The twin challenges of funding and deploying smart city technologies

Steadily, one can observe that, local governments face the twin challenges of funding and deploying smart city technologies to guarantee the continuous provision of mobility, communication, energy, water, accommodation, healthcare, education, and security services while ensuring livable, affordable, and sustainable environments for citizens in the wake of fast global urbanization.

New paradigms like citizen participation, data capitalization through mobile sensors in smartphones and vehicles for informational services, and acceptance of the overall sharing economy will allow governments to adopt smart city technologies at minimum costs.

According to ABI Research, unlocking underutilized private resources through car sharing, micro-grid home energy networks, charging stations, private parking, and accommodation sharing will allow governments to meet surging demands for services in a cost-effective way while avoiding expensive physical infrastructure extension projects. Such smart funding and deployment approaches will equal fast Return on Investment (ROI), critical for obtaining additional private and/or public funding for more structural smart city platform approaches in the long term.