Worldwide spending on smart city initiatives will reach $95.8 billion in 2019, growing at 17.7 percent over 2018, IDC forecasts.
Singapore, New York City, Tokyo, and London will each invest more than $1 billion in smart cities programs this year.
In the United States, only four cities — New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago are forecast to spend more than $300 million on smart cities programs this year. 11 cities in China will exceed the $300 million level in 2019.
The smart cities market is expected to grow from $308 billion in 2018 to $717.2 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.4 percent during the forecast period, according to a report published by MarketsandMarkets.
“Initiatives related to data-driven public safety, intelligent transportation, and resilient energy and infrastructure will attract the largest share of funding in 2019,” Serena Da Rold, program manager in IDC’s Customer Insights & Analysis group, said.
Key use cases in the areas of economic development and civic engagement, and sustainable planning and administration will also see considerable investments.
The smart cities use cases that will receive the most funding in 2019 include fixed visual surveillance, advanced public transit, smart outdoor lighting, intelligent traffic management, and connected back office, representing 34 percent of spending this year.
Strong investment growth in intelligent traffic management solutions will make it the third largest use case in 2020, overtaking smart outdoor lighting.
The use case that will see the fastest spending growth over the 2017-2022 forecast period is officer wearables, which includes smart apparel, smart headsets and glasses, and smart holsters.
Other use cases that will experience significant spending growth include digital twin and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) connectivity.
Asia Pacific region represents over 40 percent of total spending on smart cities initiatives, while the Americas represent around one third, and Europe, Middle East and Africa around one quarter of the global opportunity.
