Telecom equipment provider Ericsson has
ranked Delhi at 16th position in Arthur D. Little’s latest Networked
Society City Index, while Mumbai received 18th ranking.
Ericsson and Arthur D. Little ranked cities
(see the list below) in terms of their ability to use ICT to benefit their
citizens.
The Ericsson study noted that several
promising initiatives aim to leverage ICT for the benefit of citizens are
happening in Delhi. An excellent example of a multi-stakeholder project is Eko,
which enables low-value financial transactions to be completed using mobile
phones or through retail outlets. Eko serve over 1.3 million customers and
processed USD 500 million in micro deposits, payments and remittances. In a
city such as Delhi, citizens benefit from gaining access to basic financial
services – for example, by using them to engage in entrepreneurial activities
and receive payment for their work.
Top-ranking cities Seoul, Singapore and
Stockholm show the benefits of engaging a society as a whole.
London, New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Tokyo,
Shanghai and Beijing complete the top 10.
The position of Dhaka and Karachi is at 22
and 24, respectively. Cities from Africa are not in top 20.
The second edition of Ericsson’s Networked
Society City Index has ranked 25 of the world’s largest cities according to
their ability to transform ICT to social, economic and environmental benefits.
The top three cities in the index – Seoul,
Singapore and Stockholm – have successfully met many social, economic and
environmental targets by making extensive investments in ICT. Singapore, for
example, is aggressively driving innovation in e-health, and is a pioneer in
traffic-congestion management. Seoul, meanwhile, is using ICT to realize many
environmental benefits of high tech initiatives.
Sao Paulo has promising initiatives in place
to rapidly close the socioeconomic gap through multi-stakeholder ICT
engagements. Sao Paulo, in particular, has been awarded several national and
international awards for its e-inclusion programs. These initiatives highlight
an awareness of the need for improving ICT literacy and the key role that it
has in enabling further development.
Increased GDP per capita often is equated
with increased consumption and thus increased impact on the environment, for
example due to increased CO2 emissions. This environmental part of this index
indicates how ICT can be used to decouple GDP growth and CO2 emissions: a city
with high GDP could use ICT to reduce their consumption, for example, with
smart commuting, or how a city in a developing country or city can chose a more
sustainable development path, by obtaining the same type of services, but e.g.
virtually, as opposed to physical products.
“It is crucial to analyze the
perspective of individual citizens,” says Patrik RegÃ¥rdh, from Ericsson’s
Networked Society Lab.
The new study looks at the benefits ICT has
enabled in various cities in areas such as health, education, economy, the
environment and efficiency, as well as at citizens’ interactions with ICT.
“As people get their most basic needs
satisfied, attention shifts to e.g., balanced life styles, a rich cultural
scene, good transport and transaction facilities, good health also in their
senior years, self-fulfillment – for example – in terms of higher education and
a clean environment throughout the city,” says Erik Almqvist, director
Arthur D. Little.
The Networked Society City Index is a tool
that can help city authorities and decision makers monitor the position and
progress of cities along the ICT-development curve. It should be read as the
starting point in an open dialogue, rather than the final word on how cities
can progress their triple bottom lines.
Ericsson Networked Society City
Index
1. Seoul
2. Singapore
3. Stockholm
4. London
5. New
York
6. Paris
7. Tokyo
8. Los
Angeles
9. Shanghai
10. Beijing
11. Moscow
12. Sydney
13. Buenos Aires
14. Instanbul
15. Sao Paulo
16. Delhi
17. Mexico City
18. Mumbai
19. Cairo
20. Jakarta
21. Manila
22. Dhaka
23. Johannesburg
24. Karachi
25. Lagos
By Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
