Bangkok--20 Nov--Ericsson
- A new study from ConsumerLab on shows how the internet facilitates smart choices in city life, covering 9 cities worldwide: Beijing, Delhi, London, New York, Paris, Rome, São Paulo, Stockholm and Tokyo
- Key finding: When city dwellers use the internet to make smarter, more informed choices, cities become smarter too. Smartphone owners in cities globally are now making this happen
- Citizens want to use their smartphones to alleviate concerns with health, improve communication with authorities, and navigate urban traffic. As these changes would be retrofitted over existing structures, smart citizens want current players to internet-enable their services
Ericsson published its latest ConsumerLab report, entitled "Smart Citizens: How the internet facilitates smart choices in city life."
The study covers 9 cities worldwide-Beijing, Delhi, London, New York, Paris, Rome, São Paulo, Stockholm and Tokyo-and explores how as citizens become smarter, so do the cities they inhabit. The report explores different concepts that will enable people to take a more proactive and participatory role in city life, from digital health monitoring to interactive road navigation and social bike and car sharing.
Bunyati Kirdniyom, Head of Communications and Regulatory Affairs at Ericsson Thailand: "Citizens want current players to internet-enable their services. This means for example that city authorities are expected to provide ICT services related to traffic, public services and water quality."
He adds: "Interestingly, for all the concepts tested, citizens who live in the central parts of the cities are more interested in the concepts than those who live in suburbs. Also, the young and full time workers are those with the overall highest predicted daily use of the concepts, and the ones who will most actively push cities to grow smarter."
Looking at the city-specific findings, he says: "Delhi, Beijing and São Paulo score very high on usefulness ratings for all concepts we tested-whereas Paris, London and Stockholm score significantly lower. For example, only 41 percent in Stockholm-a city known for its great drinking water quality-find the water quality checker concept to be of use, compared to 92 percent for Delhi."
This study was conducted online in September 2014 with 9,030 iPhone and Android smartphone users aged between 15 and 69. Respondents were from Beijing, Delhi, London, New York, Paris, Rome, São Paulo, Stockholm and Tokyo, representing 61 million citizens. Written statements outlining the concepts tested were rotated so that each respondent saw two thirds of all services.
Key interesting findings from this report are:
When city dwellers use the internet to make smarter, more informed choices, cities become smarter too. Smartphone owners in cities globally are now making this happen:
- 76 percent want sensors in public spaces that let them know what areas are crowded and best avoided.
- 70 percent want to compare energy use with neighbors in order to optimize their behavior.
- 66 percent want to have real-time control of drinking water quality
Citizens want to use their smartphones to alleviate concerns with health, communication with authorities and urban traffic:
- 48 percent would make daily use of a posture sensor.
- 29 percent would use a unified biometric ID to access public services every day
- 74 percent want both interactive street signs and bike/car sharing
As these changes would be retro-fitted over existing structures, smart citizens want current players to internet-enable their services:
- Information generated by public authorities should remain with the authorities
- 28 percent think authorities will not consider the individual’s welfare and interests when using personal information
Ericsson ConsumerLab is a global consumer research unit that studies consumer use of, and attitudes to, ICT in more than 40 countries annually. As Ericsson's voice of the consumer externally and internally, Ericsson ConsumerLab helps customers as well as industry organizations and policy makers to understand the implications of consumer needs.