ABI Research said most of the projects are related to smart lighting, meters, buildings and transportation
The governments in China, Japan, and South Korea are currently leading the deployment of smart city initiatives in Asia, according to a recent study by ABI Research.
The report revealed that specific leading cities in China such as Dalian, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Tianjin, continue to show accelerated adoption of smart energy solutions.
“Asia’s demand for smart city solutions will heighten over the next five years with China, Japan, and South Korea now accelerating adoptions of smart light, meter, building, and transportation, as well as renewable energy programs,” said Raquel Artes, Industry Analyst at ABI Research. “All three countries possess strong wireless communication networks, which likely account for the regions’ ability to rapidly deploy many smart city initiatives in a timely and cost-efficient manner.”
ABI Research estimates that China smart meter installations will grow at a 21% CAGR to reach 349 million in 2020 through vendors like Itron, Echelon, Huawei, Holley Metering, Itron, Landis+Gyr, and Sensus.
The study also showed that the region aims to have five million electric vehicles (EVs) on the road by 2020. With Japan and South Korea targeting 1 million and 200,000 EVs, respectively, on the road by 2020. Key EV vendors include BAIC, BYD, Geely, and Tesla, among others.
The three Asian countries also lead multi-applications smart card deployments that enable cashless payment for transportation, parking fees, and toll road fees. Ridesharing programs are also gaining traction, as evident through car manufacturers like Hyundai deploying car sharing services in South Korea that utilize EV, according to the report.
China is currently the Asian country with the higher number of smart parking initiatives. China Unicom, Huawei, and the Shanghai government recently signed a strategic partnership to implement a smart parking solution in Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone, which will deploy in a 4.5G NB-IoT based network.
ABI Research also highlighted that India and Indonesia are currently behind these three markets in terms of smart city initiatives.
“India and Indonesia are lagging behind primarily due to a lack of infrastructure readiness,” Artes said. “While there are vast opportunities for smart city vendors in India due to the governmental spearhead of wireless network and communications infrastructure development, the region is not fully capitalizing on those opportunities. This may soon change, as the government recently announced that it will develop 100 smart cities in the region as part of its Smart City program.”
