This report examines digital transformation (DX) in Smart Cities, enabled by the key technology groups that are the focus of Transforma Insights’ research. The report focusses on city operations and administration rather than the full range of technological changes currently taking place within many cities, excluding aspects such as building automation, smart homes, smart grids, and smart utility meters.
Digital transformation in the context of smart cities is becoming an ever-higher priority. Since urban residents place an increasing premium on sustainability and quality-of-life considerations, cities must deliver more and higher quality services, while using less resources. Therefore, digital transformation of cities is unaviodable to a great extent.
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.
Overall, we have identified nine (9) key domains of change in cities, urban areas, and campus environments and that characterise smart city environments. These are discussed in more detail in this document and comprise:
Collectively, the concepts listed above will bring significant changes to smart cities in the coming years.
This report focusses on digital transformation in Smart Cities as enabled by the key technology groups that are the focus of Transforma Insights’ research. These technology groups comprise:
Clearly, not all of these technology groups are directly relevant to smart cities, but many of them are highly relevant (including IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Data Sharing, and others).
Accordingly, the aim of this document is not to chart the future direction of smart cities, but to highlight the key areas of change, enabled by new and emerging technologies. The bulk of this report discusses these key areas of change and includes an overview of each area together with discussion of key benefits and an analysis of key vendors for each area. We also identify key enabling technologies for each area (from the list above) and provide summary details of illustrative case studies that are available in Transforma Insights Best
Practice & Vendor Selection database.
The purpose of the document is two-fold. Firstly, from the perspective of a practitioner working in city administration, the document highlights new and emerging aspects of change that should impact in the next few years. Secondly, from the perspective of potential vendors in the Smart Cities space, it highlights key emerging areas of opportunity to sell new products, services, and solutions. Our analysis of the key technologies that enable each of the identified areas of digital transformation will help vendors of horizontal (technology-specific) capabilities to identify the contexts in which they may be able to secure new business opportunities. Specific exclusions from the scope of this include smart energy management, smart buildings, and smart home-related solutions.
If you have any questions about the content of this report or would like to speak with the author or any other analysts on any topic, you can make use of our Analyst Enquiries service by emailing enquiries@transforminsights.com.
