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Digital Transformation potential in Smart Cities

Digital transformation is a smart cities context is becoming an ever-higher priority. Urban populations worldwide are growing quickly, whilst urban residents place an increasing premium on sustainability and quality-of-life considerations. The net result is that cities must deliver more and higher quality services, whilst using less resources. Thus, the digital transformation of cities is to a great extent unavoidable.

A hidden benefit of the digital transformation of smart cities is that it allows for a greater density of economic activity, so allowing more and higher quality city services to be funded for city dwellers and commuters.

Nine key domains of change in Smart Cities

Overall, we have identified nine key domains of change in the Smart Cites sector that are enabled by digital transformation, as illustrated below.

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These domains of change are discussed in more detail in our report Digital Transformation in Smart Cities:

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The domains of change discussed in the report comprise:

  • Smart Traffic Management including traffic monitoring and parking space and toll booth monitoring systems that are used by city administrations to monitor and manage traffic flows.
  • Smart Streetlights which allow for the efficient use of electricity by adjusting brightness based on motion detection or other parameters and additionally promote safety. Often smart streetlights are also equipped with other monitoring and control capabilities.
  • Public Safety including connected and AI-enabled CCTV for assisting city administrations in surveillance and ensuring safety for citizens.
  • Waste Management including the use of smart waste bins to support efficient waste management.
  • Environment Monitoring including the monitoring of environmental pollutants.
  • Smart Mobility including new and emerging transportation modes that can reduce the use of private vehicles.
  • Integrated Transport Systems including the use of technical solutions and platforms that can provide near real-time public and private transport network data, covering multiple modes of travel in a single interface.
  • Smart Data Management including the collection and storage of data from multiple sources, including IoT devices, to provide a comprehensive unified data platform to support local authorities, businesses, and governments.
  • Wearable Cameras for Personal Protection including body-worn cameras used by first responders and other workers who interact with the general public to capture and store image data.

Collectively, the activities listed above will bring significant changes to the Smart Cities sector.

IoT and Smart Cities

IoT is one of the key technology groups impacting the Smart Cities sector and further detail and analysis of key IoT applications for the Smart Cities sector can be found in Transforma Insight’s Forecast Insight Reports. Some of these applications are directly relevant to the sector, whilst others are only indirectly related.

Directly related IoT applications and Forecast Insight Reports include:

  • Sea & River Transport – Connected commercial ships/boats, including fishing boats (and all associated IoT solutions), passenger ferries and similar. Excludes infrastructure such as ports.
  • Road Public Transport – Connections to buses, specifically related to their role as public transport vehicles, such as the provision of on-board connectivity. Covers urban and inter-city vehicles including private hire coaches and school buses. Excludes infrastructure such as bus stations.
  • Waste Management – Connected refuse bins (such as those provided by Big Belly Solar), aftermarket monitoring devices for wheelie bins, and other refuse collection systems.
  • Rail Transport – Connected freight railway locomotives and carriages, connected passenger railway carriages and locomotives. Includes connectivity for both asset tracking and for the provision of onboard connectivity services. Excludes connected advertising screens, which are covered under the Public Information & Advertising Screens Application Group. Excludes infrastructure such as railway stations or tracks.
  • Micromobility Vehicles – Micromobility typically refers to small and lightweight vehicles, usually operating below 25km/hr. The micromobility vehicles that are covered in this Application Group include bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, e-scooters and cargo bikes. They can be both human- or electric-powered but must retain the ability for human propulsion: electric motorcycles and mopeds can be found under the Vehicle Head Unit Application Group. This report concerns micromobility vehicles with connected features that are sold to consumers or enterprises and does not include any public or shared service vehicles. Shared micromobility vehicles are a part of the Bike & Scooter Sharing Application Group.
  • Public Alarms & Monitors – Public infrastructure for raising alarms and monitoring, such as for gunshot detection and location identification.
  • Public Information & Advertising Screens – Remotely updated billboards and (often interactive) customer and public information screens, including public transport. Includes customer information screens, static advertising (digital signage for the purposes of display of advertising in fixed locations from Times Square to a local bar), public transport advertising (digital signage for the purposes of display of advertising in a form of public transport, specifically buses and train carriages), culture and tourism (including diverse information screens and similar for the purpose of conveying information to tourists or delivering multimedia content), and transport information screens (departure and arrival boards at railway stations, bus stations and airports).
  • Parking Space Monitoring – Remote monitoring of parking spaces, both on-street and in car-parks, both public and private, to provide users and owners with information on occupancy and availability. This Application Group covers only the sensors and aggregation devices. Parking payment is dealt with in the Payment Processing Application Group.
  • Public Space Lighting – The monitoring, control and management of smart lighting for streets and other public spaces, typically provided by local government or utilities.
  • Environment Monitoring – The use of sensors to monitor for a diverse range of pollutants or other environmental factors. This might include CO2, flood water, radioactivity, seismic shock, or pollutants from industrial processes.
  • Infrastructure Monitoring – Includes monitoring of road and rail infrastructure, dams (including hydroelectric and tailing), levees, reservoirs, weirs, and pipelines, for the purpose of checking for structural issues, breakages, theft or other faults. Monitoring devices installed during construction projects counts within the Construction vertical but subsequently to the appropriate specific vertical (typically government) at point of handover.
  • Road Traffic Monitoring & Control – Diverse services associated with road infrastructure including road pricing infrastructure (infrastructure beside or above the road to ensure compliance with road tolls or other payment mechanism), in-vehicle devices for road tolls and other congestion charging schemes (device installed on the dashboard or windscreen to provide identification and verification for tolling and other similar purposes), connected road signs (e.g. variable speed limit signs, information boards and similar), traffic lights (intersection and crossing lights connected for the purposes of more efficiently managing traffic flows), and enforcement cameras (video cameras typically with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) used for ensuring drivers are complying with the law, e.g. not driving in bus lanes, multi-occupancy vehicles).
  • Autonomous Road Passenger Vehicles – Automated Road Passenger Vehicles contains autonomous vehicles primarily used to transport passengers on the road, this Application Group includes buses, coaches, minivans, as well as private vehicles. To be counted as part of this Application Group vehicles must be capable of operating at Level 3 of the SAE levels of autonomy. This level of automation requires the vehicle to monitor the environment and requires “the driving mode-specific performance by an automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic driving task.” In this Application Group the number of autonomous vehicles is represented by RGUs only, the vehicles’ connections will be found in the Vehicle Head Unit Application Group.
  • CCTV – Connected video cameras used by governments for monitoring of streets and public places.
  • Bike & Scooter Sharing – Bike & Scooter Sharing covers tracking and monitoring devices embedded in locks, bicycles, scooters and their associated docking stations. These devices may allow customers to access the nearest available vehicle, prevent theft, or enable the collection, redistribution and recharging of vehicles.

