Copenhagen has again been ranked the Worlds Smartest City, according to the The Digital Cities Index 2022 developed by Economist Impact, and supported by NEC.
The Digital Cities Index is an inaugural ranking of 30 global cities across four pillars: connectivity, services, culture and sustainability. Of the top 10 cities of the index, four are in Europe (Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London and Paris), four are in Asia Pacific (Beijing, Seoul, Sydney, Singapore) and two are in the US (New York and Washington DC). Sydney placed seventh in the 2022 index.
Amsterdam and Beijing ranked second and third place respectively, whilst London and Seoul tied in fourth place. Amsterdam and Beijing ranked second and third place respectively, whilst London and Seoul tied in fourth place.
The The Digital Cities Index considers four pillars to assess the impact of digitization across 30 global cities, connectivity, services, culture and sustainability.
The study found that more needs to be done to improve connectivity within cities, with half of the cities scoring below 70 out of 100 for connectivity. In New York, half-a-million households were reported as lacking a reliable internet connection. Unaffordable, unreliable or inaccessible internet services impacts many city-level goals—which was highlighted during the covid-19 pandemic when, for example, socioeconomically disadvantaged children have been unable to access online learning resources even in high-income areas. Copenhagen and Singapore were found to be the most connected cities, followed by Zurich, Beijing and Sydney.
By contrast, the pandemic has been a significant catalyst for cities to improve their digital health services, with the vast majority of cities having pandemic-related apps in place and available for testing and contact tracing. Telehealth is being used to improve citizen wellbeing, especially for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes requiring ongoing monitoring, and for lifestyle tracking, awareness-raising and community-building around healthy lifestyles.
Its anticipated that 5G will enable an estimated US$660 billion global mobility and transportation market by 2035, and could deliver core benefits to urban services as it becomes ubiquitous. The study found that urban 5G use cases are emerging, predominantly linked to tests and pilots at specific sites and locations such as ports and manufacturing facilities, as well as for live events. A 5G- enabled smart traffic initiative around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, for instance, is aiming to achieve a 10% reduction in travel time, an £880 million increase in regional productivity and an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 370,000 tonnes.
The index found that Singapore still leads the world in e-government services due to its comprehensive e-government service portal and mobile digital national ID card, whilst New Delhi ranks third, due to the country’s groundbreaking national digital identity scheme, coupled with a major increase in digital engagement during the pandemic. India’s severe covid-19 crisis was considered a likely a stimulus for governments and citizens to explore ways of avoiding crowds and transacting online.
London, Toronto, Paris, Dallas, New York and Washington DC topped the Open Data rankings, including publishing and usage of data for accountability, innovation and social impact.
Beijing was noted for its progress in using digital technologies to improve its air pollution, ranking fifth in sustainability, placing it above Amsterdam, Sydney and London, which was noted as being particularly impressive given historical challenges with air pollution, and demonstrates that emerging-market cities can make significant headway in using technology to tackle environmental challenges.
Read the full report Digital Cities Index 2022
