Smart city, investments growing also in Italy

London, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, Helsinki. They are some of smartest cities in Europe, or connected, sustainable, on a human scale, thanks to the use of new technologies. And also in Italy the revolution of smart cities appears ever closer, also thanks to a series of changes that have been triggered by the pandemic. From the rethinking of cities, increasingly perceived as communities based on the active participation of citizens and the efficiency of services, to the increase in digitalisation; from the reorganization of the world of work, which today increasingly tends towards the hybrid, to greater attention to the environment and the circular economy.

The report gives an overview of this market and its potential developments “Italy of smart and sustainable cities” made by Tim Study Center in collaboration with the Smart City Observatories And Startup Intelligence of the Politecnico di Milano and the Engineering department, Ict And technologies for Energy and Transportation of the National Research Council. The results show that more and more Italian municipalities have undertaken the transition to become smart cities. This is also to counter the urgency linked to the worrying phenomenon of climate change. Cities, the report highlights, in fact produce over 75% of waste, 80% of greenhouse gas emissions and 75% of energy consumption. Problems which, without a change of course, are destined to grow, considering that in Italy the urban population in 2021 was 44.5 million (75.5% of the total) and is expected to reach 45.3 million in 2050 ( 83.5% of the population).

As for the state of the art, according to a survey of Italian municipalities carried out byInternet of Things Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic in the years 2020-2021, in the municipalities with less than 15 thousand inhabitants, the smart city is considered of great or fundamental importance for 42% of the administrators and in 31% of the Municipalities there is a dedicated figure. While for cities with more than 15,000 inhabitants it is considered a fundamental or very important issue by 80% of the interviewees, and in 72% of the municipalities there is a dedicated figure. Furthermore, a survey carried out byPolimi Smart City Observatory shows that 28% of municipalities have started at least one project smart cities in the three-year period 2019-2021: 50%, in the case of municipalities with more than 15,000 inhabitants. 50% of the projects surveyed are in the executive phase, even if after the experimentation phase many are destined to run aground. Based on the report of Tim Study Center, in the last three years in Italy, have the municipalities that have started planning the smart city using applications mainly focused on optimizing traffic and mobility increased? of means and people (Venice, Florence, Rome, Mantua, Novara, Assisi) and on waste management (Mantua And Cremona), even with applications based on Internet of things And 5G.

The investments in this market they are also expected to grow in the coming years. Those in IT solutions for smart city they were worth just over 800 million euros in 2022 and are expected to grow to almost 1.6 billion euros in 2027. With great benefits for citizens and the environment. According to the estimates of Tim Study Centerin the period 2023-2027 smart city applications based on 5G And IoT they will help to reduce overall city traffic costs in Italy by approximately 6.5 billion euros and by over 405 million euros those linked to pollution, thanks to better planning of public and private transport. Will the decrease in road congestion lead? to reduce CO2 emissions by around 650,000 tonnes a year. Expected to drop around 3 billion euros in social, health and administrative costs related to road accidents thanks to greater automation of driving and timeliness systems? in the rescue. Decreasing by 1.95 billion euros the costs ofpublic lighting, through the use of LED lamps and sensors for a more efficient management of the ignition periods, and the costs of waste collection and transport of around 160 million euros, thanks to a more? efficient collection organization.

In favor of a greater development of smart cities there are also i funds coming from the European Union and from National recovery and resilience plan. On the plate there are in particular 2.5 billion destined for metropolitan cities since Pnrrwhile they amount to 100 billion euros the resources made available between now and 2027 by the new European project Horizon Europe, in which an important item of expenditure is dedicated to smart cities. Indeed, one of the missions of the plan aims to support the transition of 100 European cities towards climate neutrality by 2030, promoting their transformation into centers of innovation.