The Foundation for Delivering Next-Generation Citizen Services
Recently our friends from Cisco's Smart+Connected Communities Initiative sent us an an IDC-authored Citizen Services White Paper. white paper focuses on challenges faced by Cities, Smart Cities Maturity model, how a city can begin and sustain smart cities journey and finally what are the concrete next steps that cities can take. It includes cases studies from Barcelona, Songdo and Lake Nona – 3 of our 9 iconic S+CC Initiatives. The paper is geared towards heads of state, governors, Mayors, CIOs and Line of Business leaders. We hope you find the white paper as compelling and informative as we do.
Executive Summary
Smart Cities are a dynamic 21st century approach to transforming, improving and revitalizing municipalities.
The vision of Smart Cities is quickly becoming a reality as urban centers around the world look to create communities that become the places where people want to live, learn and play and where businesses seek to invest. Smart Cities like Songdo, Barcelona and Lake Nona, described in this paper, use information technology, network communications including the Internet, and sensors to automate routine processes plus provide rapid and intelligent decision-‐making for creating dramatic efficiencies and cost savings in existing functions and processes. Smart Cities connect governments much more closely to people. They provide the support infrastructure to deliver new services, and address a wide range of urban challenges – from environmental sustainability to job creation and economic growth.
Municipal leaders, politicians, civic planners and other key stakeholders in information technology organizations that support cities need to understand the value of Smart Cities and how they can play a part in helping urban centers realize this exciting vision. The transformation to Smart Cities is underway and is no longer a question of “if.” It is a matter of “when.”
The transformation to Smart Cities requires an ecosystem that brings both existing and new partners together to unlock the tremendous value that emerges from connecting people, processes, data and things. Smart cities form public private partnerships to manage and finance complex projects that bring together best in class infrastructure and technology architectures in an ICT Master plan. This white paper is intended to provide deeper understanding of the Smart-‐City vision, offer context of the importance and value it will bring to its stakeholders, and suggest a roadmap for how to create a Smart‐City evolution plan. It has been authored for Cisco Systems, Inc. by global advisory services provider International Data Corporation (IDC), a renowned and leading information and communications technology market research company. The discussion in this white paper includes:
- Trends driving Smart City growth,
- The role of the Internet of Everything in building the foundation for Smart City evolution,
- IDC's maturity model that assesses stages of Smart City development,
- Key factors that will shape and build the Smart City reality,
- Case studies of current major urban centers that have embarked on the Smart City journey, and,
- Key takeaways and recommendations for municipal leaders to help them in their effort to transform urban centers into the Smart Cities of tomorrow
Cities around the world are at a crossroad, seeking to navigate a direction for the future. The Smart City vision offers a path towards building better communities and creating urban centers that work efficiently, effectively and productively. This white paper offers insights, perspectives and essential guidance to those municipal leaders who will play a vital role in leading cities along that journey.