global population is expected to keep growing, where estimates have put the total population at 8.4 billion by mid-2030, and 9.6 billion by mid-2050". ³ The Economist magazine highlights UN statistics mentioning that the world will have 11.2 billion inhabitants by 2100 ⁴ This could mean higher densities in cities, more demographic changes, and more consumption creating more difficult conditions to municipalities to provide services such as water, health, energy, transportation, waste

² Economist. (2015). Retrieved from: http://www.econormst.com ogs/graphicdetail/2015/08/daily-chart-growth-areas

³ Population Reference Bureau (2013). "2013 World Population Facisheet". www.pbr.org. Population Reference Bureau. Retrieved 5 December 2014.

⁴ Economist (2015) Retrieved ftom http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/08/daily-c hart-growth-areas management, education, and security. Therefore, it is highly likely that more people in the municipal systems will create more complexity for government leaders and investors.

[0005] M2 - Urbanization (FIG. 2) ^s : The world has experienced a level of urbanization, as never seen before in human history as well. The United Nations (UN) projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008. According to the UN, by 2050 it is predicted that 64.1% and 85.9% of the developing and developed world respectively will be urbanized. ⁶ This accelerated and unplanned urbanization, especially in the developing world, could create problems related to floods, land use, migration, climate change issues, poverty, sanitation problems, higher unemployment, terrorism, and more crime. For instance, obligatory or unplanned migration often results in rapid slums growth. Also, some municipalities could experience an accelerated growth in good and services required by their inhabitants. Finally, higher population densities may create more complexity at the time of modifying existing transportation, land use, security systems, border control, energy, water, and health systems.

[0006] M3 - Climate Change (FIG. 3) ⁷ : Climate change may be one of the most important challenges impacting and disrupting municipalities. Floods, heat waves, droughts, hurricanes, and snow torments combined with new real estate developments, new land use, and less physical space, could create disruptions and extreme economic losses when disasters related to climate change occur. Also, these disasters may create unexpected deficits in the budgets of municipalities (see also FIG. 4). Due to higher population densities and to the potential effects of climate change, cities and municipalities may become more vulnerable to natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, and droughts creating more stress and volatility in regional systems and unplanned government deficits.

⁵ UN. (2014). Concise Report of The World Population Situation in 2014. Department of Economic and Social A airs Population Division.

ST/ESA/SER.A/354

⁶ UN. (2014). World Urbanization Prospects.

⁷ Economist. (2016). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/01/climate -change [0007] M4 - Natural Disasters (e.g. Volcanic eruptions, meteorites, earthquakes, etc.) (FIG. 4) ^% : Other natural disasters non-related to climate change such as earthquakes, tsunamis, meteorites, changes in the earth's magnetic field, solar explosions, and others events, might be more difficult to predict in order to prepared for their impact. However, some of these events are more likely to happen in certain areas. The challenge is that some municipalities in the world have been developed without always taking into consideration the risks of these events or without applying the best international standards to face such events. For instance, the volcanic eruptions in Chile during 2011 and Iceland during 2010 had important effects on the air traffic control significantly impacting some regions. Although these events were "moderate", other future events could be stronger having devastating events in the world economy, interrupting global supply chains, and creating uncertainty in global markets. These events would create less economic growth, less employment, migration, and more stress in the global system. Another example is the Fukushima disaster in Japan during 2011, which had important short-term effects in the regional economies and had devastating effects in the area stopping the supply chains of certain auto-parts needed to manufacture cars in other parts of the world.

[0008] Other examples could be the Nepal earthquake and the Hurricanes Rita/Katrina/Sandy in the USA. These are clear examples of how natural disasters could impact the economy of municipalities how these events may create severe impact in the governmental budgets. These events create the necessity of developing more interdependent systems combined with decentralized systems to ensure the short-term supply of energy, water, and food supplies in case of any natural disaster, wars, or other unexpected events. For instance, communities that consume less water on a per-capita basis (because of the water conservation technologies) may be more resilient in case of natural disasters,

" Economist. (2014). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/node/18488306?zid=313&ah=fe2aac 0bl ladef572d67aed9273b6e55 once these communities will need fewer water resources to survive in case of any shortage. Finally, although not all goods can be produced locally, it would be convenient that municipalities and cities have resource efficiency systems a level of local production to increate the city resilience and security.

[0009] M5 - Epidemics, Engineered Pandemics, and Antibiotic Resistance (FIG. 5) ⁹ : A highly interconnected world where any person can be physically at any part of the world within 12 hours creates a high level of interconnectivity where an epidemic can easily become a pandemic in a matter of days. Also, the antibiotic resistance lately developed in our society has created more vulnerability scenarios in the areas of pandemics and vaccines resistance. Additionally, advances in the biotech and genomic science have created the capability to governments to develop engineered pandemics without fully knowing the consequences that such bioweapons could bring to the world (creating existential risks for humanity). These scenarios are important aspects to consider for cities and municipalities at the time of developing their plans in the area of public health and economy. For instance, Ebola, SARS, and NlHl, had considerable negative social effects in the economy and created unexpected economic crisis in some of the municipalities.

