On a list of more than 100 cities, Copenhagen is the 5th-smartest. Such is the finding of the Smart Cities Index, compiled by the IMD World Competitiveness Center (IMD WCC) and Singapore University for Technology and Design (SUTD).

The IMD WCC and SUTD attempted to assess people’s perceptions of technology – as opposed to the quality of the technology itself – as a way to characterise the “smartness” of a city. They did this by conducting a massive survey among citizens of 102 cities, to assess how favourably they viewed the technology made available to them.

Copenhagen is a high scorer when it comes to security, absence of corruption, smart technological solutions, access to green spaces, job search tools, availability of good schools and a business community that creates new jobs.

“We can be immensely proud of this impressive ranking. It demonstrates that people are pleased with our capital,” said Allan Sørensen, Chief Analyst at the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI).

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“Smart cities are growing and blossoming in all parts of the world. Economic realities cannot be ignored: cities in poorer countries face disadvantages, which will require specific actions to correct along the path towards smartness,” stated Professor Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD WCC.

Bruno Lanvin, President of the IMD’s Smart City Observatory at the IMD WCC said that “smart cities are becoming magnets for investment, talent and trade”. However, he also acknowledged that a lot of effort has been put into areas that are “disconnected from the long-term aspirations of citizens”.

Lacking corporate assessment

Allan Sørensen believes that several of the areas in the Smart Cities Index are relevant to businesses.

“Take, for example, public transport, the level of education and new jobs. In all three areas, Copenhagen does extremely well in the survey. Copenhagen is also doing well in areas such as broadband coverage and mobile broadband coverage: important prerequisites when it comes to being a front-running digital metropolis,” said Allan Sørensen.

Copenhagen’s smart solutions with apps that facilitate recycling, online medical appointments, online travel programmes and ticket sales to make public transport easier, and platforms where citizens can come up with ideas: all these are also rated highly in the index.

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However, the Smart Cities survey does not include an assessment by the business community. Allan Sørensen finds this annoying.

“DI’s own survey of the Local Business Climate, based on an assessment by companies, reveals that in several areas Copenhagen could draw inspiration from other Danish municipalities. This applies to the likes of the cooperation between job centres and companies, or information sharing and discussion between municipalities and businesses. In this context, Copenhagen need not only look at international cities but could find inspiration here in Denmark,” said Allan Sørensen.

Sources

The Confederation of Danish Industry

IMD

The Conversation

Photo: Maria Bobrova on Unsplash