While $8.1 billion was spent on smart city technologies
in 2010, by 2016 that number is projected to reach $39.5 billion, according to
ABI Research.

A smart city is determined by six dimensions: smart
economy, environment, governance, lifestyle, transportation, and community.
There are currently 102 smart city projects worldwide, with Europe leading the
way at 38, North America at 35, Asia Pacific at 21, the Middle East and Africa
at six, and Latin America with two.

Two examples of cities undertaking smart city projects
are Holyoke, Massachusetts and Amsterdam. Cisco teamed with Holyoke in February
2011 and promised to change the former mill town into a smart and connected
community within a year. Cisco’s plans for Holyoke include using technology to
deliver urban services in order to generate new economic opportunity, improve
education, and bolster population retention.

Smart city concepts are really taking off globally.
Currently, the largest spending on smart city technologies is for smart grids;
however, over the next five years we will see a significant increase on
spending for smart transportation technologies such as automatic vehicle ID and
smart governance systems such as e-ID and ID document systems,” said Josh
Flood, senior analyst at ABI Research.

Amsterdam’s smart environment project, launched in 2009,
is a collaboration between Utility Liander and Amsterdam Innovation Motor. The
program aims to set up a unique partnership with the city’s residents,
businesses, and government to save energy now and in the future.

The program’s ultimate goal is to reduce CO₂ emissions
in Amsterdam, as well as eventually all of Europe. While Amsterdam had
previously committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2025,
compared to a baseline of 1990, the smart city project aims to achieve that
goal ten years earlier by 2015.

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]