IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Anambra State Government has launched a redesigned official website, creating a more accessible digital gateway to government services, information, opportunities and citizen engagement.

The new platform now live at https://anambrastate.gov.ng/, brings together key government services and digital platforms while providing residents, businesses, investors, visitors and development partners with a more structured way to navigate government.

Dr Matthew Marson, Managing Director of Technology Consulting at JLL, tells AB Majlis why Dubai’s smart-city technology could add $6.9bn to its economy and why technology is becoming investable infrastructure

Smart cities have long been presented as visions of the future. For Dr Matthew Marson, Managing Director of Technology Consulting at JLL, the conversation must now become commercial.

“Smart-city technology has often been treated as experimental,” Marson told AB Majlis. “Cities have run pilots, but the investment has not always been assessed with the same discipline as other infrastructure.”

A large part of urban planning involves navigating how people experience a place. That kind of insight can require collecting data at a level of detail that large-scale datasets cannot provide.

Henry Levesque is a doctoral student in Regional Development Planning at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP). He is exploring a different approach to smart-city data collection by developing an open-source tool designed to make that process more accessible. His research centers on an open-source, low-cost system that allows people to collect highly localized information about their environments and retain greater control over how that data is gathered and used.

A community in Xiong'an brings life and services directly to home

The center also houses government service counters handling 52 civil affairs matters, including medical insurance transfers, public transport card issuance, and business license applications. Residents can consult government workers in Beijing through real-time video links.

A 24-hour self-service area provides services including property ownership certificate printing and medical insurance information inquiries.

There is nothing simple about modernizing critical government services.

Behind the technology Canadians interact with are decades of policy decisions and institutional knowledge. And behind those systems are public servants who understand not only how they work, but why they work the way they do.

This matters. Government does not have the luxury of stopping while it modernizes. Benefits still need to reach families. Taxes still need to be processed. Borders still need to function. Canadians still need answers.

Across Scotland’s public sector, there is a growing recognition that technology is no longer simply something that supports public services. It is becoming fundamental to how those services are designed, delivered and improved.

Whether you’re working in policing, justice, health, local government or central government, the challenges are remarkably similar. Demand continues to rise. Budgets remain under pressure. Teams are stretched. Cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated. And citizens increasingly expect public services to be as simple, responsive and accessible as the digital services they use every day.

In the transport sector, the transformation is taking on an even more advanced dimension

Under the concept of the “smart city” adopted by the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) in Abu Dhabi, a new philosophy of urban planning is emerging: urban growth is no longer measured by the number of buildings constructed, but by the city’s ability to accommodate its residents while providing services, mobility, public spaces and an environment conducive to a high quality of life.

The government will support universities to produce professional academic personnel who will lead the future advanced city sector.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 28th it will recruit participating institutions for the "AI·smart city innovative talent cultivation program" from four-year universities nationwide to train advanced talent with integrated capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) and smart cities.

Synopsis

Smart cities are no longer a futuristic concept, they are becoming a necessity. As urban populations grow, cities are using technology to improve transportation, public services, sustainability, and quality of life. But a smart city is about far more than installing sensors or offering free Wi-Fi. It is about creating efficient, connected, and people-centric urban environments. Here's a closer look at why cities around the world are racing to become smarter and what that transformation really means for residents.

For decades, a green city was assessed based on criteria such as the number of trees planted and the number of parks it had. Today, with the rapid development of technology, Ho Chi Minh City is placing greater emphasis on the role of data in measuring improvements in quality of life.

“Three steps” towards the goal

Since the issuance of Decision No. 4714/QD-UBND, Ho Chi Minh City has set the goal of transforming itself into a smart and sustainable city based on a green growth model. Its six key pillars for smart city development focus comprehensively on optimising data-driven governance and improving the quality of digital life.

Minister for Roads & Buildings Komatireddy Venkat Reddy on Tuesday said the government would provide all necessary facilities in Nalgonda Municipal Corporation and develop it as a smart city, with efforts also being made to secure the Best Corporation Award.

