Top 10 UK Smart Cities in 2017 Revealed by Juniper Research

London, Edinburgh, & Glasgow Lead ‘Smart City UK’ Leaderboard

BASINGSTOKE, England–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A new study by Juniper
Research has identified the top
10 smart cities in the UK, with London topping the list. The
analysis was conducted over a range of city indices, including
transport, healthcare, public safety, energy and productivity. Scores
were calculated according to diverse metrics, including present
state-of-play variables (such as congestion and crime levels) alongside
smart city rollouts, vision and long-term strategy.

Juniper’s UK Smart City rankings are as follows:

Read more in Juniper’s complimentary whitepaper, Top
10 UK Smart Cities – 2017 Leaderboard.

Scottish Cities Perform Strongly

The research found that Scotland’s major cities were strong performers
across the board. Edinburgh’s 16 year smart city journey, for example,
has allowed the city to learn from mistakes (such as disparate
maintenance of systems and control of systems by separate council units)
and apply its ‘One Council’ principle in order to better deliver citizen
services.

“Glasgow has used the smart city concept to address a number of key
challenges,” noted research author Steffen Sorrell. “The traffic
system is integrated with emergency services, helping save lives.
Meanwhile a £24 million grant was used to plan smart CCTV rollout, using
artificial intelligence to detect suspicious objects and terrorist
activity.”

UK Smart City Challenges Ahead

The research found that significant hurdles lie ahead for the UK smart
city market. EIB (European Investment Bank) and Horizon 2020 have
contributed over £23 billion to the UK market over the last 3 years;
after 2019, alternative funding will have to be found to replace them.

In turn, Juniper found that funding challenges bring with them issues in
scaling projects, particularly for SMEs (small-to-medium enterprises).
Juniper urged the creation of more ‘test bed’ environments in cities,
enabling experimentation prior to full rollout. This would allow more
risk-averse players, such as utilities, to enable disruptive service
providers to work in partnership with them to develop smart city
solutions and new business models.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global
hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports
and industry commentary.

Contacts

Juniper Research
Sam Smith, Press Relations
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+44(0)1256 830002
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