Hong Kong Climbs to No. 2 in Asia in Smart City Index, Surpassing Singapore and Seoul
The index, jointly released on August 6 by the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the International Society for Urban Informatics (ISUI), assessed 73 cities worldwide across different cultural and developmental contexts.
Smart City Index Framework Highlights People-Centric Development
The evaluation adopted a people-centric framework, covering six key dimensions — citizen, environment, social landscape, economy, infrastructure, and governance — and analyzed 97 quantifiable and regularly updated public indicators to assess how smart city initiatives improve residents’ quality of life. Indicators included unemployment and labor participation rates, cost of living, carbon neutrality performance, hospital bed availability, average public transport waiting time, and online shopping penetration.
Hong Kong Excelled in Economy, Governance, and Environment
Hong Kong performed particularly well in economy, governance, and environment. Economic strengths were supported by an open business environment, strong R&D investment, and robust performance in patent applications and high-tech exports. In governance, the city’s e-government platform iAM Smart and the Common Spatial Data Infrastructure were key contributors. According to the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, as of July 29, 2025, iAM Smart had registered over 3.6 million users and provided access to more than 1,200 services and e-forms offered by government, public, and private organizations.
Professor John W.Z. SHI, Chair Professor of Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing at PolyU and President of ISUI, emphasized that Hong Kong’s improvement in ranking was largely attributable to stronger governance, reflecting the HKSAR Government’s commitment to smart city development and digital transformation.
Areas for Further Development in Infrastructure and Housing in Hong Kong
The report also noted that while Hong Kong leads in environmental performance, including carbon neutrality, there is room for improvement in infrastructure, housing, and broader sustainability measures.
Smart City Global Rankings Led by European and North American Cities
Globally, European and North American cities continued to dominate the rankings, with Stockholm in first place, followed by Washington D.C., Barcelona, London, and Tokyo. Other major Asian cities included Seoul (13th), Beijing (15th), Shenzhen (25th), and Singapore (21st).
