The scope of smart cities market is enormous as investments from governments continue to pour in. Latest analysis estimates the global smart cities market to experience a CAGR of 15.4% during the assessment period, totaling a staggering valuation of US$ 1,736.65 billion by 2030.
Leading players in the industry include Microsoft Corporation, IBM, Toshiba Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., SAP SE, Philps Lighting, Cisco Systems, Inc., and General Electric. These companies are constantly launching new smart city solutions to stand out from the crowd. They also leverage strategies like mergers, partnerships, and collaborations, to expand their presence and gain a competitive edge in the market.
In November 2024, IBM and Sustainable Energy for All launched new AI-powered solutions for energy and urban development at COP29. The new solutions, including Open Building Insights (OBI) and Modeling Urban Growth (MUG), are designed to inform more sustainable urban development for communities and cities globally. They will enable decision-makers to map urbanization and identify energy and infrastructure needs for communities in developing regions.
An interactive online platform, Open Building Insights (OBI) visually consolidates data in a map, providing information related to buildings in nations addressing various urban planning challenges. As a result, it will empower stakeholders to make informed decisions about sustainable urban development. On the other hand, Modeling Urban Growth, an open-source AI model, is designed to predict where cities will grow.
Similarly, in February 2024, Huawei Technologies introduced its next-generation smart city solution to accelerate city intelligence. NEC Corporation India also launched advanced smart city solutions as a part of the Global Smart City Suite on 13 February 2024. These new developments highlight the efforts industry players are making to succeed.
Prominent factors shaping growth of the smart cities market include rapid urbanization globally and increasing integration of advanced technologies. Similarly, increasing number of smart city projects will likely fuel sales through 2030.
In the contemporary world, there is a significant rise in urbanization, with more and more people moving to cities in search of opportunities and a better quality of life. This, however, presents various challenges, such as increasing pollution and traffic congestion. To address these challenges and improve the overall urban living experience, cities are increasingly adopting intelligent technologies and solutions, leading to sales growth.
Smart cities leverage cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, cloud computing, and the internet of things (IoT) to build connected ecosystems that optimize city operations. Thus, high adoption rate of these novel technologies will likely inform market growth in the coming years.
Governments across the world are continuously launching new smart city projects to improve living standards and sustainability. This is creating lucrative growth avenues for smart city solution providers.
“Increasing adoption of emerging technologies like AI, IoT, cloud computing, and big data analytics is expected to play a key role in fostering growth of the smart cities market during the forecast period,” says a lead analyst at Coherent Market Insights.
Regionally, North America, dominated the global smart cities industry, holding a market share of around 30% in 2022. This can be attributed to the ongoing digital transformation across industries like telecommunications, banking, and government. Moreover, heavy presence of prominent players and increasing smart city projects are contributing to market growth.
On the other hand, Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness robust growth, owing to expanding digital infrastructure, rapid urbanization, and favorable government support. Similarly, ongoing technological advancements, especially across nations like China, will likely benefit the Asia Pacific industry during the forecast period.
