When it comes to smaller cities, Scandinavian countries appear to be at the forefront of modernity and sustainable development.
The research aims to highlight the cities that make the best use of new technological solutions to improve their sustainability and quality of life.
San Francisco tops the list of cities with the highest technology adoption and most advanced healthcare innovation. Beijing, on the other hand, is positioned as a benchmark for its tech education facilities.
In terms of mobility, Hong Kong stands out for its clean transportation, while London is particularly innovative in terms of parking, and Minneapolis is ahead of the game on traffic management.
On the infrastructure side, Hong Kong has the best internet coverage, while Rotterdam has the most widespread use of electronic payments.
And as far as sustainable development is concerned, Rio de Janeiro appears to be the city that puts the most emphasis on so-called green energies, while New York leads the way on sustainable buildings, and Taipei on waste management.
The top 10 most intelligent and future-proof cities with populations over 3 million people are:
- London (UK)
- New York (US)
- San Francisco (US)
- Singapore (Singapore)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Rotterdam (Netherlands)
- Seattle (US)
- Seoul (South Korea)
- Washington (US)
- Manchester (UK)
The top 10 cities with populations between 600,000 and 2,999,999 people are:
- Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Stockholm (Sweden)
- Oslo (Norway)
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Zurich (Switzerland)
- Gothenburg (Sweden)
- Helsinki (Finland)
- Boston (US)
- Utrecht (Netherlands)
- Edinburgh (UK)
Finally, the top 10 cities with populations between 50,000 and 600,000 people are:
- Lund (Sweden)
- Stavanger (Norway)
- Espoo (Finland)
- Malmö (Sweden)
- Aalborg (Denmark)
- Aarhus (Denmark)
- Trondheim (Norway)
- Bergen (Norway)
- Porvoo (Finland)
- Cambridge (UK)
This research first established factors that determine the degree of technological advancement and sustainability of a city, and then scored the cities accordingly. To do this, data was used from sources such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, “The Economist” and “The Lancet”.
Four key areas were considered: digital life, mobility innovation, business technology infrastructure and environmental sustainability.