The Minister inaugurated two wetting machines, procured at a cost of ₹1.01 crore for sanitation purposes in Nalgonda Municipal Corporation. The machines were inaugurated at Indirabhavan, his camp office in the Nalgonda district headquarters.

The Technical Committee of the National Digital Transformation Programme held its third periodic meeting for 2026, chaired by Dr. Ali Amer Al Shidhani, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology for Communications and Information Technology, in the presence of Their Excellencies and members of the Committee.

The meeting discussed the latest developments in the implementation of government digital transformation projects and initiatives and reviewed the implementation status of a number of programmes and projects, including: the summary of the Strategic Plan of the Supreme Judicial Council 2040 and the summary of the Unified Judicial Platform project; the summary of the Unified Social Protection and Government Support System plan; and the implementation status of establishing the Digital Transformation Enablement Activity/Entity in government institutions. The meeting also reviewed the implementation status and key achievements of the "Irtiqa" Programme for empowering national competencies in digital transformation, along with the most prominent achievements and challenges, and examined ways to enable government institutions to continue implementing digital transformation objectives.

President Marcos is promoting responsible AI adoption in public services, stressing that technology should complement human judgment rather than replace people’s ability to decide.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is pushing for wider and more inclusive access to artificial intelligence (AI) as the government launched on Monday a new AI-powered feature of the eGovPH Superapp.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is pushing for wider and more inclusive access to artificial intelligence (AI) as the government launched on Monday a new AI-powered feature of the eGovPH Superapp.

In a message delivered by Cabinet Secretary Benhur Abalos during the ceremonial launch of eGov AI at The Manila Hotel, Marcos said emerging technologies must be made accessible to more Filipinos and harnessed to improve public services.

Digital transformation is opening up new opportunities to improve the efficiency of state management, enhance the quality of services for citizens, and promote socio-economic development. In this process, developing digital citizens is identified as a key task and a foundation for the formation of a digital society and digital economy. Implementing Government Resolution No. 66.22/2026/NQ-CP on policies to encourage the development of digital citizens, the province is deploying a comprehensive set of solutions to create conditions for people to access, use, and benefit from the advantages of digital transformation.

India’s cities are playing an increasingly important role in the country’s economic development. According to the figures cited in the Smart City Mission framework, around 31% of India’s population lived in urban areas in 2011, contributing about 63% of the country’s GDP. By 2030, the urban population is projected to reach nearly 40%, with cities expected to contribute around 75% of GDP.

To address the growing requirements of urban populations, the Central Government launched the Smart Cities Mission on June 25, 2015. The programme focuses on improving urban infrastructure, making cities more liveable and using technology to deliver better public services.

The Ministry of Public Works and Housing has shifted its official correspondence and administrative transactions to the government’s "Tarasol 2" electronic system, a move expected to reduce printing-related costs by nearly 90 percent.

The system, implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, replaces conventional paper-based correspondence with a fully electronic workflow as part of the ministry’s broader digital transformation program.

The city of Raleigh, North Carolina is deploying drones and artificial-intelligence (AI)-enabled tools to create a virtual version of itself to meet the urban challenges of today and to help chart the future of the fast-growing metropolis.

Long recognized as the hub of the state’s high-tech Research Triangle region, Raleigh has worked with tech industry partners Esri, NVIDIA and Microsoft to create a digital twin of the city, to help deal with challenges such as traffic management and urban development planning.

The Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (ICT-PEIRA) has launched its ‘PEIRA Digital Services’ initiative, marking a major step towards paperless regulation, greater transparency, institutional efficiency and improved public facilitation in Islamabad’s private education sector.

The launching ceremony was held at the Auditorium of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE), Islamabad. Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui graced the occasion as chief guest.

Kenya is entering a new phase in its long-running ambition to build a technology-driven economy, with the transformation of Konza Technopolis from a flagship smart-city project into the center of a broader national technopolis agenda now placing a fresh burden on the agency overseeing it.

The shift comes as the Technopolis Development Authority (TDA) completes the constitution of its board under the Technopolis Act, 2026, following the appointment of James Musee Nduna, Yvonne Teresia Ogwang, and Yunis M. Omar in Nairobi on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.

