Analysis of business model innovation for smart cities development

Abstract

Cities are the social, cultural, economic, technologic, and political hubs of the world, providing a wealth of goods and services to anyone who passes through them, Cities are the birthplace of innovation and play the role of a major catalyst in the advancements of the modern world. Currently over half the worlds population call a city home, and this is only expected to increase as we look into the future, Due to this, our cities must become ‘smarter’ to handle an ever-increasing demand, whilst continuing to develop and provide more and more benefits to the people who rely on cities. In order for this to happen, development must take place, however, this development must be carried out in a strategic manner, or it risks being unsuccessful and being a negative change that not only reduces the quality of lives for citizens but also has a heavy financial impact that causes loss for any stakeholders in a development scheme. To overcome this, business model canvas (BMC) can be used to weigh up potential benefits, or drawbacks and provide an insight into the way that the proposed business plan will perform, meaning when used properly there is less risk to stakeholders due to a greater degree of likelihood over performance. This added clarity is an essential part of what makes BMC’s so popular and accelerates the processes of bringing about smart city development as any stakeholder will have a better idea of how their investment will pan out, whether this be financial, emotional, ambassadorial, or otherwise. This paper explores how a type of business model, the City Model Canvas (CMC) can be used to determine the impacts of smart city development in UK cities. This analysis is conducted through four case studies which review different aspects of a smart function to provide stakeholders with a picture of the smart functions’ real-life application. Smart cities are the future of our world, and ensuring we develop them in the right ways will be vital to them serving their purpose, both for this generation and future generations.