Annual Technology Spending by Middle East and Africa Smart Cities to Total $2.7B by 2022

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Technology investments relating to smart city initiatives across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will total more than $1.3 billion in 2018, according to the latest insights from IDC. The global technology research and consulting firm's newly released Worldwide Semiannual Smart Cities Spending Guide shows that this figure is set to reach $2.7 billion in 2022.

"The new edition of IDC's Worldwide Smart Cities Spending Guide represents a substantial stride towards gaining granular insight into how cities around the world are transforming," says Serena Da Rold, program manager for IDC's Customer Insights & Analysis Group. "We are now delivering detailed sizing of 25 named use cases, as well as the first release of a new database of spending at city level."

The five largest use cases, which will attract nearly one third of the region's smart cities spending in 2018, are digital permitting, licensing and inspection, advanced public transit, connected back office, smart city platforms, and fixed visual surveillance. However, officer wearables (including smart holsters, apparels, headsets, and glasses) will see the fastest growth over the coming years, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 79% through to 2022, albeit from a relatively small base. For more detail on IDC's definition of the overall smart cities opportunity and select use cases, please see IDC's Worldwide Semiannual Smart Cities Spending Guide Taxonomy, 2H17.

Spending by the five cities that are currently sized in IDC's database for MEA (Dubai, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Cape Town) accounts for around half of the region's overall smart city spending, with Dubai and Riyadh leading the way in terms of 2018 investments.

"IDC expects to see strong continued investment by both the private and public sectors in urban areas and in Smart Cities and Communities programs and projects," says Ruthbea Yesner, vice president of IDC's Smart Cities and Communities programs. "This also means that it is becoming a more competitive market. This spending guide offers solution suppliers the ability to take a data-driven approach to developing products and services, and understanding buyer trends."

IDC's Worldwide Semiannual Smart Cities Spending Guide quantifies the expected technology opportunity around Smart City initiatives from a region and worldwide level. Spending data is available for nine regions with a focus on 25 use cases across five strategic priorities, as well as the overall smart cities market size. Starting from the current release, the spending guide offers a complementary cities database, providing smart city 2018 spending for over 50 cities across nine regions. The spending guide is designed to provide IT vendors with insights into this rapidly growing market and how the market will develop over the five-year forecast period.

About IDC Spending Guides

IDC's Spending Guides provide detail on key technology markets from a regional, vertical industry, use case, buyer, and technology perspective. The spending guides are delivered via pivot table format or custom query tool, allowing the user to easily extract meaningful information about each market by viewing data trends and relationships.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company.