The Internet of Things can make city living a lot better. That’s a good thing, because cities are growing quickly. Around the world, more than half of us live in urban areas. In Western Europe, more than 80 percent of the population live in cities.
Rising population density creates challenges, of course, but IoT is uniquely suited to provide solutions. Smart cities—that is, an urban area in which the government and other actors use information technology to improve quality of life for residents—provide at least three strong benefits according to researcher Razan Amine:
The ideal smart city technology is a network of networks, a system of systems, combining multiple IoT deployments into a single management portal. To get the benefits of IoT, you need that software hub—an IoT platform.
These software solutions provide several capabilities. First, they give you a centralized tool for managing multiple IoT deployments. You can log into a single environment to manage e-mobility, smart parking, and tourist services, as well as sensors for traffic, noise, air quality, and much more.
Secondly, the IoT platform provides some level of data processing. Raw information can’t help you make data-driven decisions. A good management platform for smart cities will include data mining, forecasting, and even simulation tools that deliver usable insights.
It can be hard to tell which IoT platforms are optimized for smart city use cases, however. There are lots of them. (The market for IoT platforms was worth $8.23 billion in 2024, and is expected to more than double by 2029).
A truly great smart city platform does more than the basics listed above. It combines IoT features with advanced capabilities to improve quality of life for residents, and boost efficiency for city operators.
What sorts of capabilities? Here are five things to look for in a smart city IoT platform.
If you operate in Europe, it’s essential to choose a smart city platform that complies with EU regulations. That requires strong interoperability for integration into the nine common data spaces. It also requires features that support EU Green Deal initiatives.
To meet the twin goals of EU-compliant data governance and environmental sustainability, your smart city’s IoT platform must offer the following features:
When you’re building a smart city, your choice of IoT platforms makes a tremendous difference. That includes the difference between compliance with EU data governance rules and sustainability initiatives—or not. Choose wisely.