London is a Top Smart City

London, Barcelona, and Singapore named as top global smart cities in a new report.

17:25 14 February 2018

A new report published by Philips Lighting and SmartCitiesWorld has named London, Barcelona, and Singapore as top global smart cities.

 

The report highlighted the benefits that a smart city can offer. Barcelona, for example, has saved £32.3million a year through smart parking and £37.6million on water.

 

Despite the many advantages that a truly smart city can offer, many cities around the world are far from joining the bandwagon. One in 10 local authorities said that they are held back by lack of funding, visionary leadership, and supporting infrastructure.

 

The report also highlighted ways as to how Internet of Things (IoT) makes a city smart.  These include managing the strain on urban resources, revolutionising communication for accurate service delivery, and most importantly, revolutionising the collection of data.

 

Andreas Knobloch, alliance specialist at Philips Lighting, said: ‘Collaboration is key. For cities to truly benefit from the potential that smart cities offer, a change in mindset is required where local authorities plan longer and across multiple departments,’

 

‘We must think of city-wide systems as one ecosystem working together.

 

‘At the same time, we all — technologists, local governments, businesses, environmentalists and the general public — must help to build the investment case to enable cities to successfully implement smart city programs.’