Varanasi, Mumbai, Kochi and Pune are using high-precision 3D mapping to create digital twins for urban planning and redevelopment

There are now two Varanasis. One is the ancient city of temples, ghats and crowded, labyrinthine lanes along the Ganga. The other is its digital twin — a 160-sq-km digital replica built from LiDAR, aerial and drone imagery and 360-degree street-level scans, captured using light aircraft, backpack-mounted scanners and vehicles. It’s a digital representation of the city, linked to real-world data and capable of being updated, analysed and used to simulate scenarios.

Ghana has begun implementing its10-year National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy with the training of 240 civil servants in AI literacy, Mr Samuel Nartey George has said.

The Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations said the capacity building programme was part of efforts under the strategy to equip the public service workers with the knowledge required to use AI responsibly and effectively.

Writing in a contemporary newspaper, Nighat Dad, a digital rights advocate, offered a critical comment on the idea of a ‘smart city’: it is not built of sensors and data; it is built of trust. And trust, once breached by surveillance without accountability, cannot be reinstalled like a software patch. This is the central argument around smart cities: the promise of order against the risk of control. In Pakistan, where the distance between protection and persecution has often been no wider than a single government directive, this question is urgent. Principally, the idea of a smart city rests on integrating information and communication technology into urban infrastructure to improve safety, efficiency and quality of life.

As Kenya continues to develop its digital infrastructure, lessons from Chinese cities show how technology, digital platforms and field teams can work together as one connected system to improve urban management.

Every day, millions of events unfold across a city, many of them unnoticed until they become a problem. Technology is changing how some cities detect, understand, and respond to what happens in their streets and public spaces.

Indonesia is strengthening the infrastructure, skills base and regulatory frameworks needed to support the development of advanced artificial intelligence, according to Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Nezar Patria.

Speaking at a public discussion in Jakarta on 10 September 2026, the deputy minister said the country’s growing internet penetration, expanding connectivity and policy initiatives provide a strong foundation for AI adoption and innovation. He also outlined the government’s plans to improve 5G coverage and establish clearer governance frameworks for the technology sector.

The government should mandate its institutions and public servants to use artificial intelligence to improve services, strengthen oversight and protect public resources, a leading think tank said.

Stratbase Institute president Dindo Manhit said the E-Governance Act provides a strong foundation for this transformation by promoting connected government systems and responsive, transparent and citizen-centered public services.

The Tamil Nadu government has announced that a new facility allowing the public to download their Driving Licence (DL) and Registration Certificate (RC) documents digitally will come into effect from tomorrow.

Under the new system, citizens can obtain copies of their documents by paying the prescribed fee at government e-Seva centres. In addition, digital copies can be downloaded free of cost for one year, providing greater convenience to vehicle owners and licence holders.

The report said mission SPVs largely acted as funding agencies rather than independent bodies handling planning and execution.

Nearly a decade after the launch of the Smart Cities Mission, 52 of the 243 projects planned across Tamil Nadu’s 11 smart cities, involving Rs 1,602 crore, remain unimplemented, while 44 projects worth more than Rs 623 crore were taken up outside the original plans, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found.

Even as state govt winds up Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Ltd (NSSCDCL), Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) plans to continue using the expertise of its existing project management consultant Ernst & Young LLP (EY) for the next phase of its smart city initiatives.

NMC standing committee is scheduled to consider a proposal on Thursday to assign additional work to EY for preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR), solution design, tender documents and bid-management support for proposed Nagpur Safe and Smart City Project 2.0. The consultant will also be tasked with preparing a policy and monetisation strategy for the city’s fibre network.

Four interactive digital kiosks have begun operating on sidewalks in Culver City, California, following years of discussion and votes by the City Council, according to a Culver City Crossroads report. The installations are part of a partnership with IKE Smart City that calls for 15 kiosks across the community.

The kiosks will provide information about public meetings, community events, transportation, local businesses, tourism, emergency services and other resources. They will also display commercial advertising. Similar kiosk programs have operated for several years in California cities, including San Francisco and Berkeley.

Digital transformation has become part of the language of modern government.

