- Top 5 cities: Barcelona, Santander, Madrid, Málaga, and Bilbao
- Innovation flourishes when all stakeholders (citizens, private companies, financial institutions, employees, etc.) are aligned to the right strategy, enabling ecosystems for success in the city
IDC and IDC Energy Insights have announced the results of their second study of smart city developments in Spain, focusing on the "smart city journey." The research was sponsored by Atos, BBVA, Ferrovial Servicios, Microsoft, and Urbiotica, and the results were presented at an event in Madrid on September 26. The event attracted more than 200 attendees, including city innovation managers and city mayors.
Key highlights of the 2012 IDC Smart Cities Index Ranking for Spain were unveiled during the event:
- The top 5 cities (by highest score) were Barcelona (climbing up to first place from second last year), Santander (second, up from third last year), Madrid (third, up from fourth last year), Málaga (fourth), and Bilbao (fifth).
- The top 5 were followed by five "contenders" - by highest score, these were Valladolid, Zaragoza, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Donostia-San Sebastián, and Pamplona/Iruña. These cities made significant decisions, backed by concrete actions, in their smart city journey, meriting them the "contender" title.
"Becoming a smart city requires vision, political will, strong leadership, stakeholders' inclusion, adequate financial resources, and collective intelligence. This approach requires the city to create the right framework for collaboration, being consistent in a long-run strategy," said Rafael Achaerandio, research director, IDC Spain.
"Like any other complex initiative, city ecosystem transformation calls for robust governance and disciplined project and program management. While every city may have its own specific strategic objectives and action priorities, all of them have to plan, design, build, and deliver valuable services on an ongoing basis," said Roberta Bigliani, head, EMEA, IDC Energy Insights.
In 2011, the first IDC Smart Cities Ranking was developed and then applied in Spain (as well as countries such as Germany) to evaluate cities' "smartness." In 2012, the same approach was followed to create the new 2012 ranking of the 44 largest Spanish cities (those with more than 150,000 inhabitants).
For more information or to arrange an interview with an IDC analyst, please contact rachaerandio@idc.com.
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