[0010] M6 - High Reliance on Information Technologies/ AI (FIG. 6) ¹⁰ : Internet and Information Technologies have been one of the most disruptive technologies in the last 30 years. They have transformed the way societies communicate, develop businesses, create new knowledge, and manage organizations. Information technologies have improved the economy and also have been a catalyzer of progress. On there other hand, information technologies have made societies more dependent on them putting at risk personal information, security, the economy, intellectual property, and basic

⁹ Economist. (2016). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21695036-crises4nfecti ous-diseases-are-becoming-more-common- world-should-be-better-prepared

¹⁰ Economist. (2015). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21700380-connected-ho mes-will-take-longer-materialise-expected- where-smart infrastructure. Among the most important trends related to this issue are: A higher reliance of information systems, that without proper information security standards and good governance frameworks, can create important challengers for the resilience of municipalities; A higher reliance of Information Technologies will increase cyber-threats in municipalities, businesses, and communities; And finally, an attack to basic information technologies infrastructure could disrupt most of the energy/water/food supply systems creating challenging circumstances to municipalities. Therefore, a higher reliance on IT (specially in infrastructure) may put municipalities at risky situations in case the IT systems fail. Also, it is important to mention that IT systems may entirely collapse due to wars or natural disasters affecting infrastructure in areas such as energy, water, health systems, food, transportation systems and creating long-term devastating effects to municipalities.

[0011] M7 - Globalization and Economic Interdependence (FIG. 7) ⁿ : The global economic systems had never been as interconnected as they are nowadays. One clear example of this is how the financial crisis of 2009 impacted all global economies in the world. The links between stock exchanges have increased market efficiencies, but also have increased the interdependency among different economies. A clear sign of this can be seen on FIG. 7 where the amount of global trade has increased dramatically in the last decades as never seen before in human history. And it seems that global trade will continue in this way for the next 20 years. Therefore, a model of total autarky looks less likely in the most important economies in the world, unless technology is so embedded in the economy that it could significantly decrease the amount of good and services needed at a local level. But so far, in many countries most airplanes, computers, cars, machinery, clothes and other things are being invented, designed, manufactured, and sold in different parts of the world and it is not

¹¹ Economist. (2015). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/10/global- trade-graphics expected that within the next 20 years this trend could be dramatically different unless one megatrend is strong enough affecting this megatrends during the following decades.

[0012] M8 - Decentralized Terrorism (FIG. 8) ¹² : Terrorism has significantly increased in the last decades. Globalization, population growth, and a higher urbanization rate have created riskier circumstances for municipal governments. Although most of the terrorist activities are located in certain regions, it is important to consider that future wars could be developed in cities following a guerrilla/terrorism behavior. Municipalities in the future will need to be better communicated and resilient enough to face significant terrorist attacks. For instance, an attack to local infrastructure may disrupt most of the important activities in the city. Municipalities having decentralized and interconnected supply chains of energy, water, and food could react in a much better way. Resource efficiency is another aspect to consider. Efficient water and energy systems could minimize the impact of the terrorist attacks to infrastructure. Decentralized terrorism, in-house terrorism, radicalism, and globalized terrorism could represent important challenges impacting the security planning process of cities and municipalities. Consequently, it is convenient to be well aware that a small group of people could create a huge impact in municipalities paralyzing the municipalities and creating profound economic impacts on the public finances, and municipal government should have the best security technologies and community strategies to overcome such challenges.

[0013] M9 - Resource Depletion/Environmental Degradation (FIG. 9) ¹³ : The world does not have a problem of resources; it is more a problem of how resources are produced, managed, traded, and consumed. Resources such as water, energy, forests, and materials can be abundant in some regions, but scarce in some other regions. For instance, some municipalities may be stressed because of water scarcity, poor soil, poor energy sources, food insecurity, etc. And then these municipalities should

¹² (Economist, 2015). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/l l/daily-chart-12

¹³ (Economist, 2012). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/node/17460954 ask themselves how many days of water, energy, and food have in case any disaster impacted the city. But other municipalities may have abundant sources of water and food, but limited quantity of energy making municipalities to prioritize in other areas. Therefore, resource depletion and environmental degradations may happen on a regional level and trade agreements may minimize these risks. If there were not trade agreements, then these resources would not reach markets that do not have such resources. Additionally, population growth and a growing middle class in the global economy is putting under stress our ecosystems and natural resources. Although technology has played an important role in decoupling prosperity with the consumption/use of natural resources, the consumption rate may be still higher in some regions than the rate of sustainable production, or also could be the case that the consumption processes do not follow the best standards, creating scenarios of environmental degradation. Global central banks and the international monetary systems also play an important role on this issue. If more credit is created in the economy, more consumption would be created, and then a higher inflation may take place incentivizing the commodities companies to extract more resources (unless new technologies or international agreements organizing sustainable production are in place in the coming decades). This could create a higher consumption habits in some municipalities creating long-term and unsustainable consumption habits. However, resource efficiency technologies, higher urbanization rates, and smart city systems could decrease the correlation between resource intensive uses and sustainable economic development. And here is where municipalities should be aware of and understand the consumption/production equation of their critical resources.

[0014] M10 - Cybersecurity (FIG. 10) ¹⁴ : The current digital age has forced citizens, governments, and organizations to deposit key information in digital systems that could be vulnerable by cyber- attacks. Cybersecurity issues have increased in the last years at a time that more citizens have

¹⁴ Economist. (2014). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21606416-compan ies-markets-and-countries-are-increasingly- under-attack-cyber-criminals become highly depend on information technologies to carry out their daily activities. As more information technologies are used in our societies, more cybersecurity issues may rise. Therefore, cybersecurity risks in municipalities have become an extremely important issue to consider when protecting the information and critical infrastructure that governments, organizations, and citizens use to carry out their daily activities. For instance, the private sector has already shown its awareness of the impact of cybersecurity risks, which can be appreciated in FIG. 10. Consequently, municipalities must be fully aware of this megatrend that may impact all municipalities during the 21 ^st century.

