Urban centres have always been the heart of economic and technological revolution and progression. A World Bank analysis of 750 cities around the world between 2005 and 2012 found that economic growth in 72% of cities outpaced their respective national economies, while by 2025, the world’s top 600 cities are expected to account for 60% of global GDP.
According to the United Nations, about 55% of the world’s population live in urban areas and that proportion is expected to reach 68% by 2050. This urban growth must be properly managed to ensure that the benefits are equally shared amongst their residents and equally benefit everyone in terms of housing, transportation, energy systems and other infrastructure. The success of cities is essential for continued economic growth and sustainability and digital technologies and networks through the use of censors appear to have the answers. More and more cities around the world are adopting the technologies that aim to improve life in urban areas and prosper.
In this environment, businesses need to understand how cities are changing and how the digitization will affect them, and also learn how they can prepare and benefit from this transition. According to the World Bank study, a competitive city facilitates its companies and industries to grow jobs, raise productivity, increase incomes of citizens and drive prosperity. An uncompetitive city will be drained of talent and ultimately hinder the future success of organisations.
A smart city is one that uses technologies to improve and transform the lives of its citizens and the environment, while closing the digital divide and allowing businesses to thrive and innovate. It is an idea of inclusion rather than division, a collaboration between citizens, and the public and private sectors for sustainable transformation and growth.
CYENS participates in two workshops this week with topics relating to how businesses can prepare for the transition to a smart city and how they can benefit from it: Join Dr Vasos Vassiliou (CYENS and UCY) and Dr Robert Thomson (UCL) on Wednesday May 12, 2021, at 11:30am during the b2b SofWareDays 2021 (https://2021.b2bsoftwaredays.com/) and Dr Vasos Vassiliou on Wednesday May 12, 2021, at 6pm on a webinar co-organized by CYENS and the IT company ItWorksMe through Facebook.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 739578
This project has received funding from the Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination and Development