Are smart innovation ecosystems really seeking tomeet citizens’ needs? Insights from the stakeholders’vision on smart city strategy implementation

Abstract

The concept of a smart city is becoming the leading paradigm worldwide. Consequently,a creative mix of emerging technologies and open innovation is gradually becoming the definingelement of smart city evolution, changing the ways in which city administrators are organizing theirservices and development globally. Thus, the smart city concept is becoming extremely relevanton the agendas of policy-makers as a development strategy for enhancing the quality of life of thecitizen and improving the sustainability goals of their cities. Despite of the relevance of the topic, stillfew studies investigate how open innovation shapes the way cities become smarter or focus on theexperiences of professionals to understand the concept of a smart city and its implementation. Thispaper fills this gap and analyzes the processes for building effective smart cities by integrating thedifferent perspectives of smart innovations and using the core components of smart cities accordingto a conceptual framework developed in previous research. In so doing, it provides useful insightsfor smart city stakeholders in adopting social and technological innovation to improve the globalcompetitiveness of their cities. The empirical dataset allows examining how “smart cities” are beingimplemented in Manchester (UK), and in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Diego City (United Statesof America (USA)), including archival data and in-depth interviews with core smart city stakeholderswho are involved in smart city projects and programs across the cases. Results from empirical datasuggest that the conceptualization of smart cities across the cases is similar with a strong emphasis onsocial and technological innovation aimed at addressing municipal challenges in the core sub-systemsof the cities, which include mobility, environmental sustainability, entrepreneurial development,quality of life, and social cohesion. The results also reveal benefits and challenges relating to smartinnovation ecosystems across the cases and the future directions of their diffusion