[0015] Mil - Economic Volatility (FIG. 11) ¹⁵ : The global interconnectedness together with other megatrends could reduce the elasticity and resiliency capacity of global markets. The chaos effect, systemic risks, and the lack of effective global frameworks governing the global economy could have enormous implications to small and medium size municipalities having long-term detrimental effects on their economies and finances, generating more migration and creating poor infrastructure. The world had never been as economically interconnected as it is today. On one side, globalization has created an interconnected system developing economic efficiencies, offering cheaper goods and services, and creating more innovation. But on the other side, this connection has also created a higher occurrence of systemic risks where the chaos theory or butterfly effect could be a more frequent phenomenon. In the future, a higher level of interconnectivity could create more market volatility where a higher demand of goods could create more volatility in the commodities markets and drastically impacting the economies of municipalities. This can be appreciated with the volatility of energy prices impacting local economies and decreasing the predictability of future expenses or economic development (as it happened during the oil peak prices in 2008). The world is currently more interconnected in terms of news and events and the rapid flow of information can create higher

¹⁵ Economist. (2016). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/news/economic-and-financial4ndicato rs/21662566-market-volatility volatility in the markets, even though this information is not confirmed yet or may lack the quality or reliable sources.

[0016] Ml 2 - Exponential Global Innovation / Emerging Technologies (FIG. 12) ¹⁶ : The combination of population growth, Internet, higher education levels, and scientific competition derived from globalization, has created a high volume of innovations and patents around the world as it can be shown in FIG. 12. The innovation equation may be simple, more educated people with higher access to scientific papers, and knowledge, would accelerate the creation of innovations and technologies around the world. But new scientific discoveries and emerging technologies may have advantages and disadvantages. For instance, one advantage is the impact that such technologies could have on the efficiency of the economy (e.g. information, transportation, communication, etc.). On the other hand, these technologies also might represents important risks to be aware of such as engineered pandemics or a high reliance in automated systems (artificial intelligence systems) that could put municipalities into a more vulnerable positions if technologies are not properly used. Therefore, it is important for municipalities to understand such risks in order to develop a proper municipal plan taking into consideration new inventions and innovations around the world.

Γ00171 MUNICIPAL CHALLENGES: The combination of the megatrends explained above, with short-term political thinking, with inefficient/ineffective municipal strategies, and with an inefficient coordination between some NGOs; may force city mayors, CEOs, and citizens to find and to develop technology solutions, innovations, and strategies related to security, resilience, collaboration, sustainability, and economic competitiveness. Whether governments and citizens believe or not in climate change, megatrends such as population growth, global competition, new demographics, national security issues, economic interdependence, cybersecurity threats, and an increased rate of

¹⁶ Economist. (2014). Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/node/21660559 natural disasters; are creating the need of more secure, sustainable, resilient, collaborative, intelligent, and self-sustained municipalities and organizations. Therefore, there is a clear opportunity to develop inventions, methods, processes, technologies, and systems that globally connect municipal leaders and citizens with technology leaders, strategies, visions, innovators and city developers through the use of digital technologies, innovative processes, thinking improvement technologies, and development methods. These methods, systems and processes will make possible to development of secure, sustainable, resilient, and economic municipalities around the world.

[0018] The Problem of Short-Term Thinking in Politics: Although it is not always the case, some political systems may tend to make their decisions following a short-term thinking oriented in just winning the next election. Some governments and politicians may just want to win the election and make short-term thinking choices to win the next election. And therefore, they might not be investing in long-term strategies because these investments would not support them to win the next election. Other governments may follow a short-term thinking because they do not have the resources to apply long-term strategies. Also, there might be other governments that make short-term investments in technologies that may work for a brief period of time, but that might not be working after the government term is finished creating a situation of unaccountability with future operational expenses and technology guarantee problems. Other governments may not have the vision or might not be aware of how these megatrends might impact them, or decision makers might not have the necessary knowledge or education to develop competitive, long-term, resilient, and sustainable municipal plans. Therefore, short-term thinking can create risky conditions in some municipalities, or the lack of proper information in the area of city planning and technologies could create scenarios where resources are not properly invested creating a situation of deficits or inadequate use of resources. Therefore, it is indeed necessary to make global governments aware of these megatrends, but also it is necessary to develop long-term and transparent models in the area of global city/municipal planning, city resilience, sustainability, and municipal security. Additionally, it is also needed to create a better connection between cities that may have the same necessities rather than just connecting cities because they belong solely to the same country. New York, Shanghai, London, Paris, Nairobi, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Mexico City, Sao Paulo may have similar challenges compared to the challenges faced in Austin, Freiburg, Curitiba, Boulder, Beppu, Mainz, or Oxford (which would be smaller communities with different transportation needs). And still, it is important to understand that there are still differences between cities, because of climatic conditions, demographic, governance culture, education, and development level. Finally, it is important to mention that the knowledge required for decision-making in municipalities in some cases may lack the necessary quality or may not be properly distributed among all decision-makers. Each city may have different circumstances and needs, and therefore, solutions should be designed according to their specific municipal circumstances taking into consideration global standards and examples. Therefore, it is important to internationally connect municipalities that have similar needs and challenges willing to have a long-term thinking.

[0019] Why Municipalities? National solutions still may work in some situations and it is still important to have a level of centralization in governmental systems to deal with national issues. However, to tackle future megatrends challenges in the areas of security, sustainability, resilience, and economic competitiveness, it is needed also a higher level of regionalization to customize solutions to specific needs. Here is the importance of not only connecting municipal leaders, but also the need to connect city managers, city advisors, city planers, politicians and other stakeholders under a digital framework focused on key sectors, systems sizes, and taking into consideration the potential impact of megatrends described in the background section of this invention. Municipalities can be the central unit to develop and implement the necessary actions on a regional level. As of the year 2012, there were approximately 19,500 municipalities just in the USA according to the US Census Bureau ¹¹ . According to the UN, there are more than 4,400 cities above 100,000 inhabitants in the world as of 2015. But most of the municipalities in the world may have less than 100,000 thousand inhabitants and some of these municipalities might not have the budget to educate government staff as bigger municipalities can do. Therefore, a global digital framework is an excellent way to connect smaller municipalities with global solutions, without incurring in high costs and by taking into consideration municipality size, climatic conditions, geography, etc. to share innovations under a framework aligned to develop secure, resilient, sustainable, and economically competitive municipalities.

