Frost & Sullivan has indicated about the top 10 smart city projects in Asia Pacific and explains why China will have an upper edge.
Urbanization and demand for city services, ICT penetration, as well as the rising middle class and the need to improve quality of life has driven demand for smart city projects in Asia-Pacific, according to Frost & Sullivan.
Investments in smart city projects in Asia Pacific are expected to grow from $55.6 billion in 2013 to $260 billion in 2020.
Japan and South Korea have fairly intelligent cities. Thailand and Indonesia are setting up smaller projects in governance and citizen services.
There are about 10 cities that are expected to become smart cities by 2025 in the Asia-Pacific region, of which, more than 50 percent will be in China.
Eight emerging cities also have standalone smart city projects, which when scaled-up, can achieve the smart city status by 2030 and beyond.
“Several government agendas are driving the building of smarter cities in Singapore, Japan, China, and South Korea,” said Hazmi Yusof, managing director, Malaysia and senior vice president at Frost & Sullivan.
Technology and governance will be enablers for participants in this ecosystem. Smart cities will emerge as Big Data hubs with data from sensors and networks being collected, analyzed, and monitored in real-time by a central monitoring command center. This will be used to optimize and streamline city operations and resolve issues in real-time.
Singtel in Singapore and Telstra in Australia have laid out $500 million and $100 million, respectively, to enable smart city technology platforms and infrastructure.
Telekom Malaysia in Malaysia plans to build a data center and provide cloud computing and smart services in a technology park.
Connectivity will be a key enabler while designing an omni-channel experience platform across all touch points including online and mobile. Data from sensors will enable technologies to integrate softer aspects, such as customer perception and citizen awareness.
Research and Markets said the global smart city market will grow at a CAGR of around 24.4 percent over the next decade to reach $2,452 billion by 2025. Demand for integrated security and safety system for enhancing public safety and demand for system integrators are some of the prominent trends that the smart city market is witnessing.
