Global spending on smart cities initiatives will reach $189.5 billion in 2023, with the top priorities for initiatives cited as resilient energy and infrastructure projects, followed by data-driven public safety and intelligent transportation.

According to the latest IDC Worldwide Semiannual Smart Cities Spending Guide, these priority areas will account for more than half of all smart cities spending throughout the 2019-2023 forecast. The guide quantifies the expected technology opportunity around smart cities initiatives from a regional and worldwide level.

Strategic priorities

The guide highlights that the use cases that will experience the most spending over the forecast period are closely aligned with the leading strategic priorities: smart grid, fixed visual surveillance, advanced public transportation, smart outdoor lighting, and intelligent traffic management.

Meanwhile, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) connectivity, digital twin, and officer wearables are predicted to be the use cases that will see the fastest spending growth over the five-year forecast.

"In the latest release of IDC’s Worldwide Smart Cities Spending Guide, we expanded the scope of our research to include smart ecosystems, added detail for digital evidence management and smart grids for electricity and gas, and expanded our cities dataset to include over 180 named cities," said Serena Da Rold programme manager in IDC’s Customer Insights and Analysis Group.

"Although smart grid and smart meter investments still represent a large share of spending within smart cities, we see much stronger growth in other areas, related to intelligent transportation and data-driven public safety, as well as platform-related use cases and digital twin, which are increasingly implemented at the core of smart cities projects globally."

"On a regional basis, the United States, Western Europe, and China will account for more than 70 per cent of all smart cities spending throughout the forecast"

Singapore will remain the top investor in smart cities initiatives, driven by the Virtual Singapore project. New York City will have the second largest spending total this year, followed by Tokyo and London. Beijing and Shanghai tied for the number five position and spending in all these cities is expected to surpass the $1 billion mark in 2020.

On a regional basis, the United States, Western Europe, and China will account for more than 70 per cent of all smart cities spending throughout the forecast. Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) will experience the fastest growth in smart cities spending with CAGRs of around 21 per cent.

"We are excited to present our continued expansion of this deep dive into the investment priorities of buyers in the urban ecosystem, with more cities added to our database of smart city spending and new forecasts that show the expanded view of smart cities, such as smart stadiums and smart campuses," said Ruthbea Yesner, vice president of IDC Government Insights and Smart Cities programmes.

"As our research shows, there is steady growth across the globe in the 34 use cases we have sized and forecast."