Funded by the 7th Framework Programme

of the European Union

The 1st CHOICE Event

Fostering EU-China Collaborative Innovation in ICT

Key Findings

Comparative Study of Smart Cities in Europe and China

Jeanette Whyte, Smart City Lead Researcher, EU-China Green Smart City

Technical Expert Group, Jenesis Consulting

Chengdu, China

OCT. 22, 2014

1. Introduction

The objective of this presentation is to present the key findings

from the Comparative Study of Smart Cities in Europe and China, including

o Background and objectives to the study

o Smart city assessment framework

o Emerging trends and open challenges in China and the EU

o Analysis of China and EU pilot smart cities

o The Smart City Roadmap towards Maturity

3. Background and Objectives to the

Study(1)

Project supported by the EU-China Policy Dialogues Support Facility

o Initiated at the 3rd ICT Dialogue Meeting in 2011

Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT) and the European Commission's Information Society & Media Directorate-General (DG

CNECT)

Project deliverables

o Develop Green Smart City cooperation;

o Establish an expert framework for promoting EU-China smart cities cooperation;

o Select pilot cities from China and the EU; and

o Establish a Technical Expert Group (TEG) to carry out related research and

cooperation

3. Background and Objectives to the

Study(2)

Amsterdam, Netherlands Haidian, Beijing

Barcelona, Spain Binhai New Area, Tianjin

Bristol, UK Pudong, Shanghai

Copenhagen, Denmark Nantong City, Jiangsu Province

Florence, Italy Huaian City, Jiangsu Province

Frankfurt, Germany Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Issy-les-Moulineux (Paris), France Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province

Lyons, France Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province

Malmo, Sweden Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province

Manchester, UK Yantai City, Shandong Province

Riga, Latvia NanSha New Area, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province

Tallinn, Estonia Qinghai, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province

Venice, Italy Hengqin, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province

Vilnius, Lithuania Chengdu City, Sichuan Province

Zagreb, Croatia Korla City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

3. Smart City Assessment Framework

The TEG designed a Smart City Assessment Framework which incorporates 9 characteristics that are common to Smart City projects

o Smart City Strategy

o Stakeholders

o Governance

o Funding

o Value Assessment

o Business Models

o ICT Infrastructure

o Smart City Services

o Legal and Regulatory policies

The objective of the assessment framework was not to rank the Smart City pilot projects

The goal was to compare the various characteristics of each Smart City project in order to

o Identify good practise in the various components of a Smart City project Assessed against a common set of criteria

o Understand emerging challenges in Smart City projects

o Develop a Good Practice Framework for Smart City Planning and Development

4. Emerging Trends and Open

Challenges: Technology(1)

Technology Trend Challenges

Broadband

connectivity

Most EU countries broadband penetration is > 50% (higher in cities with average speed of

4.9Mbps or above

In China, fixed and mobile broadband penetration rate is circa 14% and 30% but is

likely to increase rapidly

High investment costs to build out broadband

networks

Internet of

Things (IoT)

Most cities have or are in the process of rolling out an overlay of ICT that connects

things, organisations and people

Examples of services using IoT technology include education, environment/energy,

transport, food safety

Some IP networks are not yet IoT ready

Lack of IoT skills and knowledge

Lack of trust

Smart personal

devices

Most cities have developed smartphone applications for their citizens

Smartphone related services is likely to increase as smartphone penetration

increases

Digital divide Data protection and

security

4. Emerging Trends and Open

Challenges: Technology(2)

Technology Trend Challenges

Cloud

computing

All cities have deployed some cloud computing services

Many EU cities have significant experience

Security and privacy Complexity of managing

cloud components

Interoperability between clouds & vendor Lock-in

Big Data

Analytics

Some cities have created smart city applications using big data analytics

Ningbo and Qinghai have used big data analytics to improve planning of urban

transport systems

Shortage of talent Data policies on privacy

and security

5. Analysis of China and EU Pilot Smart

Cities(1)