Cloud platforms, digital workflows, collaboration tools, automation and data-driven systems are changing how public institutions operate. But as technology becomes increasingly embedded in the public sector, I believe we need to ask a more important question.

The Philippines’ Civil Service Commission (CSC) is expanding the digital transformation of government human resource services through the nationwide rollout of a digital Personal Data Sheet (PDS) system by the end of 2026. The initiative forms part of the Philippine Civil Service Modernization Project (PCSMP), which aims to improve personnel management, strengthen workforce capabilities and support a more responsive public sector.

The programme reflects wider efforts to modernise government operations and expand digital public services across the country. Recent initiatives linked to smart governance and digital services in the Philippines have also focused on improving service delivery, public sector coordination and citizen access to government systems.

South Korea's National Human Resources Development Institute announced Monday it will launch a smart city capacity-building training program to share the country's experience in designing and operating intelligent city policies with Saudi Arabia.

The two-week program was organized at the request of the Misk Foundation, a nonprofit established by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to advance his Vision 2030 agenda. It targets nine senior civil servants at the director-general level or above from seven Saudi government agencies, including the Ministry of Transport and Logistics Services.

The government is pushing open access to location-based data to support Hong Kong's smart city push, with Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn highlighting new applications that range from accessible walking routes to AI-assisted searches for vacant government sites.

In her latest blog on Sunday, Linn said the Development Bureau's Spatial Data Office has formed a "geospatial lab" to run the Common Spatial Data Infrastructure (CSDI) portal, which offers more than 1,100 datasets from more than 70 departments and organisations for public use.

For an ordinary citizen, good governance is receiving a service without unnecessary delay.

The best government may be the government that citizens hardly notice, not because it is absent, but because it works so smoothly that dealing with it is not a burden: a pension reaches an elderly citizen on time; a small business pays its taxes in minutes; a student receives financial support directly; a family gets a government benefit without waiting in a queue; an entrepreneur registers a business, opens an account and starts receiving payments without visiting one office after another.

Major Canadian cities often make the cut on certain global rankings, but when it comes to the world’s “smartest” cities, only three Canadian cities cracked the list.

No, that doesn’t mean people living in these cities read the most books or can win a game of Jeopardy!

The 2026 Smart City Index from IMD, the International Institute for Management Development, ranks cities based on factors including technology, infrastructure, quality of life, and more.

Smart Africa has called for stronger and more accountable public-private collaboration to shape a trusted and inclusive global digital future, with governments and businesses urged to move beyond consultation towards joint action.

The call was made during the opening Council Panel of the second Annual Global Digital Collaboration (GDC26) Conference in Geneva, where Smart Africa was represented by Dr Ralph Oyini Mbouna, Director of Digital Transformation and Services and a member of the GDC Council.

With millions of connected devices expanding the municipal attack surface, New York City developed a scalable strategy to secure endpoint technology before it becomes the next critical infrastructure vulnerability.

Key Highlights

• Urban centers are vital to national prosperity but face increasing threats from physical and cyber attacks targeting infrastructure and IoT devices.
• NYC Cyber Command developed a ground-up cybersecurity program to inventory, monitor, and secure IoT and smart building systems across the city, overcoming legal and cultural barriers.
• Municipalities must adopt comprehensive strategies that include risk assessments, standardized procurement, and automated device inventories to safeguard against cyber-physical threats.
• Advanced mobile endpoints like autonomous maritime vessels introduce new security challenges, requiring specialized protections such as data encryption and tamper-resistant sensors.
• Despite existing federal and state guidelines, many cities lack coordinated efforts and sufficient budgets to implement effective IoT cybersecurity measures, leaving critical infrastructure vulnerable.

A smart city cannot be created only by installing technology in selected areas. If a student in Srinagar can easily access online courses, cloud platforms, digital libraries and AI tools while a student in a remote district struggles with basic connectivity, we cannot say that the digital transformation is reaching everyone equally

When we hear the words “smart city”, our imagination often goes towards Srinagar. We think about smart roads, surveillance cameras, intelligent traffic systems, digital services, public Wi-Fi and modern infrastructure. But from my perspective as a technology student from Kupwara, the idea of a smart city needs to be much bigger than what we see in the major urban centres.