[0020] A Cost-Effective Global Framework: A global framework creates a great opportunity to learn from other municipalities in the world with similar needs and conditions. Also, a global digital framework including key sectors could make possible to connect better solutions with specific needs and opens spaces for global collaboration and innovation. The world currently faces challenging megatrends and an efficient, agile, and effective global framework is needed to face such complex global challenges. The methods, processes, key sectors, and systems integrated in a digital framework can create a technological tool for global governments to develop secure, sustainable, resilient, and economically competitive municipalities without always having the need to travel long distances to learn about the best municipal and city ideas. For instance, a digital framework using virtual reality, videos, and 3D systems has also the benefit of being periodically updated where city planning professional would not need to travel constantly to discover new ideas, solutions, or implementation results. Finally, the latest development of multimedia technologies, mobile/smartphone technology, and new frameworks, systems, and methods allow the creation of cost-effective possibilities to municipalities and citizens around the world no matter what budget the local government has to learn about new innovations and development ideas.

¹⁷ US Census Bureau. (2012) [0021] Inefficient Alternatives: Currently, there is not a global, digital, interactive, with a systems thinking approach, and with a holistic framework efficiently providing specific solutions to key sectors and taking into consideration systems size, megatrends impacting the world, location, and key sectors focused on developing the sustainable, secure, resilient, collaborative, intelligent, and economically competitive municipalities. Additionally, most of the current alternatives that exist in several platforms may not be as interactive as needed, and do not integrate virtual reality, 3D systems, smart-phone technology, videos, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence modules. Also, most of the current alternatives that provide information and solutions to municipalities are not holistic and are just focused on a couple of sectors leaving away other sectors that might be highly critical for the implementation of specific solutions. Most of the existing alternatives lack of a global approach, are just based on Internet databases, and do not follow a systemic and interdisciplinary approach (holistic approach) highly needed for municipal systems and for projects in the area of sustainable municipalities, economic competitiveness, community collaboration, resilient municipalities, and regional security. Finally, the information quality available on the Internet is not always segmented or properly organized, and videos describing certain strategies are not always found in a video database organized by sectors, municipal strategy, and systems size. Also, some of the global municipal leaders in the world (specially in remote areas) may lack good Internet access making it hard for them to receive updated information in the area of municipal development. Therefore, the lack of a global framework using the latest information and communication technologies (ICT) to connect inventors and technology leaders with city leaders and citizens, and to educate and connect local government officials, may represent an important area for the coming decades to face future challenges and opportunities.

[0022] Reducing the high volumes of disinformation: One of the main problems in regards information utilized to develop municipal plans and projects, is the high amount of low quality information (or misleading information) that can be found on the Internet. For instance, there are high volumes of videos in current search engines that do not have the necessary quality to be used in investment decision-making processes. Also, high quality information can be unidentified when it is mixed with high volumes of low quality information. However, by having a modest fee to share the information, some digital platforms could increase the validity and authenticity of the information provided, especially when this information is shared in competitive systems to offer solutions to governments. Additionally, digital information can be easily falsified, but when an information source is linked to a bank account, then the chances that the information is manipulated decrease because information sources normally can be traced back to a registered entity. Another important point is to ensure that the information is updated, complete, secure, and accurate. For instance, nowadays some search engines may show companies in a map as if these companies were still active, but in fact some of these companies might not be active or in service anymore creating just "junk" information in the system.

[0023] Finally, even though plenty information is on the Internet, sometimes this information is not organized properly with a well thought approach to solve specific problems, or it might be the case that the existing Internet algorithms (of the popular search engines) do not always provide the best technology suppliers in the local area, once the search performed by the users do not use a framework defining an specific objective or need. Also, some of the information provided by some companies offering solutions may not be always updated because there is not a fee to force them to keep their information updated. Additionally, there might be the case that search engines are not be applying the correct or are applying a generic algorithm to the user, or that such algorithms are limited to a country level limiting users the possibility to find better solutions in other parts of the world. [0024] NEED/PROBLEM: This background provides a solid base to support the need of the present invention which is based on a framework integrated by methods, systems, processes, and technologies with an objective to support government leaders and citizens in the processes to develop secure, sustainable, resilient, collaborative, and economically competitive municipalities. The present invention intents to improve the critical thinking and strategic knowledge of elected leaders and citizens following a systems thinking approach to make them aware of short and long- term challenges and providing them with a global vision to develop secure, sustainable, resilient, and economically competitive systems. Furthermore, it is important to acknowledge that the 12 megatrends mentioned on this document will have important impacts in our civilization during this century. Demographic growth, urbanization, climate change, natural disasters, epidemics, high reliance on IT/artificial intelligence, global economic interdependence, decentralized terrorism, environmental degradation/resource depletion, cybersecurity risks, economic volatility, and exponential global innovation/emerging technologies (e.g. Biotech, Artificial Intelligence, Nanotech) are dramatically impacting our civilization as never seen before in human history. These megatrends are creating a high stress in municipal systems, are creating high volumes of information, high volatility, more uncertainty, complex systemic risks, and new challenges in the area of decisionmaking processes for government leaders and investors. In addition, inadequate decision-making, disinformation, inadequate city planning, unexpected budget deficits due to natural disasters or economic volatility, and a higher stress in the global systems may create more economic crisis triggering regional conflicts, a lack of global collaboration, uncontrolled events (e.g. pandemic), a poor rule of law, more corruption, and apocalyptic wars. Thus, it is important to understand the implications and how this context can create difficult challenges for municipalities and organizations in the area of security, sustainability, resilience, collaboration, and economic competitiveness. [0025] On the other hand, our civilization has all the resources to face these challenges, perhaps the variable that missing is to improve the kind of thinking to make more adequate decisions. With the existing technologies and with only a small percentage of the population, it could possible to produce the goods and services that the entire global population needs. Therefore, it is not a problem of availability of resources or technologies, or not even a problem of knowledge. The problem is the lack of a global framework to improve decision-making; it is the lack of scientific thinking in governmental decisions; and in some cases, is the kind of thinking of some elected leaders. Perhaps, the most difficult challenge is how to deal with human behavior or kind of thinking. As previously mentioned, Albert Einstein highlighted that "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them". Therefore, we need a different kind of thinking during the 21 ^st century.

