Frost & Sullivan’s extensive research into the rise of smart cities is projecting that the global market for smart city technologies will surpass $2 trillion by 2025.
Chief among these technologies is artificial intelligence (AI), serving as the basis for smart mobility, smart parking, waste management, adaptive signal control, and entire smart grids. These innovative technologies are primarily being funded through large investments from independent and corporate venture capital companies, while corporations such as Google, Microsoft and IBM are serving as the tech innovators driving adoption.
The research firm cites urban growth in the coming decades as the driving force for the emergence of smart cites. It estimates that more than 80% of the global population within developed countries will live in cities by 2050. Cities will be helped through this transition toward urbanization by utilizing a range of technologies to optimize resources that will contribute to financial value, quality of life, or time saving improvements.
Beyond AI, other critical technologies include robotics, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), personalized healthcare, and distributed energy generation.
Frost & Sullivan’s visionary innovation senior research analyst Vijay Narayanan talked about the research findings in a press statement, saying that, “Currently most smart city models provide solutions in silos and are not interconnected. The future is moving toward integrated solutions that connect all verticals within a single platform. IoT is already paving the way to allow for such solutions.”
The Asian-Pacific region is expected to have the fastest-growing smart energy sector by 2025, with smart city projects in China alone reaching $320 billion. North American cities like Denver and Portland have existing commitments to building smart city portfolios, with the North American smart building market reaching $5.74 billion in 2020.
