London flagged as smart city hotspot

But EMEA lagging behind AsiaPac and North America in terms of overall smart city investment, according to IDC

London has been pinpointed as one of five smart city hotspots by analyst IDC, which claims that spending on smart cities is set to bulge to $158bn by 2022.

The UK capital, alongside Tokyo, New York City, Singapore and Shanghai, will lead the way in terms of smart city investments in 2018 among the 53 cities IDC monitors, according to the market watcher.

Popular smart city use cases include fixed visual surveillance, advanced public transit and smart outdoor lighting.

Overall, IDC expects smart city initiatives to attract technology investments of more than $81bn globally this year, a figure it predicts will almost double by 2022.

However, AsiaPac is currently responsible for the lion's share of activity, with the region set to account for nearly 42 per cent of global spending in 2018, IDC said, ahead of the Americas (33 per cent) and EMEA (25 per cent).

Fixed visual surveillance, advanced public transit, and smart outdoor lighting are the three largest use cases, together set to account for nearly one quarter of global smart cities spending in 2018, IDC said.

But the market watcher tipped officer wearables and vehicle to everything connectivity as faster-growth niches to watch out for.

"IDC expects to see strong, continued investment by the private and public sector in urban areas and in Smart Cities and Communities programmes and projects," said Ruthbea Yesner, vice president of IDC's Smart Cities and Communities programmes.