[0026] SOLUTION: The present methods, systems, processes, and technologies have four main objectives: (1) To provide world-class digital knowledge, education, media, visions, and solutions to elected city mayors/governors and citizens in order to improve their critical thinking, city visions, and behavior during the process of developing secure, sustainable, intelligent, collaborative, resilient, and economically competitive systems; (2) To make this knowledge thinking systems technically available to all municipalities in the world at a cost-effective manner; (3) To apply the latest technologies in the area of virtual reality for municipal planning, artificial intelligence, augmented reality systems, digital advisory systems, and critical thinking improvement technologies to support global leaders, developers, and investors around the world; (4) and finally, to improve the kind of thinking following a top-bottom approach by applying the strategy of leading by example. People from the bottom would not improve their thinking if they see that their leaders are being successful by following inadequate practices. [0027] The invention focuses on effectively educating, connecting, and improving the kind of thinking of top leaders and citizens of more than 100,000 municipalities around the world by making them aware of current megatrends, key sectors, innovative ideas, successful societies, proven technologies, and strategies in order to have a successful municipality. The objective is to have a global, interactive, and multilingual digital framework using virtual reality tools, videos, improving human thinking technologies, smart-phone technology, and artificial intelligence systems supporting municipalities, city planning staff, and intelligent cities with ideas and plans for the development of secure, sustainable, resilient, collaborative, intelligent, and economically competitive governmental organizations. City mayors, governors, city staff, congress, and smart citizens will have at their hands city cases, technologies, ideas, digital advisory systems, and strategies to design and plan their municipality, city, neighborhoods, or households by taking into consideration global trends and the concepts of security, sustainability, collaboration, resilience, and economic competitiveness.

[0028] Impact, Outcomes, and Beneficiaries: The methods, systems, processes and technologies included in the proposed framework intend to be global where leading technology leaders, NGOs, local distributors, developers, and advisors will have the access to exchange knowledge about municipal solutions, ideas, concepts, and strategies to intelligent governments, private sector, and to citizens. The direct beneficiaries will be the city mayors, governors, city planning offices, technology manufacturers, developers, and citizens who are truly willing to develop more secure, sustainable, economically competitive, collaborative, and resilient communities. It is expected that the solution may have a long-term cultural change where elected government officials will be more aware of the long-term effects of megatrends and of the potential solutions needed to tackle future challenges. [0029] Potential Alternatives: At this moment there is not a holistic global digital framework utilizing artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D systems, situational algorithms, and videos taking into consideration megatrends and being organized by key systems, key sectors, and technology strategies supported by digital technologies specifically designed to cover the areas of security, sustainability, resilience, collaboration, and economic competitiveness. Advisory firms, city advisors, some governmental institutions, and NGOs may provide sometimes a level non cost- effective support to municipalities. However, these entities normally don't share all the strategic information, may provide just theoretical support, and normally could be linked to a specific technology company or country with a potential existence of a conflict of interest. The proposed digital framework invention intends to be a global platform for any solution provider or government supplier willing to participate and to provide with ideas and solutions to municipalities and citizens. It also offers a cost-effective way to provide global municipal visions for key sectors and to explain the interactions of sectors and megatrends to smaller municipalities that may not have the resources to obtain high-quality knowledge related to this matter. Besides, by using more segmented and visual methods, rather than just written methods, the platform intents to provide more realistic scenarios and ideas to leaders in order to improve their critical thinking at the time of developing municipalities or households.

[0030] Although some search engines platforms may connect governments with technology companies through limited databases, it is not done following a well defined framework covering the current megatrends, segmenting solutions depending on complexity, and identifying the key sectors affected by megatrends. The existing search engines normally provide information in high volumes and are not always organized by following a framework to efficiently connect users with adequate technologies in order to develop secure, resilient, sustainable, collaborative, and economically competitive cities/municipalities. Finally, it is important to mention that the high volumes of information coming from unpaid sources could make sometimes information less reliable and valid, or good information might be difficult to identify because this information could be unidentified due to the high volume of information generated by the search engine algorithms, which may not be always prioritizing the best information. It is expected that a paid-based system might improve the quality and authenticity of companies listed in the technology platform.

