Technology & Innovation

Accelerating urban intelligence: People, business and the cities of tomorrow

April 27, 2020

Global

April 27, 2020

Global
Michael Gold

Managing editor

Michael is a managing editor at Economist Impact. Although Michael has roots in Montreal, he grew up in Palo Alto, California and attended Yale University, where he majored in anthropology. Prior to joining the Economist Group, Michael was a correspondent for Reuters in Taipei, where he covered the technology sector. He has also worked in Beijing and is fluent in Mandarin. 

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This report explores the expectations of citizens and businesses for smart-city development in some of the world’s major urban centres.

This report explores the expectations of citizens and businesses for smart-city development in some of the world’s major urban centres.

About the research

Accelerating urban intelligence: People, business and the cities of tomorrow is an Economist Intelligence Unit report, sponsored by Nutanix. It explores expectations of citizens and businesses for smart-city development in some of the world’s major urban centres. The analysis is based on two parallel surveys conducted in 19 cities: one of 6,746 residents and another of 969 business executives. The cities included are Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Riyadh, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo and Zurich.

Respondents to the citizen survey were evenly balanced by age (roughly one-third in each of the 18-38, 39-54 and 55 years and older age groups) and gender. A majority (56%) had household incomes above the median level in their city, with 44% below it. Respondents to the business survey were mainly senior executives (65% at C-suite or director level) working in a range of different functions. They work in large, midsize and small firms in over a dozen industries. See the report appendix for full survey results and demographics.

Additional insights were obtained from indepth interviews with city officials, smart-city experts at NGOs and other institutions, and business executives. We would like to thank the following individuals for their time and insights.

  • Pascual Berrone, academic co-director, Cities in Motion, and professor, strategic management, IESE Business School (Barcelona)
  • Lawrence Boya, director, Smart City Programme, city of Johannesburg
  • Amanda Daflos, chief innovation officer, city of Los Angeles
  • Linda Gerull, chief information officer, city of San Francisco
  • Praveen Pardeshi, municipal commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (Mumbai) • Brian Roberts, policy analyst, city of San Francisco
  • Sameer Sharma, global general manager, Internet of Things (IoT), Intel • Marius Sylvestersen, programme director, Copenhagen Solutions Lab
  • Tan Kok Yam, deputy secretary of the Smart Nation and Digital Government, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore

The report was written by Denis McCauley and edited by Michael Gold.

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