The smart cities were ranked across 10 different verticals which included the following: clarity of vision, leadership, budget, provision of financial incentives, support programs, talent readiness, a people-centric approach, development of an innovation ecosystem, implementation of ‘smart’ policies and, finally, a track record of previous initiatives and projects.
New York and Helsinki made up the top five, with Boston, Barcelona, Melbourne, Montreal and Shanghai. According to the research different geographies produced differing strengths. European cities scored highly in terms of proactively encouraged citizens to engage in smart city programs and initiatives.
Cities in the United States scored high in relation to government led competitions prompting city governments to develop more robust smart city strategies, while Chinese smart cities scored well because of well-publicized large investments in IT infrastructure.
"Smart cities are taking centre stage in securing an adaptable, inclusive, productive, sustainable, and resilient future for humanity," said Calvin Chu Yee Ming, partner at Eden Strategy Institute. "Leading the development and re-invigoration of high-performing and loveable cities is one of the grandest challenges of our time."
In a different report, prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Singapore holds the top position as one of the best cities in the world that is well-equipped and all set to become smart. The Southeast Asian country scored the most owing to the presence of smart housing and utilities, digital economy, and open adaptive learning. London is second because of transportation, infrastructure, and the ‘virtual city’, which includes 3D printing of buildings and online construction monitoring in its definition.