[0031] Theory Supporting the Thinking Process Improvement Technology: The use of virtual reality systems, augmented reality, and videos, combined with written reports, can provide better results and the time of transmitting knowledge to improve the thinking of elected leaders, to communicate city strategies, and to support leaders and citizens at the time of developing secure, sustainable, resilient, collaborative, and economically competitive municipalities. According to Cisco (2012), video technology can be extremely effective to education and to improve the thinking processes of people. For instance, in one report published by Cisco, it is mentioned that in the area of knowledge transfer and memory "the learner may remember and retain concepts better than with other instructional media" ¹⁸ . This creates a perfect opportunity for municipal leaders and citizens who are willing to obtain high quality knowledge to develop better municipalities. For instance, Ahn, S. et al (2013) highlight that "Immersive virtual environment technology (IVET) provides users with vivid sensory information that allow them to embody another person's perceptual experiences" ¹⁹ . These technologies may provide excellent support at the time of developing vision in the area of city planning, to create empathy with less privileged communities, to develop architecture plans, to understand national security scenarios, to visualize transportation systems, and to develop municipal plans. It also provides the possibility to transmit this knowledge to leaders located in remote areas, to leaders that do not have access possibility to travel, and also has the advantage that the information can be continuously updated and consulted as many times as the user needs it.

(7) Brief Summary of the Invention

Γ00321 GLOBAL DIGITAL FRAMEWORK TO IMPROVE THINKING AND DECISION PROCESSES IN MUNICIPALITIES: The present invention consists of methods, systems, processes, and technologies integrating a global digital technology platform focused on developing secure, sustainable, resilient, collaborative, intelligent, and economically competitive municipalities, organizations, and communities. The technology framework takes into consideration, but is not limited to, twelve megatrends, twelve sectors, and seven technology modules with the objective of developing secure, sustainable, resilient, and economically competitive governmental systems. The twelve sectors are divided in different systems depending on the size and complexity. The technology modules act as a catalyst to improve the thinking processes of elected leaders and to connect municipal governments and citizens with technology companies, NGOs, advisory firms, and city developers. The intended use of the present invention is to provide to city mayors, city advisors, NGOs, governors, citizens, investors, city planning professionals, industries, and communities; with better digital tools to design cities, buildings, transportation systems, regional security strategies, and communities aligned to the best international practices in the area of energy, education, water, health, security, information technologies (IT), transportation, construction, food, environment, waste, and finance. The methods, systems, and processes included in this invention follow a systemic thinking approach and take into consideration the location, profiles, sector interactions, and the specific needs of users by utilizing algorithms and technology strategies that would function as a personalized intelligent advisor guiding technology users to innovations and technologies. The invention works as a new communication system using, but not limited to, videos, virtual reality tools, augmented reality systems, interactive forums, virtual markets, artificial intelligence systems, thinking process improvement technologies, and global strategic knowledge to assist organizations in developing intelligent, sustainable, collaborative, secure, and resilient municipalities during the 21 ^st century. One of the objectives is to communicate knowledge to improve the thinking processes of elected leaders and citizens for the development of secure, economically competitive, sustainable, and resilient organizations during the 21st century by providing the correct solution to the specific organizational needs.

(8) Brief description of the several views of the drawing (if any)

Not Applicable

(9) Detailed Description of the Invention

Γ00331 CONCEPTUAL MODEL: Before the present invention is described with more details, it is necessary to explain that this invention (methods, processes, and systems) is not limited to the particular areas described, since its application may vary to different organizational needs and it also may vary the number of methods, processes, and systems. Also, the framework is not intended to be limited to the current entities, modules, or technologies used, since the methods, processes and systems could use other technologies and modules to carry out the specific objectives of the invention.

[0034] INVENTION: The present invention consists of methods, systems, technologies, and processes that integrate a global digital technology platform focused on developing secure, sustainable, resilient, collaborative, intelligent, and economically competitive municipalities, industries, organizations, and communities. The technology framework takes into consideration twelve current megatrends (FIG.l - FIG.12) that impact three main systems (FIG.13). The methods, systems, and processes take into consideration the interaction of megatrends, systems, and sectors, which can be appreciated in the main conceptual model (FIG. 14). The digital global framework integrating the processes, methods, systems, and technologies can work together or independently to improve the security, sustainability, collaboration, resilience, and economic competitiveness of organizations and municipalities (FIG. 15). The global framework (FIG. 16) is applied through a digital platform containing systems, methods, and technologies segmented in three systems depending on size and complexity (FIG. 17) in such manner that can facilitate the application and understanding of technologies and solutions in accordance to the structure of governmental systems, municipal systems, community systems, and economic systems. The technology platform covers twelve sectors (FIG. 18) and provides, but is not limited to, seven innovation modules (FIG. 19). The seven technology modules (FIG 20 - FIG. 26) cover the twelve key sectors for municipalities, cities, organizations, and communities. The technology framework utilizes the seven technology modules as a catalyst to connect municipal governments and citizens with technology leaders, NGOs, and with city developers and to improve the thinking processes of elected leaders and citizens. These modules are: Video Directory (FIG. 20); Digital Advisor (FIG. 21); Interactive Forums (FIG. 22); International Tender Center (FIG. 23); Video Social Network (City Leaders/NGOs) (FIG. 24); Municipal Planning Virtual Reality Systems (FIG. 25); and Technology Strategy (FIG. 26). The intended use of the present invention is to facilitate and optimize the process of providing virtual reality systems, digital information, concise knowledge, multimedia social networks, and a virtual space to communicate advanced knowledge to different users around the world (FIG. 29). These users can be city mayors, governors, city planning advisors, NGOs, citizens, investors, city planning professionals, industries, developers, and communities among others who are looking to develop economically competitive, secure, sustainable, intelligent, healthy, and resilient organizations. The methods, systems, processes of the framework follows a systemic thinking approach and take into consideration the location, profiles, sector interactions, and the specific needs of users supported by smart-phones, tablets, virtual reality systems, augmented reality systems, artificial intelligence systems, and regionalized computer infrastructure (FIG. 28). The framework also offers an efficient and effective design to add content, to register solutions, to make payments, and to perform interactivity and knowledge exchange activities among users (FIG. 27).

