Introducing the Digital Cities Index

The Digital Cities Index provides a comprehensive resource for understanding how cities use digital technologies to improve urban life. These improvements include improving city services, increasing connectivity, and promoting sustainability. The Index is built on measuring four important elements: connectivity, services, culture, and sustainability, and ranks 30 global cities according to their digital performance.

The Index is a valuable tool for city leaders who want to use technology to create more livable cities. It can also help them benchmark their city’s performance against other global cities.
 

The Four Key Pillars of the Index

The Digital Cities Index is comprised of four pillars, each made up of other indicators to determine the degree of a city's digitisation efforts.

Connectivity

Any city's successful use of digital technology, such as e-government and e-commerce, requires comprehensive, high-quality, and dependable internet access. It allows municipal authorities to work efficiently and effectively, impacting the quality of life for residents and businesses.

This includes the quality of a city's digital infrastructure (internet penetration and 5G readiness), its speed and cost.

Services

Municipal services are vital to the health and well-being of citizens and businesses, yet their efficiency can be significantly improved by digital technology. This is demonstrated by the delivery of education, healthcare, financial services, transportation, and retail services via digital channels by both public and private organizations.

Examples measured in the index include e-gov service portals, digital platforms for e-payments, integrated public transit apps, the availability of telehealth, access to electronic health records and the plans and policies to promote digital education.

Culture

Culture refers to the degree of comfort citizens have with incorporating technology into their everyday lives. This is in part promoted by government support for internet freedoms, data protection laws, the provision of open data, and a readiness to adopt newer technologies like AI and blockchain.

This is partly based on legal and regulatory support, but it's also driven by public acceptance, usage, and development of existing digital solutions.

This pillar also assesses the extent of data security and privacy in cities.

Sustainability

The Sustainability pillar evaluates the extent to which digital technologies are used to pursue environmentally-friendly growth. This includes how technology is used for efficient resource management, emissions reduction, pollution management and circular economy adoption.

This is based on the availability of smart meters and real-time energy data, uptake of traffic management technology, net-zero emissions policies, and sharing economy policies and frameworks.
 

Key Findings of the Digital Cities Index

Overall Ranking

The top-performing cities in the DCI 2022 are Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Beijing, London and Seoul, with the latter two cities tied in fourth position. Copenhagen scored very highly in all pillars except for culture. The high scores of Amsterdam, Beijing and Seoul were driven by their performance in the sustainability and connectivity pillars, while London scored highly in the sustainability pillar.

Connectivity Ranking

Copenhagen and Singapore are the DCI’s most connected cities

Both Copenhagen and Singapore have been successful in implementing policies and strategies that have led to a high level of connectivity for their citizens.

Denmark recently topped the EU Digital Economy and Society Index, which assesses things like how people use digital technology to interact with public services. Copenhagen Connecting, a smart city initiative that aims to promote the integration of technology and services through the aggregation of data from numerous sources, including mobile phones, GPS on buses, and sensors in the waste system, is one of the reasons for this.

Singapore has also been a global leader in connectivity, due in part to its highly developed digital infrastructure. The city-state has invested heavily in fibre optics and 5G networks, and its citizens have some of the fastest internet speeds in the world. Singapore’s connectivity strategy also focuses on making digital services affordable and accessible for all citizens, as well as on promoting digital literacy and inclusion.

The high scores of Copenhagen and Singapore demonstrate that it is possible for cities to achieve a high level of connectivity by implementing policies and strategies that promote digital inclusion and investment in digital infrastructure.

Services Ranking

Copenhagen, Berlin and London lead other cities in providing e-services

Municipal services are an essential component of everyday life, and their efficiency has a big influence on the lives of people and businesses. The DCI assesses e-government portals for citizens and companies, access to telehealth and telemedicine, the existence of plans and policies to promote digital education, the adoption of e-commerce by citizens, and digital technologies for hassle-free travel.

The high scores of Copenhagen, Berlin, and London demonstrate that it is possible for cities to provide high-quality e-services by investing in digital infrastructure and promoting digital inclusion.

Culture Ranking

Eastern North American cities, New York, Washington DC and Toronto lead the Culture ranking

The Culture pillar measures the extent to which technology has been incorporated into people’s lives. This is in part supported by government laws and policies that promote digital skills development and a technology-driven business environment.

The top three cities all have high citizen usage of the internet, although the self-assessed digital skills levels tended to be more basic. While citizens were comfortable using digital devices, they were less able to resolve more complex issues like recovering lost files and were less likely to have advanced coding skills.

The American cities, New York and Washington DC, ranked highly for providing an environment where businesses can confidently operate and invest in a free, open and competitive market. Strong intellectual property protection also promotes a strong startup ecosystem.

Toronto's strengths lay in strong privacy and data protection laws. In addition, there exists very high cybersecurity preparedness. This, combined with a strong sense of internet freedom, lifts Toronto's technology culture ranking.

Sustainability Ranking

The majority of cities are investing in smart utility management

Digital technologies can play a significant role in reducing emissions and resource usage in transportation and the built environment, and in pinpointing and monitoring public health risks like pollution and smog.

Copenhagen, Seoul, and Toronto are three leading cities using digital technologies in innovative ways to improve sustainability. These cities scoring at least 90 out of 100 for their use of digital technology to support urban sustainability.

Copenhagen has been a leader in sustainability for many years, and it is no surprise that the city ranks first in the Sustainability pillar. The city has made a commitment to reducing its environmental impact and promoting clean energy, and it has put in place policies and regulations to support these objectives.

Seoul is another city that is using digital technologies to improve sustainability. The city has developed a smart energy management system that is used to monitor and control energy use in buildings. In addition, the city has also developed a smart transportation system that uses real-time data to manage traffic and reduce congestion.

Toronto's strengths lay in strong privacy and data protection laws. In addition, there exists very high cybersecurity preparedness. This, combined with a strong sense of internet freedom, lifts Toronto's technology culture ranking.
 

Conclusion

The use of digital technologies can play a significant role in improving the livability of cities. By using digital technologies, cities can manage resources more efficiently, reduce emissions and pollution, and improve public health. Additionally, using digital technologies can help businesses to operate more effectively and promote a stronger startup ecosystem.

As cities become more and more connected, the use of digital technologies to improve urban life will only continue to grow. The Digital Cities Index provides a comprehensive view of how different cities are using technology to make their citizens' lives better. The top-ranked cities all have strong policies in place that support the use of digital technologies, and they also have a culture that is supportive of technology innovation.

If you are interested in learning more about how digital technologies can improve your city, the Digital Cities Index is a valuable resource that can help you make better decisions about using technology to improve your city.
 

Cities are growing at an unprecedented rate, and with that growth comes increased pressure on infrastructure and resources.

As cities become more populated, we must find new ways to make them more efficient and sustainable.

NEC is proud to support the Digital Cities Index (DCI) 2022, which takes a comprehensive look at how digital technology is impacting cities around the world. The report highlights the successes of advanced transportation systems in improving citizen mobility and access while addressing sustainability goals.