2020 expected to see almost 20% increase in smart city spending

13 Feb 2020by Sarah Wray: Editor, SmartCitiesWorld

Singapore is expected to remain the top investor in smart city initiatives, followed by Tokyo, New York City and London.

Global spending on smart city initiatives will total nearly $124 billion this year, an increase of 18.9 per cent over 2019, according to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) latest Worldwide Smart Cities Spending Guide.

The report finds that the top 100 cities investing in smart initiatives in 2019 represented around 29 per cent of global spending. It says that while growth will be sustained among the top spenders in the short-term, the market is quite dispersed across mid-size and small cities investing in relatively small projects.

Serena Da Rold, program manager in IDC’s Customer Insights & Analysis group, said: "The Spending Guide provides spending data for more than 200 cities and shows that fewer than 80 cities are investing over $100 million per year. At the same time, around 70 per cent of the opportunity lies within cities that are spending $1 million or less per year.

“There is a great opportunity for providers of smart city solutions who are able to leverage the experience gained from larger projects to offer affordable smart initiatives for small and medium-sized cities."

Read more here.