As globalisation, urbanisation and digitalisation increasingly become the forces that reshape economies, the critical mass of citizens within the world’s urban centres is driving the transformation to smart cities.

Speaking at the Ericsson Business Innovation Forum, held in Stockholm this week, Stockholm Chamber of Commerce CEO Maria Rankka said urbanisation spawned competition, collaboration and connectivity. 

Cities that doubled in size led to a higher number of patents and encouraged innovation, with digitisation becoming complementary to the innovation transpiring from the personal interaction of citizens.

“When humans cluster in cities, one plus one becomes three,” she noted.

The majority of the world’s population currently resided in urban cities, with 600 cities collectively the backbone of the world’s economy, delivering 80% of global gross domestic product.

It was expected that, by 2050, seven out of ten people would live in urban regions.

Urbanisation was the key to moving up income levels and spurring growth, Rankka commented, pointing to a strong correlation between urban density and prosperity.

This was particularly clear in developing countries, where two-thirds of world growth emerged. Ninety per cent of this growth was from urbanised regions.

The collision of competencies and personalities in cities now spurred business to look at innovative ways of addressing the disparity in citizens demanding services through their smartphones and the pace at which companies could deliver.

Ericsson consumer lab head researcher Michael Bjorn said city dwellers were increasingly open to using information and communication technology (ICT) to tackle the issues experienced with city life.

The uptake of new smartphone-based services by consumers was higher than it has ever been, with a survey undertaken by the consumer lab showing interest in “smart citizen concepts”, he told media and analysts at the Ericsson Studio in Sweden, one of the worlds leading ICT cities.

These included developing methods to mitigate traffic, such as bike or car sharing, interactive navigation and indoor directions, enhanced communication with authorities, and health and care concepts.

“[It is this kind of] bottom-up transformation we really need to think about,” he said, noting that consumers were kept more informed through the Internet, allowing smarter decisions.

“When city dwellers use the Internet to make smarter and more informed choices, cities become smarter too,” he concluded.