What are the smartest cities in Italy? No surprises on first place: at the top of the standings we find Milan followed by Turin, in second place, and by Bologna, in third. This is what emerges from the fourth edition of the Smart City Index, the Ernest & Young report which analyzes the 117 Italian capital cities, classifying their development in terms of intelligent networks and infrastructures and measuring their ability to innovate and offer quality services to their citizens.
Four parameters were used to draw up the ranking: network infrastructures, sensors, data platforms, mobile and web applications.
The report underlines how Smart Cities are more attractive and more competitive than the average Italian city, as well as representing a significant driver of the country's economy. “Already today, the development of IoT technologies (Internet of Things) has generated a market of 3,7 billion euros, while approximately 40% of the 2,5 million jobs expected over the next five years will be created in cities . Of these, over 350.000 will be highly specialized, linked to the various sectors of the Smart City” underlines EY in a note.
Even the birth of new businesses finds the most fertile environment for their development in the main cities: around 6.000 start-ups and 400 incubators and co-working spaces are located in medium and large urban environments.
Returning to the standings, the podium remains firmly in the hands of the big cities of Northern Italy with Milan accelerating and supplanting Bologna. The Emilian city is also overtaken by Turin, which stands out for the diffusion of fixed and mobile broadband and for public transport.
Rome and Florence improve their position, finishing seventh and eighth respectively. Rome, despite the delay in infrastructures and networks, is the city that has made the greatest effort in terms of transparency, making its information assets accessible to citizens.
Medium-sized cities continue their growth path: five of them are in the top ten positions. In particular, Modena, through a process of modernization of infrastructures and development of platforms for the provision of services, gains the fourth absolute position. Trento, Bergamo, Parma and Brescia are also among the top ten smartest cities in the general ranking. Worth mentioning is the strong progress of some southern cities, such as Bari and Lecce which, thanks to the significant improvement in the areas of sensors and service platforms, raise the former from 40th to 18th place and the latter from 52nd to 26th place in the general classification.
Donato Iacovone, CEO of EY in Italy and managing partner of the Mediterranean area said: "Our cities have invested in enabling infrastructures and, albeit at different speeds, have become more connected and intelligent, developing new models of mobility, sustainability and interaction with citizens. Today the key challenge of Smart Cities is played out on a cultural level. In order for smart cities to generate value for citizens and development for companies, it is necessary to relate the supply of services with demand, focusing on investments that have concrete repercussions and contribute to increasing digital culture".
