Imagine, if you would, a city that seemingly breathes with new-age intelligence. Traffic lights make real-time adjustments to account for the ebb and flow of the day’s rush hour activity. Garbage cans and recycling bins signal when they’re full, and they self-swap empty bags or containers to make routes more convenient for waste management personnel. Solar-powered streetlights turn on and off automatically to conserve energy, parking spot reservation apps update incredibly accurately with to-the-minute data, wind turbines are built to be less cumbersome and more efficient, generating greater power with substantially less noise and lower costs even in less-accessible urban environments.
This is merely a sliver of what’s capable with the right smart city technologies.
As we know, at the heart of smart city implementations is the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI). Picture a vast network of sensors, cameras and various devices embedded throughout a city, collecting and relaying data on air quality, roadway congestion, parking availability, electric vehicle (EV) charging station statuses, and even the pathways of drone deliveries. Such advances can boost capabilities for urban planners and other municipal organizations, and they can equip experts with more reliable intel when it comes to predicting peak energy consumption hours for the optimization of power grids.
The long-story-short of it? When applied properly, innovations like these can streamline whole city operations securely while saving time and resources.
Notably, new data supports these themes, reinforcing how smart city technologies are very much on the rise.
According to data presented by Stocklytics – a name cited on Future of Work News regarding AI startups and investor attention, and on IoT Evolution World regarding huge growth for Internet of Things projects – tech in smart-powered cityscapes is “expected to become a $100 billion industry in 2024.”
You read that right. $100 billion. This year.
That’s wild.
Stocklytics and Statista Market Insights reported earlier today how smart city technologies “deliver connected solutions resolving urban challenges ranging from cybersecurity threats to energy management and e-governance,” and that’s why usage therein is growing immensely.
“In 2018,” per Stocklytics and Statista, “the global revenue from smart city technologies amounted to $37.5 billion. Since then, this figure has jumped by 140% and hit almost $90 billion last year. We expect the entire market to hit a new milestone this year, with revenues jumping over $100 billion for the first time.”
Here’s more:
- Global smart city revenues “will grow by 17%, hitting approximately $104.billion by the beginning of 2025.” The data shows that more than one-third of that value comes from China, although North America still represents the second-largest global market.
- Projections also indicate that revenues will continue rising “by an average of $15 billion per year, to $165.8 billion by 2028.”
For those interested in Stocklytics’ full rundown, read here.
Edited by
Greg Tavarez
