Seoul moves up 34 places to No13 in ‘Smart City Index 2021’

In Smart City Index 2021, jointly announced by the IMD World Competitiveness Center (WCC) and the Singapore National University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Seoul ranked at 13th, 34 places up from last year. Busan City ranked at 37th, climbing 9 places from the previous year.

In particular, Seoul got attention because it showed the highest rise among the 118 global cities compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, Singapore topped the list again, continuing from last year, Zurich, which was third last year, climbed to second place, and Oslo, which was fifth last year, climbed to third place. Switzerland boasted that it was the world's top smart city holder, with Roseanne at fifth and Geneva at eighth, behind Zurich (2nd), having three cities ranked in the top 10.

The survey was conducted in July by a survey of about 15,000 city residents in 118 cities around the world and a research analysis by experts.

Smart City Index is a smart city observation research project in which IMD's World Competitiveness Center (WCC) cooperates with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) to provide a balanced understanding of the economic and technical aspects of smart cities and quality of life.

"COVID-19 has clearly changed the way leaders and citizens of Smart City look at the challenges ahead," said Arturo Brees, a finance professor at IMD who has directed the index rankings as head of the WCC. "Environmental emergencies will remain as a major agenda for Smart City since it is an area which requires careful attention because of citizens' expectations and sometimes conflicting attitudes toward technology.”

The report also shows that citizens' concerns seem to change as their cities become 'smart'. For example, housing costs are a dominant concern in smarter cities, while less smart cities tend to give higher levels of priority to solving problems related to health and safety. Wealthier cities tend to be more concerned about the environment.

Smart City Index 2021 has added nine new cities this year, including Bordeaux, Glasgow, Istanbul, Kill, Lausanne, Leeds, Lille, Medina, and San Jose, targeting a total of 118 cities.

Reported by Smart City Today