[0035] MAIN OBJECTIVES: The current invention has a global and multilingual approach that collects, processes, and disseminates knowledge around the world to improve economic systems in four areas: security, sustainability, resilience, and economic competitiveness. The framework contains methods, systems, technologies, and processes that allow decision makers and investors to be aware of current trends, innovations, technologies, concepts, and strategies to develop agile and successful entities. The objectives of the invention are: (1) To provide knowledge, education, and solutions to elected government officials and citizens in order to improve their critical thinking, municipal visions, and behavior during the process of developing secure, sustainable, resilient, collaborative, and economically organizations; (2) To make knowledge technically available to all municipalities in the world at a cost-effective manner providing an efficient, effective, and an innovative interactive space to solutions providers, advisors, and decision makers to develop more secure, sustainable, resilient, and economically competitive organizations; (3) To apply the latest technologies in the area of virtual reality for municipal planning, artificial intelligence systems, augmented reality systems, digital advisory, and critical thinking improvement technologies to support global leaders, developers, and investors around the world in their investment decisionmaking processes; (4) To allow leaders from smaller communities and cities to have access to world- class knowledge, systems, and development ideas in key sectors to develop intelligent communities without the need of travelling to remote areas; (5) To leverage on emerging technologies (3D systems, virtual reality, algorithms, artificial intelligence, behavioral technologies, etc.) to globally provide real experiences and visions to city mayors, governments, and citizens around the world; (6) To efficiently and effectively connect global technology manufacturers, distributors, inventors, and developers with city mayors, city planning staff, tenders offices, smart citizens, community leaders, and remote villages; (7) To increase the quality of the information provided on the Internet (and android applications for off-line systems) by only uploading solutions from valid entities and institutions, or from citizens/companies that have already proven the solution; (8) To decrease the amount of "junk" information available on the internet that could be used by some municipal leaders; (9) To increase the availability of high quality information by avoiding algorithms that provide just regional solutions and ideas and that do not include the best international practices; (10) And finally, to improve the thinking processes of elected leaders and citizens including, but not limited to, a top-bottom approach where the strategy of leading by example is applied in the society.

Γ00361 MAIN COMPONENTS (METHODS, SYSTEMS, TECHNOLOGIES & PROCESSES)

The proposed framework has been strategically divided in three systems: (a) Large Systems including, but not limited to, megacities, industrial systems, large scale technologies, utility systems, and large scale industries; (b) Medium Systems including, but not limited to, households, off-grid systems, small-businesses, commercial buildings, and big buildings; and finally, (b) Small Systems including, but not limited to, technology solutions and ideas for remote communities, slums, towns, and small villages. The framework also defines 12 strategic key sectors (FIG. 18) that are impacted by the 12 megatrends mentioned in the background section of this document. The framework is used to create a digital technology tool integrated, but not limited to, by seven modules used to have an interactive and efficient space to improve leader's thinking processes and to develop strategies for municipalities, cities, communities, and organizations.

[0037] MAIN SYSTEMS: The digital framework and conceptual model take into consideration the interactions between sectors and megatrends following a systems thinking approach in order to have an holistic understanding of the organization. Also, the framework is divided in three systems depending on the user, complexity, size, and technology strategy. This approach provides a more efficient and less complex way to provide interactively information to users by just providing specific solutions to specific needs using user's inputs and specific questions launched by programs. Although some search engines platforms may connect governments with technology companies through algorithms, it is not done following a well defined framework covering the current megatrends, segmenting solutions depending on complexity, and identifying the key sectors (FIG. 18) affected by megatrends, which simultaneously focus on the development of secure, sustainable, collaborative, resilient, and economically competitive municipalities. The existing search engines normally provide information in high volumes and are not always organized following a framework to efficiently connect users with adequate technologies in order to develop secure, collaborative, resilient, sustainable, and economically competitive cities. Finally, the high volumes of information coming from unpaid sources could make information less reliable and valid, or high quality information might be difficult to identify because it gets lost with a high volume of information generated by the search engine algorithms. Consequently, the users are divided in three large systems: large systems, medium systems, and small systems. However, the framework is flexible enough to divide systems in sub-systems depending on the development of future solutions.

[0038] Large Systems: The large systems section is created for large municipal systems, utilities, industries, and complex organizations where city mayors, municipal planning officers, city managers, Chief Operating Officers (CEO), government procure officers, and industrial parks can find an interactive framework to identify global ideas, strategies, networks, and technologies to develop intelligent organizations capable of facing future challenges and opportunities from coming megatrends. [0039] Medium Systems: The medium system section is designed for homeowners, small-businesses, off-grid systems, and commercial systems where smart citizens, neighborhoods, and small business owners can find solutions to develop smart buildings, secure communities, healthy living, and cost- effective resilient systems for their communities. Some of the innovations include transportation technologies, health technologies, water systems, off-grid systems and Do-It- Yourself (DIY) technologies focused on resource efficiency, healthy living, smart residential management systems, and sustainable architecture among others solutions.

[0040] Small Systems: The small systems section is designed to provide an interactive space where community leaders, NGOs, development banks, villages, towns, and citizens in remote areas can find affordable technologies and ideas to develop better communities, disaster recovery camps, and rural communities focusing on finding simple innovations and ideas in order to improve their health, education, food/energy/water security, resilience, security, and sustainability in their communities.