A smart city is not necessarily the one with the most futuristic skyline or the most visible technology. Increasingly, the measure of an intelligent city is how effectively technology, infrastructure and public services improve everyday life for residents.

Acccording to Time Out, the 2026 IMD Smart City Index reflects that approach, ranking 148 cities based largely on residents' perceptions of their quality of life and how well their cities address challenges such as mobility, health, sustainability, governance and access to opportunities. IMD's latest findings also highlight the importance of transparency and public trust in determining how successfully cities use technology and infrastructure.

Lebanon's shift towards e-government services plays a pivotal role in the nation's digital transformation. These digital platforms enable citizens and residents to access official information and processes online, minimizing the dependence on physically visiting governmental offices. These platforms provide insights into required documents, fees, and steps necessary for completing various government transactions.

In 2026, several e-platforms stand out in Lebanon, including the Dawlati Platform, alongside electronic services from the Ministry of Finance and the Directorate General of General Security, among other official government sites. The services available vary depending on the governmental authority and transaction type.

An expansive hub for business, leisure and wellness is rising in the capital town of Pili in Camarines Sur, laying the platform for the province’s transformation as the next smart city development in Luzon.

The 200-hectare CamSur Uptown, formally launched last week, will host mixed-use commercial buildings, a digital campus, an artificial intelligence laboratory, logistics and manufacturing facilities, resorts and parks, medical and lifestyle centers and a golf course.

Safety & Security Asia 2026 has launched a Smart Cities Initiative within its five co-located shows in Singapore.

The programme brings together security, fire safety, health and safety, emergency services, and systems integration under a single smart cities banner. It is aimed at government agencies, city planners, infrastructure operators, system integrators, and business leaders involved in connected urban projects.

The government of Japan, through its Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLITT), is supporting Davao City in its bid to become a smart city with several projects implemented under the Smart JAMP (Smart City supported by Japan ASEAN Mutual Partnership) program.

The Smart JAMP initiative started in 2020 to help cities across ASEAN, including Davao City, address common urban challenges.

In cities around the world, the mechanics of local government often grind slowly: a pothole reported but not repaired, a noise complaint logged but unanswered, a maze of departments passing responsibility from one counter to another. Yet across China, a simple five-digit number—12345—is reshaping how governments respond to citizens and, increasingly, how they anticipate problems before they arise.

What began decades ago as a basic telephone hotline has evolved into one of the most citizen-centric and innovative public sector projects in urban governance. For Professor Alfred Tat-Kei HO, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), the system represents something rare: a smart-city vision that has moved from rhetoric to reality.

Key Points

Sambalpur will become a smart city with a ₹103‑crore project approved by the Union government. AI cameras, ICCC, and modern systems will improve traffic, safety, sanitation, and emergency response.

The city of Sambalpur is set to undergo a major transformation into a smart city, with the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs approving a ₹103‑crore project.

More than 1 200 sites are connected to the Gauteng Provincial Network, while digital initiatives have supported more than 25 000 people across the province. Gauteng’s digital transformation continues to change how residents access government services, with more than 1 200 government, healthcare and school sites connected and 59 e-Services developed through the Gauteng Digital Platform. According to Gauteng Department of e-Government media liaison officer Sithembiso Ndlovu, the department is marking 11 years of building a more connected and digitally enabled province since its establishment in 2015.

Selangor is moving towards becoming an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered state, with AI set to be integrated into government operations and public services to improve efficiency.

State Islamic Affairs and Digital Innovation Committee chairman Dr Mohammad Fahmi Ngah said the next phase of the state's Smart City agenda would focus on using data and AI to shape policies and improve services.

"Selangor completed 60 initiatives under its Smart City programme from 2016 to 2025, including the integration of applications and systems to monitor public assistance, as well as digital platforms for city management.

Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Nezar Patria says workers in Indonesia must understand artificial intelligence (AI) technology related to their jobs to navigate the changing dynamics of work in the digital era.

"This dilemma is real, because the rapid advancement of generative AI has changed the way we work, make decisions, and serve the public," Patria said in a statement received here on Saturday.

