Smart City Technology – Growing Global Market

Smart City Technology – Growing Global Market

smart city

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

The global smart cities market size was valued at $83.9 billion in 2019 and is expected to register a CAGR of 24.7% from 2020 to 2027, according to a forecast by grandviewresearch.com. 

All around the world, cities leverage technology to increase efficiencies and improve the quality of services and life for their residents. Smart city initiatives can cover anything from power distribution, transport systems, street lights, etc. using data and technology.

Cities are facing growing environmental, societal, and economic challenges. A report by McKinsey Global Institute found smart city technology can improve key quality of life indicators – such as the daily commute, health issues, or crime incidents – by 10 to 30 percent. The smart city concept has become part of the 4th industrial revolution, the advent of “cyber-physical systems” involving entirely new capabilities for people and machines through the extension of the impact of digitization.

Interested in learning more about smart city technology? Attend i-HLS’ InnoTech Expo in Tel Aviv – Israel’s largest innovation, HLS, and cyber technologies expo – on November 18-19, 2020. Meet InnoTech’s steering committee.

Making cities smarter is possible thanks to a combination of technology trends. Combining trends such as artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and autonomous vehicles can change the world and how we live in it, including cities.

According to forbes.com, smart city technology offers some promising solutions for better traffic flowing. For example, public transport routes can be adjusted in real-time according to demand, and intelligent traffic light systems can be used to improve congestion. In the Chinese city of Hangzhou, an AI-based smart “City Brain” has helped to reduce traffic jams by 15 percent.

In Spain, mobile and broadband company Telefonica has been investing heavily in smart city technology, such as sensors attached to refuse containers to report, in real-time, how full they are – which means refuse collectors don’t have to waste time traveling to bins that are only half-full. 

Smart cities can improve energy consumption by using technology to help closely monitor real-time energy use. For example, in Amsterdam, homes are being provided with smart energy meters that are designed to incentivize reduced energy consumption, and the city of Schenectady, New York is upgrading its street lights to LED technology, which allows the lights to be adjusted or dimmed based on real-time data.

Resident safety is enhanced thanks to the vast spread of Wi-Fi connectivity, IoT technologies, and CCTV cameras. In New Orleans, for example, real-time video data is analyzed in order to better track and allocate resources on the ground, and improve public safety.

Smart city technology encourages residents to get more involved. Common examples include apps that allow citizens to report local issues more easily, or community networking platforms that allow neighbors to connect and share resources. 

Attend i-HLS’ InnoTech Expo in Tel Aviv – Israel’s largest innovation, HLS, and cyber technologies expo – on November 18-19, 2020 at Expo Tel Aviv, Pavilion 2.

For details and registration