Γ00411 TECHNOLOGY MODULES: The methods, systems, and processes integrating the global digital framework include seven technology modules creating an innovation and learning space for municipalities and citizens. The seven modules target different needs and are designed to have a global approach covering the key sectors mentioned above. All modules have an scoring functionality used by the users/members in order to categorize and prioritize the quality of information provided in the platform. Each of the modules are described in the following paragraphs:

[0042] Module 1: Video Directory (FIG.20): The Video Directory module leads platform users to technology strategies and innovations for each one of the key sectors. This module allows technology manufacturers, technology distributors, local suppliers, and developers to upload/add links to video ads showing technologies, solution cases, documentaries, and application of technologies allowing governments and citizens to identify, to understand, and to visualize the application of such technologies and ideas around the world. The video directory shows and prioritizes relevant videos depending on their interest, location, and selections while using the digital framework.

[0043] Module 2: Digital Advisor (FIG.21): The digital advisor module provides a series of questions and algorithms to platform users (smart-phone/pc interfaces) supporting them in the identification and design of solutions to develop secure, resilient, sustainable, and economically competitive societies. It takes into consideration megatrends, critical national security questions, scenario analysis, local resources, demographics, consumption habits, and development frameworks related to technology companies, advisory firms, financiers, and development banks that could support municipalities in their design of city planning strategies. This module creates an interactive platform providing knowledge to municipal leaders by using artificial intelligence systems, design software, and virtual reality systems providing a cost effective method for small municipalities in the world to obtain and share high quality knowledge in order to make better investment decisions. The module has different algorithms depending on the systems size and physical location of the user.

[0044] Module 3: Interactive Forums (FIG.22): The interactive forum module provides a space to platform users to ask and answer questions in regards the specific technology and city innovation strategy that they are looking for. It also provides the space to technology leaders to become more aware of the market needs for each technology strategy and to discuss the technology advantages and disadvantages. Users will need to pay a modest membership to become part of the forum in such way that the risk of using fictitious accounts or posting irrelevant or misleading information could be minimized. The objective is that a minimum fee could have a positive effect on the quality of the information that is being exchanged.

[0045] Module 4: International Tender Center (FIG.23): The International Tender Center is a module where global governments can list tenders or get support in the design of tenders in the area of the municipal infrastructure in order to develop secure, sustainable, resilient, and economically competitive municipality. Important tenders in the area of high-speed trains infrastructure, municipal security, education technologies, cultural change technologies, municipal waste systems, IT solutions, public health, water systems, food security, energy security, sustainable transportation, etc. could be listed on this module in order to create a more efficient process at the time of investing in regionalized public infrastructure. The objective is to create a space for government tenders offices and solutions providers focused on creating secure, sustainable, resilient, and economically competitive municipalities and communities.

[0046] Module 5: Video Social Network (City Leaders) (FIG.24): The video social network module provides a mobile platform to city mayors, city managers, and governors around the world which may be regionalized by country and with the possibility of having contact with other city leaders through short videos by ensuring the authenticity of the message. Accounts sending text messages can be hacked and other people could impersonate city mayors delivering fictitious messages. Therefore, the use of short-videos would make hacking activities more difficult to achieve. With the video social network system, government leaders can communicate straight messages to the citizens without using intermediaries at the time of delivering urgent and important messages to the community. The application and platform is based on an open-source software national network to increase the coordination among city mayors in the nation in case of emergencies. The video social network application system also has the possibility of creating surveys among member and of posting announcements.

[0047] Module 6: Municipal Planning Virtual Reality Systems (FIG.25) : This module provides an interface to city mayors, governors, global government officials, city planners, city advisors, and NGOs leaders to visualize global cities, infrastructure projects, and successful municipalities through the use of virtual reality, videos, and augmented reality systems. This virtual reality tool is a cost- effective technology to support any municipal leader in the world in the process of developing city visions, technologies, architecture plans, and infrastructure plans without necessarily needing to be located at the place where the technology was deployed. It also will provide an efficient way to city mayors of smaller municipalities to have access to technologies and ideas that could support them in the creation of sustainable, resilient, secure, and economically competitive communities. Finally, the virtual reality systems also intends to work as a technology to improve the thinking processes of elected municipal leaders and citizens in areas related to security, resilience, collaboration, sustainability, and behavioral finance.

[0048] Module 7: Technology Strategy (FIG.26) : This module provides the description of more than 350 technology strategies in the sectors of education, security, energy, water, health, information technologies (IT), transportation, construction, food, environment, waste, and finance. Technology leaders have access to the module to provide knowledge and news about their technology strategy, advantages, and disadvantages. On the other hand, technology and innovation users are able to learn about the technology and its applications aligned to develop secure, sustainable, resilient, and economically competitive municipalities. Additionally, this technology module provides top potential distributors, technology suppliers, local distributors, and developers prioritizing solutions by scores provided by clients, or by physical location taking into consideration altitude and latitude coordinates. In FIG. 30 are included, but not limited to, some of the technologies integrating the digital framework.

Γ00491 TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT: The methods, methods, and systems integrated in the digital framework are supported but not limited by front-end technologies such as HTML, XML, JavaScript, or Python. The back-end technologies supporting the algorithms are also supported, but not limited to, by technologies such as MYSQL, Oracle Database, Linux, Unix, C++, C+, C, Go, Python, Java, Virtual Reality Software, among others. The global technology framework also includes mobile technology potentially using android, iOS, Android, C, C+, C++, Java, and Python among other smart-phone programming languages that allow easy access to content in remote areas without the need of conventional computers or Internet connection. The digital framework also contemplates the use of satellite communications, regional telecommunication systems, and other hardware necessary to carry out activities in the area of virtual reality, Internet, software, GPS technology, sensors technology, artificial intelligence, video technology, augmented reality, behavioral change technologies, sound technology, and other systems necessary to develop secure, resilient, sustainable, and economically competitive municipalities, organizations, households, and communities.