The current trends of demographic change, with world population growing rapidly and moving en masse to major urban centres, are set to continue and change the urban landscape in the next few decades. Under these circumstances it becomes clear that a systematic, innovative approach is required to ensure smarter living in cities around the world.
The changing face of the urban landscape globally opens new business opportunities for major innovative companies like Hitachi in inking infrastructural components through the integration of social infrastructure systems with IT and telecommunications. However, even major multinational companies cannot build cities on their own. The key lies in collaboration between companies that possess the technical means and kn0w-how and representatives of government, academia, civil society and business. This way, enterprises are able to dedicate their business efforts towards creating shared value and and ensuring a concentrated effort is developed towards confronting global challenges and transforming them into opportunities.
Through conferences such as Enterprise 2020, which was held last month in Brussels, companies and local and regional authorities can work together openly to ensure the growth and sustainability that will be a crucial component of the smart cities of tomorrow. Social innovation needs cities just as much as cities need social innovation. All sides involved need to find ways to work together with partners in a long term perspective across business, government and citizens.
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