Prime Minister Edi Rama said artificial intelligence will help make government services more transparent and responsive, allowing citizens to track their requests in real time.

Speaking after the government’s expanded meeting in Pogradec, Rama said a new digital system will allow citizens to submit requests, follow their progress and see which institution is responsible for each case.

To map the condition of traffic signs, researchers at Tallinn University of Technology have installed sensors on the front of three Tallinn city buses that collect visual information while driving.

Researchers at Tallinn University of Technology installed sensors and AI‑based camera systems on Tallinn city buses to detect poorly visible or damaged traffic signs. The goal of the project is to obtain a better overview of the condition of traffic signs and thereby improve traffic safety.

At a glance

• Who: NTT Docomo; Mitsubishi Estate.
• What: The companies are collaborating on a next-generation smart city in Tokyo.
• Why: The cluster will contribute to the development of Japan’s telecommunications technology and urban development, and the creation of new use cases.
• Where: The city is located in the Otemachi, Marunouchi, and Yurakucho area of Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

NTT Docomo and Mitsubishi Estate will collaborate on the smart city in the Otemachi, Marunouchi, and Yurakucho area, based on the Whole Town Workplace Concept.

Tanui said discussions reviewed the development of Konza Technopolis, including the policy and institutional support provided by the Kenyan government and coordination among institutions involved in the project.

Kenya is seeking to deepen its cooperation with South Korea on smart cities, digital infrastructure, innovation and emerging technologies as it advances plans to build a globally competitive digital economy.

Principal Secretary for the State Department for ICT and Digital Economy, Eng. John Kipchumba Tanui, CBS, said this during a meeting with a delegation from the University of Seoul and the Korea Development Institute (KDI).

Zurich topped a ranking of 148 cities based on residents’ perceptions of technology, infrastructure, quality of life, sustainability, and inclusiveness.

What makes a city truly smart isn’t just cutting-edge technology. A smart city also improves its residents’ daily lives, using innovation to tackle familiar problems, from traffic and housing to public transportation and sustainability. For travelers, the result can be just as noticeable: A city that works well for its residents often becomes easier, more enjoyable, and more interesting to explore.

NTT Docomo and Mitsubishi Estate Corporation have agreed to develop next-generation, 5G-powered smart city clusters in the Otemachi, Marunouchi and Yurakucho districts of Tokyo's Marunouchi area.

NTT Docomo and Mitsubishi Estate Corporation are developing next-generation, 5G-powered smart city clusters in the Otemachi, Marunouchi and Yurakucho districts of Tokyo's Marunouchi area.

The Marunouchi area is one of Japan's leading office and commercial districts, experiencing high volumes of daily data traffic.

Vietnam is laying the legal foundations to cover a host of new assets under electronic ID and to support cross-border transactions. Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice has published the latest draft of the Electronic Identification and Authentication Law.

The draft aims to establish a unified legal framework for e-ID activities, safeguarding data sovereignty, protecting personal information and preventing identity forgery and fraud, reports VnEconomy.

On 19 August 2026, the senior management of Habib Rafiq Engineering (Pvt.) Ltd. (HRL), one of Pakistan’s leading conglomerates with extensive expertise in construction, engineering, infrastructure, and real estate development, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Khorezm Region, Republic of Uzbekistan, marking an important step toward the proposed development of a new smart city as part of the expansion of the historic city of Khiva.

This agreement represents a significant milestone for the future of Khiva and the Khorezm Region, opening new opportunities for sustainable urban development, investment, innovation, and regional connectivity.

Around the world, cities are becoming smarter by implementing technologies that improve their public services, transport, energy, and safety. As cities continue to expand, local governments and companies are seeking new solutions to maintain the city infrastructure and develop a safer environment for residents and visitors. Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) is one of the most beneficial technologies of the modern day for city security.

Modern CCTV systems record video footage, but there’s more to them. They, along with smart software, high-speed networks and cloud-based solutions, provide real-time management, public safety and city authorities with informed management decisions. Within the context of the broader smart city mission, professional CCTV installation is a foundation for the security infrastructure, encompassing both commercial CCTV installation in London and CCTV solutions for retail centres, offices, public buildings and facilities.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) organised the 20th National e-Governance Webinar (NeGW) on the theme, “Government Process Re-engineering by use of technology for Digital Transformation (Central Level)”, showcasing two National Award-winning digital governance initiatives.

