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21st Century Cities: Global Smart Cities Primer

A new report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) sees the Smart City market growing to US$1.3-1.6tn by 2020E (vs US$1tn today) and highlight six entry points for investors wishing to access the theme: (1) Smart Infrastructure; (2) Smart Buildings; (3) Smart Homes; (4) Smart Safety & Security; (5) Smart Energy; and (6) Smart Mobility.  The report ranks Singapore, London, New York, Paris and Tokyo as the world’ s smartest cities.

The study, 21st Century Cities: Global Smart Cities Primer, anticipates fast growth for: 5G, AI, building automation, Big Data, bricks and steel infrastructure, Cloud, cleantech, cybersecurity, electric and autonomous vehicles (AVs and EVs), IoT, sensors, surveillance, telco infrastructure and services, and voice assistants, among other areas. The report presents a list of 250+ global stocks covered by BofAML that have exposure to Smart City-related solutions.

According  to BofAML  Smart Cities are fuelled by a ‘˜perfect storm’ of disruptive technologies and social innovations.

Smart Cities use 21st century disruptive technologies to meet demographic, economic, environmental, infrastructure and social challenges. These include: ubiquitous broadband coverage (84% globally); nextgen infrastructure (5G up to 100x faster than 4G); the Internet of Things (IoT) (10bn connected devices in cities by 2020E); Big Data (200mn GB of data/day for a city of 1mn by 2020E); the Cloud (secure, open platform); and artificial intelligence (AI) (predictive insights, anticipatory actions).

BofAML created a Smart City Index of the world’ s smartest cities and views Singapore, London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Seoul and Vienna as some of today’ s smartest.