Smart Cities Market to Soar in the Near Future Owing to Growing Consumer Adoption

A smart city is a well-connected city that deploys various information and communication technologies to share information among public and improve the quality of government services as well as citizen welfare. This technology has been widely adopted in recent years to improve public safety which can range from monitoring areas of high crime rates to improving emergency preparedness with sensors and many more.

The smart infrastructure segment dominated the overall smart cities market share in 2017 due to its significant adoption of security and transportation solutions among its users. Moreover, smart energy is expected to attain the highest growth rate during the forecast period.

North America dominated the overall smart cities market in terms of revenue in 2017 due to widespread adoption of smart cities solutions, which was aided by high ICT investment among government organisations and a high demand for linked solutions throughout the region. However, due to factors such as increased IT investment supported by government initiatives in emerging economies such as China, Singapore, India, and South Korea, Asia-Pacific is predicted to experience the fastest growth rate throughout the projection period.

Government entities in several nations are taking proactive steps to establish smart cities inside their own countries. E-government portals were created to publicise all information about the government's policies, rules, and services on a single platform, allowing citizens easy access to government services. The Dubai Smart City initiative concept, for example, includes an aim to transform 1,000 government services into smart services. Furthermore, government agencies from several nations have teamed with big technology corporations to deploy IoT devices and sensors throughout urban areas. These organisations grant funds to technology vendors for the development of IoT applications. For example, the US government invested $8.8 billion in IoT in 2015, which included infrastructure, software, and cybersecurity solutions.