The webinar was chaired by Avanish Kumar Mishra, Joint Secretary, DARPG, and featured AgriStack of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and e-Jagriti of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, which were recognised under the Central Level Initiatives category of the National Awards for e-Governance 2026.

On August 20, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, in coordination with the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Construction Science and Technology, held a seminar on “Solutions for Building and Developing a Smart City in Ho Chi Minh City."

Speaking at the seminar, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Manh Cuong said that as a hub for the economy, finance, science and technology, innovation and international trade, Ho Chi Minh City is gradually affirming its role as a key growth pole with strong spillover effects on the region and the country as a whole.

The next time you travel near Five Points Plaza, you'll notice something new. The City of Charlotte installed its first of 30 interactive digital kiosks at the intersection of Beatties Ford Road and West Fifth Street — more than any other city in North Carolina — in partnership with IKE Smart City.

"This is about more than having the most kiosks in North Carolina. It's about creating opportunities for our corridors and our small and minority-owned businesses," Mayor Pro Tem James "Smuggie" Mitchell said during the city's ribbon cutting.

Ho Chi Minh City has laid out a smart-city development plan and key solutions to become a leading smart city and rank among the world’s top 50 by 2030, Nguyen Manh Cuong, an alternate member of the Party Central Committee and deputy chairman of the municipal administration, said on Thursday.

The remarks were made at a conference on solutions for building and developing a smart city in Ho Chi Minh City, jointly organized by the municipal Department of Construction and the city's Association of Construction Science and Technology.

Naver has secured official approval for its cloud-based digital twin platform as Saudi Arabia’s national standard platform for local governments, opening the door for the tech giant to expand its smart city technology across the country.

The company announced on Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s Digital Government Authority (DGA) approved its platform for local government deployments, establishing a common technology framework for urban planning, infrastructure management, public safety and municipal operations.

Penang's growth of some seven per cent last year was marginally higher than the national average of 5.6 per cent.

PLANMalaysia is poised to name Penang as the first smart city in the country in line with efforts of local governments to incorporate smart urban ecosystems in the state.

PLANMalaysia director-general Datuk Alias Rameli said the status would be unveiled later this year.

The Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of Kazakhstan has approved a new version of the Methodology for Building a Smart City / Smart Region. The document defines unified approaches to the transformation of regions based on artificial intelligence and modern technologies.

The methodology is aimed at moving from individual digital projects to the creation of a unified intelligent system for managing territories - AI-Native cities & regions.

Morocco has formalized four “Jazari” institutes focused on artificial intelligence, education, industry, and smart cities as part of its broader digital transformation strategy.

Morocco has established four public-interest groups dedicated to artificial intelligence, education, industry, and smart cities, following the publication of joint decisions approving their constitutive agreements in the country’s Official Gazette.

Jamaica has entered the final year of implementation of the Government of Jamaica and United Nations SDG Joint Programme on Digital Transformation for Education, a flagship initiative supported through the Joint SDG Fund and the contributions of development partners, including the European Union and its member states.

This is a pivotal moment for Jamaica’s efforts to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since its launch, the programme has helped pilot innovative solutions, strengthen collaboration and lay the foundation for long-term transformation across the education sector.

Synopsis:

• Farmers have protested over the proposed greenfield townships being built on their agricultural lands in Bidadi Karnataka. This article explores the compensation, village-wise opposition, consent, government’s response and the recent developments with regard to the project.

The proposed Bidadi AI City in Karnataka, has been designed to be one of the biggest technology and urban development hubs close to Bengaluru. The proposed project has faced protests from farmers for land acquisition. The project is shown as a greenfield opportunity to bring investment in technology and artificial intelligence. Now the disagreement has become a major problem for the project, while some villages have agreed to the acquisition, others are against it.

