The open road: A smart city is an interoperable city

Becoming a smart city remains a goal rather than a reality for cities around the world. Many are at a pivotal point in their journey where they must make decisions over which technologies to use and which vendors to work with. The route they take could have serious implications in terms of what they achieve further down the line.

Interoperability and a lack of standards remain among the biggest issues for city innovation. The good news is that progress is being made and there is increasing recognition by cities, vendors and other stakeholders that true progress comes from creating ecosystems and tackling problems and challenges collectively.

There is still much work to be done but there is no doubt that moving towards an open approach, based on interoperability and vendor independence, will help to avoid issues that can curb smart city aspirations in the medium- and long-term.

This report examines how openness represents the next key phase for smart cities.

Read this report to understand:

• The importance of having an interoperable and scalable network infrastructure and an open management platform at the core
  
  
• The open approach of cities such as Chiasso, Switzerland; Gijón, Spain; and San Leandro, USA
  
  
• How an open and scalable infrastructure in place, cities can unleash new innovation and economic value through data.
  
  
• Key challenges that remain

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