Juniper Research has ranked Singapore as the top performer in a global smart city performance ranking. The study was conducted from July to September last year.
The global ranking was done on the parameters of mobility, health, safety and productivity- to examine the benefits of smart cities initiatives for residents in 20 cities. The main emphasis of the study was to measure how technology saved time for people and improved their quality of life.
In the Global Smart City Performance Index 2017, Singapore topped the list in all the four areas of mobility, health, safety and productivity ahead of other main cities like London, New York, Seoul and San Francisco. The research was sponsored by tech firm Intel.
In the area of mobility, Juniper Research report noted that Singapore has applied smart, connected traffic solutions together with a very strong policy curtailing car ownership in an effort to reduce the number of vehicles on its roads.
The report also praised Singapore for its focus on addressing healthcare service provision for elderly citizens through a range of technologies, including digital service platforms as well as remote monitoring devices.
As far as area of safety was concerned, the report observed that Singapore has started trials using smart video surveillance to detect criminal activity.
In addition, Singapore is a leader in allowing citizens to access digital services and city information with its "large open data stores" and "strategies to encourage private innovation" through specialised test-bed environments, the report stated.
Windsor Holden, head of forecasting and consultancy at Juniper Research, said, “Analysts tend to focus on the technical underpinnings of building a data-centric world. We can’t overlook the importance of the real human benefits that smart cities have. Connected communities, municipal services and processes have a powerful impact on a citizen’s quality of life.”
The study also observed that Singapore's Smart Nation initiative and its position as a city-state makes the country unique in its ability to execute its smart city vision.