IMD Smart City Index 2019 for 102 Cities, Singapore tops the list.

The Smart City Index (SCI) assesses a city’s efforts and success in embracing smart technologies to improve the lives of their citizens and its first edition reveals the 10 smartest cities (based on the index) in 2019 are Singapore (1st), Zurich (2nd), Oslo (3rd), Geneva (4th), Copenhagen (5th), Auckland (6th), Taipei City (7th), Helsinki (8th), Bilbao (9th) and Dusseldorf (10th).

A total of 102 cities were assessed and ranked for the Smart City Index. Of the 102 cities, 41 cities are from Europe, together with 29 cities from Asia, 13 cities from North America and 19 cities from other regions of the world (Africa, South America, Oceania and the Middle East).

Of the top ten cities (refer to table below), only Singapore (1st) and Taipei City (7th) are from Asia and with the exception of Auckland (6th), the rest of the seven top cities are from Europe. The highest ranked U.S. city is San Francisco (12th), while the highest ranked Chinese city is Hong Kong (37th). Cape Town (93rd) is the highest ranked city from Africa, while Dubai (45th) is the top city from the Middle East, with Buenos Aires (87th) the highest ranked city from South America.

The Smart City Index considers the citizens' perception of a city's smart initiatives in its assessment and sheds light on the importance of aligning the policies of a smart city with the lives and needs of citizens. The SCI is officially presented on 3 October 2019 by the IMD World Competitiveness Center's Smart City Observatory, in partnership with Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).