Indirectly related IoT applications and Forecast Insight Reports include:

  • Portable Information Terminals – Portable information terminals for staff in a range of vertical contexts, including retail and hotels.
  • Autonomous Road Freight Vehicles – The vehicles included in this Application Group are used for transporting goods on the road in a commercial setting. To be counted as part of this Application Group vehicles must be capable of operating at Level 3 of the SAE levels of autonomy. This level of automation requires the vehicle to monitor the environment and requires “the driving mode-specific performance by an automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic driving task. In this Application Group the number of autonomous vehicles is represented by RGUs only, the vehicles’ connections will be found in the Vehicle Head Unit Application Group.
  • Trigger Devices – Devices that exist to be triggered to indicate an action needs to be taken, typically something has been filled and needs to be emptied, or something is empty and needs be filled. Examples include buttons for room service, table service, the replenishment of communal supplies, mail delivery and collection boxes, and customer voting buttons.
  • Delivery Robots – This Application Group covers small (i.e. not capable of intercity travel or carrying passengers) fully autonomous vehicles that travel on road or pavement to deliver food, beverages, retail shopping, documents and other goods.
  • Asset Monitoring – This application group encompasses a variety of assets that are suitable for remote monitoring. This includes the monitoring of livestock and associated applications such as automated feeders. It also covers the monitoring of fitness equipment located in gyms and other shared contexts. Tracking and monitoring of equipment in ambulances is also incorporated as part of the healthcare vertical. Furthermore, this Application Group includes connected video gaming machines, gambling machines and other devices such as pachinko machines. Monitoring the condition, availability, and use of assets important to public health such as life rings and defibrillators is also present in this application group, including access to potentially dangerous infrastructure such as substations.
  • Electric Vehicle Charging – Public electric vehicle charging points with a connection to monitor availability, usage, maintenance requirements, and facilitate payment. Does not include vehicle chargers installed on private property.
  • Unmanned Aquatic & Aerial Vehicles (Drones) – This Application Group consists of two main categories. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles comprises fixed wing and propellor powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for military, government consumer or commercial use. Unmanned Aquatic Vehicles comprise small underwater and surface vehicles, typically for military use or exploration. Neither vehicle is designed to carry humans; automation of vehicles that carry humans (e.g. full sized planes or ships in automation mode) is covered under autonomous vehicles.

