Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) younger, growing population is more digitally wired than ever before. They have higher expectations for speed and ease of government services. “Smart government” means putting the citizen first and making accessing services as easy as possible.
“Smart cities” are those that “make digital technology, networks, and apps a central part of operations and constituent interactions,” says Vice President Danny Karam, MENA region. That requires the tough work of modernizing existing infrastructure, retrofitting buildings, and defining what is “smart” for each city.
Cities can assess how smart they are using Booz Allen’s “Four Degrees of Smartness”:
- Connected
- Integrated
- Personalized
- Predictive
“The smartest of cities are predictive, which means agencies use sophisticated data collection and analytics to produce predictive insights,” Danny says, like which digital technologies will promote social welfare or what services businesses really need to help boost the economy.
