By 2050, over 80% of the population in developed countries is expected to live in cities. This number is expected to be over 60% for the developing world. The creation of smart cities enables a smooth transition to urbanization, with technological advances helping municipalities optimize resources for maximum value to the population, whether that value is financial, savings in time, or improvement in quality of life.
“Artificial Intelligence†(AI) has been the most funded technology innovation space in the past two years, with large investments coming from independent and corporate venture capital companies,” explained†Jillian Walker, Visionary Innovation Principal Consultant at Frost & Sullivan.
AI plays a key role in smart cities in the areas of smart parking, smart mobility, the smart grid, adaptive signal control, and waste management. Major corporations, such as†Google, IBM, and Microsoft, remain key tech innovators and the primary drivers of AI adoption.
Other significant findings include:
- Smart cities are anticipated to create huge business opportunities with a market value of over†$2 trillion†by 2025.
- AI, personalized healthcare, robotics, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), distributed energy generation†and other five technologies are believed to be the technological cornerstones of smart cities of the future.
- The†Asia-Pacific†region is anticipated to be the fastest-growing region in the smart energy space by 2025.
- In†Asia, more than 50% of smart cities will be in†China. Smart city projects will generate†$320 billion†for†China’seconomy by 2025.
- North America†(NA) has been quickly catching up, with many Tier II cities, such as†Denver†and†Portland, committed to building their smart city portfolios.
- The total†NA smart buildings market, comprising the total value of smart sensors, systems, hardware, controls, and software sold, is projected to reach†$5.74 billion†in 2020.
- Europe†will have the largest number of smart city project investments globally, given the engagement that the European Commission has shown in developing these initiatives.
- The†European e-hailing†market, central to cities developing smart mobility solutions, currently generates revenues of†$50 billion†and is estimated to reach†$120 billion†by 2025.
- In†Latin America,†cities actively developing smart city initiatives include:†Mexico City,†Guadalajara, Bogot√°,†Santiago,†Buenos Aires†and†Rio de Janeiro. In†Brazil, smart city projects will drive almost 20% of the overall†$3.2 billion†IoT revenue by 2021.
“Currently most smart city models provide solutions in silos and are not interconnected. The future is moving toward†integrated solutions†that connect all verticals within a single platform. IoT is already paving the way to allow for such solutions,” added†Vijay Narayanan, Visionary Innovation Senior Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
