Ericsson Ranks Lagos 38 in 2014 Networked Society City Index

Ericsson on Monday, published its latest Networked Society City Index, with Lagos (Nigeria) ranked as number 38 in a list of 40.

The index 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.

According to Ericsson, Lagos ranks first in ICT maturity improvement 2013-2014 index and 38 in networked society city index rank 2014.

For instance, researchers at Ericsson found that, Lagos and Johannesburg provide very good examples of cities where the populations, in the absence of well-developed fixed infrastructure, use new mobile technologies to enable a connected life, including the use of social networks and mobile payments.

These cities have the opportunity to pass others by, for example, choosing not to set up formal banking systems and other expensive physical infrastructures and instead using advanced mobile technologies.

In contrast to Lagos and Johannesburg, the index also identifies cities that experience low ICT usage compared to their infrastructure and affordability.

The relatively low performance in ICT usage of Beijing, Istanbul, Shanghai, Tokyo and Miami is largely due to their less developed e-governance compared to other index cities.

By developing better e-services, these cities could improve many aspects of daily life for their residents. Developing their open data resources could also spur innovation.

Taipei is a well-developed digital city, but its ICT usage has not caught up to its rapid high-speed broadband development.

Taipei, like many other cities, suffers a digital divide among its residents. Digital divides – between and within cities – also reflect broader socioeconomic and urban development challenges.

This problem is even more pronounced in cities like Lagos and Johannesburg (see figure 8), where there remains much to be done to improve inclusion, such as addressing the low ratio of women to men who are connected.

Thus, 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.

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.

Monika Byléhn, networked society evangelist and driver of City Life at Ericsson, explained the importance of ICT in the development of cities: “Today, we are seeing so many new opportunities which are more or less provided by ICT. The way that cities are lead is increasingly built on ICT to provide efficiency and innovation, in basically all areas of a city, from health care to transport to utilities.”

Patrik Regårdh, head of Ericsson’s Networked Society Lab, adds: “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.

Also, 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.

And 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.