Information provided by the pilot smart cities was analysed to provide an

assessment of their level of maturity - Basic level or State of the Art level

Characteristic

Level of Maturity Not

assessed Not yet

addressed

Basic Average More

Advanced

State- of-

the- Art

Smart City

Strategy

Stakeholders

Governance

Funding

Value

Assessment

Business models

ICT infrastructure

Smart city

services

5. Analysis of China and EU Pilot Smart

Cities(2)

Characteristic Region Level of Maturity Not

assessed Not yet

addressed

Basic Average More

Advanced

State-of the -

Art

ICT

infrastructure

China

7% 13% 80%

EU

10% 80% 10%

Characteristic Region Level of Maturity Not

assessed Not yet

addressed

Basic Average More

Advanced

State-of the

-Art

Smart city

services

China

13% 87%

EU

80% 10% 10%

6. Recommendations(1)

The concept of smart city means very different things to different cities and as a result

it is not possible to develop a single set of recommendations on how to get smarter

Instead, the recommendation is a roadmap for continuous improvement where cities

to advance step by step until reaching the state-of-the-art level of maturity

The Smart City Staircase Roadmap towards Maturity

6. Recommendations(2)

The Roadmap towards maturity recognises some cities may have no interest or lack resources to achieve the highest level of smart city maturity for a given characteristic

Instead, it provides guidance on how to address the task of continuous modernisation step by step and keeping a balance of ambitious, achievable targets without putting the city system under excessive pressure

The Roadmap towards maturity has two important underlying principles

1. No leapfrogging

Leapfrogging from a basic level to state-of-the-art level of maturity is not only an impossible task but in most cases will also be counter-productive

2. No isolated advances

Advancing one characteristic while neglecting to advance others will in most cases be counter-productive

It is highly recommended each conducts a critical assessment of its current maturity level Once completed the city can identify other cities or individual projects within a city that has a strong

similarity to the next step that needs to be taken

6. Recommendations: ICT Infrastructure

Level of Maturity

Basic Average More Advanced State-of-the-Art

Broadband (fixed,

mobile or converged)

network converge for

all pilot projects

ICT infrastructure

provided for each

project

Targeted ICT project

investments (e.g.

Smart Grid)

Some of the ICT

infrastructure is

managed or shared

across smart city

projects

100% city wide

broadband coverage

ICT infrastructure

managed or shared

across all smart city

projects

Funding for advanced

broadband network (e.g.

LTE, vehicular wireless

network, sensors etc.) and

implementation city wide

data centres for future

smart city projects

100% high speed (>20

Mbs) broadband

coverage

Real-time city

operations are

optimised

ICT vision and strategy

overseen by dedicated

City CIO

Measures in place to

ensure the city future proofs its investment in ICT infrastructure

1. Technology-neutral infrastructure targets o Technology infrastructure required to deliver smart city projects should be defined by function rather

than in terms of a specific technology

2. Strategic focus o Taking a long term view of smart city investments, which can be quite difficult to achieve when very

often ICT is used on a project by project basis

o A Chief Information Officer may assist in the decision making process of prioritising investments

3. Open Standards and Open Data o Development of smart city services via open APIs and other standards enable cities to take full

advantage of the economies of scale of using these widely adopted standards

6. Recommendations: Smart City Services

1. Prioritise services o The use of analytical tools will aid decision makers to compare the value of potentially unrelated

projects in order to decide which ones to select

2. Create service platforms o This will enable a range of services to be hosted on a common platform and assist in creating

future services quickly and efficiently whilst minimising disruptions for the overall system

3. Collaboration with other cities o There are several established platforms in Europe such as CitySDK, Apps for Europe which are

based on open platforms and provide tools that can be used to develop applications

Level of Maturity

Basic Average More Advanced State-of-the-Art

A few (

7. Conclusions

Knowledge-exchange platforms will continue to play an important part in enabling cities

to achieve the respective next level of smart city maturity

Cities are encouraged to use the Smart City Assessment Framework as an internal management tool for assessing the status quo of their smart city development and to

identify any gaps and weaknesses

The EU China Smart City Cooperation Project Technical Expert Group, established as

part of this project is a useful resource with responsibilities for

o Identifying and sharing good practice

o Maintaining a database of technical experts from China and the EU

The Comparative Study of Smart Cities in Europe and China is available at www.eu-chinapdsf.org