What is a Smart City?

Before going into the market dynamics first have a look at what is a “Smart City”. Smart City’s are the cities that employ various smart city platform providers with modern and highly efficient Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) along with urban operations and services to upgrade the quality of life. In this way, it ensures the modern-day needs of its citizens are being fulfilled. It also looks after the aspects of Socio-economic and environmental sustainability.

What do Smart City Platform Providers do? 

Smart city platform providers offer the smart cities a platform with integrated operational capability in which a wide range of software and hardware are employed to function together, along with several communication protocols, to deliver smart solutions for smart cities. A smart city platform provider provides a middleware to coordinate smart city data, applications, solutions, and services across a multi-level operational domain for a wide range of participants.

2021 Market Dynamics for Smart City Platform Providers

Experts at Netix Global have estimated that global smart city platforms are to witness a very slow growth rate at the beginning of 2021. However, by the mid of 2021, it is expected that investments would rise again, providing ample opportunities for growth. In light of such uncertainties, here are a few Market Dynamics that Smart City Platforms Providers can look forward to:

Market-driving Factors

In a Smart City, each and every solution that is to be implemented in the city is done in collaboration with the government with Smart City Platform Providers. However, many startups and small companies offer unique solutions for implementation which can be integrated under the smart city platform to form a customized solution keeping in the best interests of the city under various aspects.

Market Restraining Factors

The installation and maintenance of smart city platforms usually undergo a huge capital expenditure. So, the solutions to be implemented need to be determined in the initial phase itself. This will help in making the smart city platforms opt for new solutions in the upcoming stages with ease. 

Moreover, since the platform undergoes continuous maintenance and upgrades post-implementation, that cost also adds up, thus creating a restraining factor from both the government’s end and that of smart city platform providers.

Market Opportunities

Over recent years, various organizations have started adopting and increasing the usage of IoT to automate their workflow process and various operations. On the other hand, Smart City platforms are known to integrate various technologies for a wide range of applications. So the introduction of IoT and other associated technologies to the platform might provide multiple opportunities for smart city platform providers like that as the opportunities grabbed by Netix Global as a platform provider..

Market Challenges

COVID-19 has been one of the biggest challenges for many markets all over the world in 2020. In fact, even the Smart City Platform Providers also face the same challenge. Moreover, this uncertain challenge also has its impacts in 2021. Many governments all over the world have taken up responsive measures, such as lockdowns, curfews, and many other restrictions, which have affected the functional and operational processes of many industries including that of the Smart City Platform Providers especially due to the lack of manpower. So Smart City Platform Providers should come up with Smart Solutions in collaboration with the governments to overcome this challenge.

COVID-19 has shown the world the need for smart technology for urban governance and monitoring for the upcoming uncertain future. So we at Netix Global would like to suggest that it’s time for Smart City Platform Providers to buckle up and develop advanced Smart City Platforms keeping in mind the above market dynamics that are going to affect them.