Comm. Smart Cities and IoT supplement Smart Cities and IoT | Seite 36

smart views

MENA Smart cities
Where citizen needs meet governance and socio-economic service
delivery, all powered by technological prowess

T

he race to build smart cities is
accelerating around the globe, as
governments vie to leverage developments in technology to improve the daily
lives of their citizens. Smart cities have been
the place where public governance, private
sector innovation, technological and project
management prowess converge to meet
everyday aspirations that are as simple on
their face as they are complex to satisfy: to
live, keep healthy, move, work and interact
with each other and institutions in a way
that is simple, user-friendly, time-efficient,
and as energy-efficient as possible.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
region offers a critical glimpse into this convergence of factors - and perhaps more than
most, the region’s socio-economic and political fundamentals make it especially ripe for
smart cities. Urbanisation levels are among
the highest in the world; more than 80 per
cent of the population in GCC countries lives
in urban areas, a level that reaches close
to 100 per cent in Qatar and Kuwait. The
pace of urbanisation is accelerating: around
56 per cent of the Arab world population
lived in urban areas in 2010; by 2020, that
proportion is expected to rise to around 65
per cent according to UN population data.
More strikingly, 85 per cent of the population
added in the MENA region between 2010
and 2020 will be added in urban areas.
Another notable driver of demand
for smart cities is the evolving nature of

Guy Zibi is managing director, of
Xalam Analytics, analytics on AME
digital infrastructure markets

the MENA urban population – young,
higher-income, technologically savvy,
and uncompromisingly demanding of the
highest standard of service delivery from
public and private institutions. Technology
innovation and adoption levels are strong.
In the GCC markets, smartphone adoption
has surpassed 100 per cent of the mobile
subscription base; in Qatar, around 20 – 25
per cent of subscriptions already use 4G.
In North Africa, 3G adoption has been
accelerating, with around 10 per cent (Egypt)
– 20 per cent (Morocco) of subscriptions
using 3G, penetration levels that will at least
double over the next five years according to
projections from the Xalam Analytics MENA
Digital Markets s \