Smart city leaders are more likely to invest in projects using existing infrastructure
Source: Smart Cities World Published: Sept.5, 2020
Smart city leaders are more likely to invest in projects using existing infrastructure
News08 Sep 2020by SmartCitiesWorld news team
A survey conducted by Fotech Solutions reveals that the appetite for smart city progress remains strong and highlights the need for more practical approaches to creating smart systems.
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Four-fifths of smart city leaders would be more likely to invest in a smart city project if based on existing infrastructure rather than requiring the installation of new technology, a new study finds.
The research, conducted by technology company Fotech Solutions, also revealed more than one third of respondents (35 per cent) highlighted the cost of deployment as the biggest barrier to implementing smart city technology. This was only behind data privacy concerns which were considered the main barrier by half (49 per cent) of those surveyed.
Value of existing infrastructure
According to Fotech, this finding suggests that, while enhancing the “data view” of cities is essential to providing the insight needed to meet the demands of urbanisation and societal changes, the assumption that entirely new infrastructure will be at the heart of these systems may be false.
While the current Covid-19 pandemic is causing some doubt around the future direction of smart cities, more than half of the 100 city leaders surveyed (54 per cent) expect the pandemic to accelerate projects, compared to two-fifths (41 per cent) that expect delays as a result of the crisis.