The market for smart city surveillance is in a growth phase, outpacing surveillance solutions overall, according to new analysis from Berg Insight.

The global market for smart city surveillance equipment – defined by Berg Insight as networked security technology to improve public safety levels in metropolitan areas – was worth €6.5 billion in 2018 and is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.5 per cent to reach €19.5 billion by 2023.

Solutions for fixed-video surveillance infrastructure account for the vast majority of the market, but mobile surveillance solutions are also growing fast

Solutions for fixed-video surveillance infrastructure account for the vast majority of the market, but mobile surveillance solutions including body-worn cameras (BWCs) and audio surveillance solutions such as gunshot detection sensors are growing fast in terms of adoption to support law enforcement operations, the Smart Cities: Connected Public Spaces report finds.

Global trends

The largest geographical market is Asia-Pacific, where China accounts for the biggest market share as a result of extensive national surveillance programmes.

India is also a fast-growing market, primarily driven by the country’s large-scale government-led smart city push.

Other city surveillance growth regions include Latin America, where broad deployments are now starting to emerge.

Overall, the smart city surveillance equipment market outside Europe and North America was worth €4.6 billion in 2018, representing over 70 per cent of the global market value. Driven by a number of top-down city surveillance initiatives primarily in the Asia-Pacific, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.7 per cent to reach sales of €14.6 billion in 2023.

Cities under surveillance

Last year, Comparitech compiled a list of “the world’s most surveilled cities”, based on the number of public CCTV cameras in 120 cities. Eight out of the top 10 cities are in China.

London and Atlanta were the only cities outside of China to make the top 10. By 2022, China is projected to have one public CCTV camera for every two people.

“We found little correlation between the number of public CCTV cameras and crime or safety,” a statement from Comparitech said at the time.

London and Atlanta were the only cities outside of China to make the top 10 most surveilled cities. By 2022, China is projected to have one public CCTV camera for every two people

In a recent study, based on 40 years of evaluation research, CCTV was found to be most effective in reducing crime in car parks and residential areas, and when combined with multiple interventions. CCTV schemes incorporating active monitoring were more effective than passive systems.

In the Boston bombing case, police used footage and images from state, public and private sources to identify the suspects. CCTV was also used to identify suspects in the co-ordinated bomb attacks in Sri Lanka in April 2019.

The use of surveillance systems raises privacy concerns for many, especially with the introduction of facial recognition technology.

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