Nee research into the global phenomenon of the Internet of Things (IoT) has claimed that revenue from the emerging technologies in the smart city sector will increase its total revenue from $25bn in 2017 to a whopping $62bn in 2026.
The report which was compiled by ABI Research and entitled the 'Smart City Market Data', estimates that Internet of Things technology revenue will increase across 12 key smart city technologies and verticals. The firm which is a market-foresight advisory firm claimed said the increase represents an 11% average-growth rate with smart meters and video surveillance emerging as the most in-demand IoT technologies for smart city development. It has been projected that both segments would generate revenue exceeding $20bn in that time period between 2017 and 2026.
Whilst smart meters and video surveillance are on the top of the agenda amongst government entities looking to transform their cities in order to make them smart and represent the most lucrative revenue opportunities, the fastest growing verticals according to the report range from EV charging stations, micro-grids, smart-waste management and environmental sensors, smart parking and smart street lighting.
VP at ABI Research, Dominique Bonte said that the interest in the smart city industry skyrocketed in 2017 and claimed that many leading tech firms see huge potential within the space.
He said, "Interest in and focus on smart cities has skyrocketed in 2017, with a very large number of vendors from across the value chain repositioning and optimizing their IoT portfolios to take advantage of this beckoning opportunity. By its very nature of aggregating a wide range of solutions and technologies, the smart cities segment offers the perfect environment for suppliers to offer horizontal IoT platform solutions and addresses a recent trend toward more holistic, cross vertical approaches."
In addition to this, the report also claimed that the largest rewards within IoT can be reached from engaging with higher levels of the value chain through applications and services such as analytics, AI and security.
While many, if not all, IoT technology suppliers are now directing their gaze firmly toward smart cities, only the ones addressing the specific challenges cities are facing will win. Critical success factors include flexible, extensible "as a service" also known as "pay as you grow" offers, financing and ecosystem support, standards-based interoperability, and guaranteed technology lifecycle management. Simply applying a thin layer of marketing veneer on top of an otherwise generic IoT platform will not allow vendors to cut to the chase.