On the morning of August 13th, the City's Smart Urban Development Coordination Council held its second meeting to assess the progress of tasks and projects and to provide feedback on key priorities for the coming period. Mr. Truong Canh Tuyen, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the City People's Committee, and Chairman of the Coordination Council, presided over the meeting.

Attending the meeting were the Vice Chairmen of the City People's Committee and leaders of departments and agencies who are members of the City's Smart City Development Coordination Council.

Key Takeaways

• The Indian government launched the Digital India programme in July 2015 to leverage technology for citizen benefit.
• UMANG has over 11.66 crore registered users and supports 2,575 services, facilitating around 798 crore transactions.
• DigiLocker, with 72 crore users, offers access to 5,437 document types and has seen a similar volume of document transactions.
• Over 4 lakh Common Service Centres have been established to enhance digital access in rural areas, alongside initiatives to promote digital literacy.

The Digital India programme, launched in 2015, successfully expands tech access with platforms like UMANG and DigiLocker. These services enhance digital literacy and access across India. With millions of users, the initiative is driving a digital transformation by integrating with infrastructure components to deliver seamless, paperless governmental services.

The Bahamas will seek to leverage Estonia’s “model for e-governance” to “accelerate” its own roll-out of digitised public services, a Cabinet minister has affirmed.

Sebas Bastian, minister of innovation and national development, in a statement said a just-signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Baltic state establishes a long-term partnership and co-operation that will help to advance digital transformation and innovation in The Bahamas.

Besides learning from Estonia, regarded as being among the world’s digital society and government leaders, the agreement will also seek to foster Bahamian entrepreneurs and creativity in this sector so that the country builds increased capacity.

The measure of a modern government is increasingly linked to how easily citizens can access its services. A government office that requires citizens to repeatedly visit, submit physical documents, and wait for approvals belongs to an older model of administration. The emerging model is one where citizens can access services through digital platforms without having to physically approach government offices for routine requirements.

This shift from physical-first administration to digital-first governance is transforming the way public services are delivered. Digital platforms, e-files, online payments, electronic records and integrated citizen-service systems are reducing paperwork, shortening processing times and improving transparency. At the same time, the rapid expansion of digital governance is creating new priorities around connectivity, digital literacy, cybersecurity, data protection and reliable authentication.

The global Artificial Intelligence Applications for Smart Cities Market is entering a period of rapid expansion as municipalities, government agencies, and urban service providers increasingly integrate artificial intelligence into connected infrastructure. AI technologies are enabling cities to move beyond traditional monitoring systems toward intelligent, data-driven operations capable of improving mobility, energy efficiency, public safety, healthcare delivery, and other essential urban services.

According to Verified Market Research®, the Artificial Intelligence Applications for Smart Cities Market was valued at USD 50.60 Billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 350.00 Billion by 2033, expanding at a CAGR of 27.8% during the forecast period. The market's strong growth trajectory reflects accelerating AI adoption across urban operations, increasing demand for real-time decision-making, and the continued development of connected city infrastructure.

Advanced smart city research projects adapt to changing regulatory and funding conditions.

A university is a small city in itself: There’s lighting, waste management, traffic control. That means, when researchers look to optimize a campus, they can simultaneously build a “smart cities” proof of concept for a municipality.

It’s a logical fit. “Universities are often at the cutting edge of technology. What they lack is a city use case,” says Chris Lucero, technology and design director for The Connective, a smart city consortium for the greater Phoenix region. Cities meanwhile “have resource constraints and budget issues but would like to pilot new technologies to solve municipal problems.”

India’s judicial system is undergoing one of the most significant technological transformations in its history. Once characterised by paper files, manual processes and time-consuming physical visits to courts, the justice delivery system is steadily evolving into a digitally enabled, transparent and citizen-centric ecosystem through the e-Courts Mission Mode Project.

The initiative has fundamentally changed how courts function and how citizens interact with the judiciary. Since 2014, both case filings and disposals have nearly tripled, with courts consistently disposing of more cases than are filed each year. More than 753 crore pages of court records have been digitised, while thousands of e-Sewa Kendras have expanded access to judicial services by helping bridge the digital divide. These reforms are making the justice system faster, more transparent and more accessible across the country.