At LIRNEasia, we’ve been getting more and more interested in cities, for various reasons. Now it looks like Ericsson has given us an interesting new way of thinking about cities and ICTs: a new Index.
Assessing the effects and benefits of ICT maturity within a city framework brings several opportunities. Firstly, cities represent a more universally comparable context than the more commonly used nation- based frameworks. Comparing London and Shanghai makes more sense than comparing the UK and China. A city focus therefore provides opportunities for faster understanding and global best-practice sharing. Secondly, cities are already home to more than half the world’s population, with more than 50 percent of global GDP generated in the largest 600 cities. Trends suggest that more than 60 percent of all people will live in cities by 2030. Consequently cities will increasingly require effective ICT strategies to be implemented across a multitude of stakeholders in order
to meet the needs of social, economic and environmental development. Finally, the city index framework provides city mayors, local authorities and decision-makers with a tool to measure and analyze their cities’ ICT maturity, as well as the triple-bottom-line results of their ICT investments.
In conclusion,
Ericsson invites city-level authorities to engage in discussions on how best to use ICT investments. It should be
remembered that the city perspective is only one vantage point for viewing this development. Subsequent releases of
the index will focus on other dimensions of city life, namely “Life of Citizens” and “Life of Business.”
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