Other content and related analysis

Besides the detailed sector-focussed content described above, Transforma Insights offers an extensive range of thematic- and vendor-focussed research that will prove invaluable to any end-user seeking to leverage new and emerging digitally transformative technologies.

Of particular note are our Vendor Insight and CSP Peer Benchmarking reports, which provide detailed profiles of leading vendors who might be able to support a range of end-user digital transformation projects.

Our Key Topic Insight reports focus on the qualitative aspects of Digital Transformation, including investigation of interesting or noteworthy topics.

Detailed analysis of regulations that might apply to digitally transformative projects around the world can be found in our Regulatory Database. Meanwhile, our Case Study Database contains more than 1,000 case studies of technology implementations. Each case study contains detailed information on the specifics of the deployment. Used in aggregate it can provide unrivalled guidance on project prioritisation, best practice and vendor selection.

Sector Focus

Sector Report

Digital Transformation in Smart Cities

REPORT | NOV 16, 2023 | Paras Sharma
This report examines digital transformation (DX) in Smart Cities, enabled by the key technology groups that are the focus of Transforma Insights’ research. It identifies nine key 'domains of change' in smart cities, where urban areas can harness new technologies to reduce costs and improve public services.

Related Reports

All Reports

Sea & River Transport: 2.5 million connected devices by 2032, ensuring safe and sustainable travel

REPORT | DEC 04, 2023 | Rohan Bansal ; Matt Arnott
This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the Sea & River Transport market. This Application Group comprises Cargo Vessel Management, Fishing Vessels, and Public Transport Services – Ship.

Road Public Transport: 7.3 million devices by 2032, offering real-time vehicle tracking, on-board payments, and internet services to passengers

REPORT | OCT 31, 2023 | Rohan Bansal ; Matt Arnott
This report summarises the status and forecasts from the Road Public Transport Application Group found in the Transforma Insights Connected Things IoT forecast. The report provides a description of what is covered in the Application Group, as well as top-level figures from the forecast that provide detail on how many connected devices will be installed, the types of communication technology used and the total revenue opportunity. Full details are accessible through the TAM Forecast tool.

Waste Management: 2.9 million devices by 2032 to manage waste effectively and sustainably

REPORT | OCT 20, 2023 | Rohan Bansal ; Matt Arnott
This report summarises the status and forecasts from the Waste Management Application Group found in the Transforma Insights Connected Things IoT forecast. The report provides a description of what is covered in the Application Group, as well as top-level figures from the forecast that provide detail on how many connected devices will be installed, the types of communication technology used and the total revenue opportunity. Full details are accessible through the TAM Forecast tool.

Rail Transport: Generating USD886 million in annual IoT revenue by 2032

REPORT | OCT 04, 2023 | Matt Arnott ; Rohan Bansal
This report summarises the status and forecasts from the Rail Transport Application Group found in the Transforma Insights Connected Things IoT forecast. The report provides a description of what is covered in the Application Group, as well as top-level figures from the forecast that provide detail on how many connected devices will be installed, the types of communication technology used and the total revenue opportunity. Full details are accessible through the TAM Forecast tool.

Micromobility Vehicles: 328 million devices to support the demand for urban mobility in 2032

REPORT | JUN 27, 2023 | Nikita Singh ; Matt Arnott
This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the Micromobility Vehicles market. This segment comprises bicycles, e-bikes, scooters and e-scooters. These small and lightweight vehicles have advanced significantly over the past few years and are being used in both private and commercial spheres. Connected examples of these vehicles can be equipped with smart motors, LCD displays, and Bluetooth connectivity and are becoming increasingly popular since the pandemic. Another reason for their popularity is the rising burden on public transport infrastructure that has resulted in increasingly cramped and uncomfortable travelling conditions, pushing users to seek alternatives. Micromobility vehicles have a distinct sustainability edge over larger private vehicles, in addition to significantly lower running costs. In some cases, their purchase or use is incentivised by local authorities.

Public Alarms & Monitors: Implementing IoT to provide timely emergency aid to citizens

REPORT | JUN 26, 2023 | Rohan Bansal ; Matt Arnott
This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the ‘Public Alarms and Monitors’ IoT market. This segment primarily focuses on gunshot detectors, automated emergency responses and public warning systems.

