Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Cairo are the leading cities in the region that are adopting smarter practices to foster innovation, productivity and efficiency featuring steady strides in ICT development, a report said.

Cairo has claimed the third spot in terms of ICT maturity improvement from 2013 to 2014, according to the 2014 edition of the Networked Society City Index report published by Ericsson.

The report ranks 40 cities and measures their ICT maturity in terms of leverage from ICT investments in economic, social and environmental development: the "triple bottom line" effect adding Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Muscat amongst nine new cities in this year’s report.

One of the key findings from the report is the fact that cities with a low ICT maturity tend to be improving their ICT maturity faster than high performing cities, indicating a catch-up effect. A regional example of this is Cairo, where, despite low ICT maturity levels, plus several social, economic and environmental challenges, there is significant progression on all ICT dimensions of the Index: infrastructure, affordability, and usage.

Many cities also have the opportunity to leapfrog others by avoiding expensive and increasingly obsolete physical infrastructure and instead moving straight into innovative applications using advanced mobile technology.

Rafiah Ibrahim, president, Ericsson Region Middle East, said: “With steady strides in the ICT development in the last decade, the biggest opportunities and the beneficiaries of progress will be experienced in most cities. ICT will provide cities of tomorrow the required springboard for economic progress and social sustainability, from entrepreneurial innovation to better public governance and services.”

“The Middle East is not immune to this phenomena; such progressive, forward looking initiatives are already rife in some cities in the Middle East. Leading the charge – Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Cairo are adopting smarter practices to foster innovation, productivity and efficiency.

“It is therefore no surprise to see these four cities included in the index and it’s our privilege to be facilitating their growth through our cutting-edge solutions,” he added.

Patrik Regårdh, head of Ericsson's Networked Society Lab, said: “Cities will be the major arena in which ICT can bring solutions for economic, social, and sustainable growth. As a leader in ICT development, solutions and implementation, Ericsson is playing a major role in realizing the Networked Society and paving the way for more efficient, effective cities.

“Besides our reports like the City Index, we are engaging in public-private partnerships to drive progress such as the New Cities Foundation, and collaborate with agencies such as the UN-Habitat–the agency mandated by the United Nations to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities.”

The top five cities (Stockholm, London, Paris, Singapore and Copenhagen) remain the same, though Paris has now surpassed Singapore to take the number three slot. The nine new cities have been added in this year’s report are Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, Athens, Rome, Warsaw, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Among these, Munich enjoys the highest ranking, followed by Berlin and Barcelona.

Also new in this year’s report is the inclusion of three predictions about the urban future derived from new technology and ICT solutions and applications:

•    Smart citizens: People rather than institutions will drive urban progress to a larger extent, with more open public services and governance approaches characterizing this power shift.

•    GDP redefined: By moving toward a more collaborative and sharing economy, ICT solutions will provide opportunities to create more value from fewer resources, therefore necessitating an adjustment of GDP to mirror the values important for a sustainable society.

•    Power of collaboration: Tomorrow’s networking organizations will be more flexible and efficient thanks to collaboration. Therefore the prevailing conditions of city management will also evolve, requiring changes in legislation and governance.

The Ericsson Networked Society City Index has been developed in close collaboration with Sweco, the sustainable engineering and design group.

In addition to the top-three ranking cities, Stockholm, London and Paris, the following cities are also part of the index: Abu Dhabi, Athens, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Copenhagen, Delhi, Dhaka, Dubai, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Karachi, Lagos, Los Angeles, Manila, Mexico City, Miami, Moscow, Muscat, Mumbai, Munich, New York, Oslo, Rome, São Paolo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo and Warsaw. – TradeArabia News Service