A recent report by consulting firm KPMG has revealed that The Internet of Things (IoT) will drive the creation of smart cities in the future.
With almost 75 billion connected devices projected to be utilised by 2025, the demands of a connected world are clear. Development of a large ecosystem around Internet of Things comprising faster computing, advanced analytics, improved connectivity have provided a strong impetus to the growth of Internet of Things. The market is now poised to accept and adopt user centric solutions that Internet of Things enables. Internet of Things today can be considered an important aspect to smart solutions.
As governments world over focus upon economic development, a key component to their strategy entails inclusion of smart technologies into urban planning. No doubt, technology will be a driver for economic development in the future smart cities. The Internet of Things (IoT), a fundamental component of most smart cities, has, in particular, a potential economic value of $4-11 trillion annually by 2025.
Currently, smart city initiatives make up the largest segment of Internet of Things projects, thanks to the hundreds of initiatives that vendors and municipal governments are driving around the world. Local governments are applying new layers of technology to their communities as they pursue ‘Smart City’ agendas, despite fears of what becomes of the data collected by those smart streetlights, traffic monitors, environmental sensors and mobile apps. The fear is not unfounded; however, benefits derived from implementing such projects outweigh everything else.
According to the Zion Market Research report, the global Internet of Things market, specific to smart cities was valued at around US$ 79.3 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach approximately US$ 330.1 billion by 2025, at a CAGR slightly above 22.6 per cent between 2019 and 2025. Major factors driving growth of Internet of Things in the smart cities market are increasing number of government initiatives and Public Private Partnership (PPP) models for smart cities, improvements in the communication infrastructure that are brought by Internet of Things and rising adoption of connected and smart technologies in smart cities’ initiatives. However, the security and privacy issues related to Internet of Things may hinder Internet of Things in the smart cities market growth globally.