Public Information & Advertising Screens: Adoption of digital information screens for enriched customer experience

REPORT | APR 24, 2023 | Paras Sharma ; Matt Arnott
This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the Public Information & Advertising Screens market. Globally, organisations are increasingly deploying digital kiosks, billboards, and signage to offer enriched customer experience by sharing dynamic digital information. This not only reduces manual workload but also provides a platform to earn additional revenue. Using these digital screens, brands offer customised marketing ads, based on audience demographics. Despite the benefits, the industry continues to face security challenge in the form of cyber-attacks such as phishing, malware, ransomware attacks. Cyber attackers often hack digital billboards to surface malicious, false, and misleading material for public display. The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used (including splits by 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, LPWA, short range, satellite and others), as well as the revenue split between module, value-added connectivity and services. A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector break-downs and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.

Parking Space Monitoring: Using IoT to curb emissions and reduce time spent parking

REPORT | MAR 28, 2023 | Rohan Bansal ; Matt Arnott
This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the Parking Space Monitoring market. This segment comprises of both public and private parking spaces. The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used (including splits by 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, LPWA, short range, satellite, and others), as well as the revenue split between module, value-added connectivity, and services.

Public Space Lighting: 133 million connections in 2032, helping to reduce costs and energy consumption

REPORT | MAR 21, 2023 | Rohan Bansal ; Matt Arnott
This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the public space lighting market. This segment includes the monitoring, control, and management of lighting for streets and other public spaces, typically provided by local government or utilities.

Environment Monitoring: 80.5 million connected devices by 2032, generating USD677 million revenue

REPORT | FEB 14, 2023 | Paras Sharma ; Matt Arnott
This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the Environment Monitoring market. This segment comprises industrial air, water, noise, nuclear radiation, odour detection, river water pollution, and dust monitors placed across industrial sites to monitor pollutants discharged from industrial processes. The segment also includes earthquake, flood, hurricane, and tsunami monitors places across vulnerable areas to send real-time data to monitoring centres.

Infrastructure Monitoring: Retrofitting IoT solutions to extend infrastructure life

REPORT | DEC 13, 2022 | Rohan Bansal ; Matt Arnott
This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the Infrastructure Monitoring IoT market. The report covers details on the evolution of infrastructure monitoring solutions. IoT plays an important role in monitoring infrastructure, including dams, tunnels, bridges, and pipelines by making sure that they can continue to function properly by detecting any faults at very early stages. This not only ensures a longer life for infrastructure, but it also proves to be of great economic value to the organisations deploying these IoT solutions with projects creating significant savings for operators. The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used (including splits by 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, LPWA, short range, satellite, and others), as well as the revenue split between module, value-added connectivity, and services. A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector breakdowns and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.

Road Traffic Monitoring & Control: Implementing IoT to reduce road congestion and simplify payments at toll booths

REPORT | NOV 14, 2022 | Rohan Bansal ; Matt Arnott
This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the IoT market associated with Road Traffic Monitoring & Control, including road tolling systems, traffic enforcement cameras, and connected traffic signals and signs.

Autonomous Road Passenger Vehicles: A market slowed down by uncertain regulatory environment and high cost of hardware

REPORT | SEP 02, 2022 | Suruchi Dhingra ; Matt Arnott
This report summarises the status and forecasts from the Autonomous Road Passenger Vehicles Application Group found in the Transforma Insights Connected Things IoT forecast. The report provides a description of what is covered in the Application Group, as well as top-level figures from the forecast that provide detail on how many connected devices will be installed, the types of communication technology used and the total revenue opportunity. Full details are accessible through the TAM Forecast tool

CCTV: Smart technologies opening doors for more than just surveillance

REPORT | APR 07, 2022 | Suruchi Dhingra
This report summarises the status and forecasts from the CCTV Application Group found in the Transforma Insights Connected Things IoT forecast. The report provides a description of what is covered in the Application Group, as well as top-level figures from the forecast that provide detail on how many connected devices will be installed, the types of communication technology used and the total revenue opportunity. Full details are accessible through the TAM Forecast tool.

Bike & Scooter Sharing: Dockless bike sharing gains prominence with cellular IoT technologies

REPORT | FEB 14, 2022 | Matt Arnott ; Nikita Singh
This report summarises the status and forecasts from the Bike & Scooter Sharing Application Group found in the Transforma Insights Connected Things IoT forecast. The report provides a description of what is covered in the Application Group, as well as top-level figures from the forecast that provide detail on how many connected devices will be installed, the types of communication technology used and the total revenue opportunity. Full details are accessible through the TAM Forecast tool.

Digital Transformation Implementation Best Practice Report

REPORT | APR 15, 2020 | Jim Morrish ; Matt Hatton
This report is based on analysis by Transforma Insights of hundreds of Digital Transformation implementations around the world. Our team of expert analysts assessed each implementation and calibrated it against our 216 solution characteristics. The aim is to better understand the prevailing trends in technology deployment and to extrapolate best practice.
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