Boston, Chicago and Atlanta Top List of Cities Poised to Benefit Most From Smart City Tech

Chordant teams with CA Technologies to launch Smart City Benefits Index

LONDON and MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chordant, the Smart City-focused IoT business of InterDigital (NASDAQ:IDCC), in collaboration with CA Technologies (NASDAQ:CA), today unveiled the CA-Chordant Smart City Benefits Index – the first comprehensive study designed to examine the relative potential benefits of Smart City technology in America’s major metropolitan areas.
Industry experts agree that Smart City technology – everything from connected transportation systems to smart building technology to IoT-enabled energy systems – has the potential to unlock tremendous benefits for cities and the people, industries and businesses that call them home. But those benefits will vary widely based on differences in geography, transportation systems, demographics and a variety of other factors.
“The Internet of Things (IoT) holds huge promises for the public sector, especially as it relates to Smart Cities technology,” said Rahim Bhatia, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Developer Products, CA Technologies. “We are seeing an uptick in the adoption of Smart Cities practices. The efficiencies, conveniences and analytics that come from Smart Cities technology is something these communities can use to help improve transportation, infrastructure and services to ultimately enrich the lives of their citizens.”
The CA-Chordant Smart City Benefits Index is produced by industry-leading market research firm Compass Intelligence, and uses a proprietary algorithm to calculate the relative benefits of Smart City technology to each city based on a broad range of data points. The selection of 50 cities was based on over 1,000 compiled and curated news articles, reports, summaries, and research over the course of 3 weeks, including a review of smart city projects in place, historical listings of city rankings, and those who participated in the US Department of Transportation Smart City Challenge. The index based its ranking on five categories of data: city demographics, city spend and infrastructure, business and economy, education, and other. Data integrated into the model includes transportation costs, infrastructure needs, population density, and business needs, among others.
“The CA-Chordant Smart City Benefits Index evaluates each city’s expected position and readiness to embrace, adopt, implement, and scale smart city projects, initiatives, investments, technologies, and solutions,” said Stephanie Atkinson, Founder and Principal Consultant, Compass Intelligence. “Those cities ranked higher or that have higher total points on the index are expected to be earlier adopters of smart city technologies and could potentially reap greater benefits of a return on investment.”
In terms of results, tech hub Boston tops the list of potential Smart City beneficiaries, but it’s more traditionally industrial cities including Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia that follow close behind, ahead of Austin, TX in fifth place. Only four of the top ten cities – Boston, Austin, Seattle and San Diego – are typically seen as significant tech hubs, while cities with a more traditional mix of industries (Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Phoenix and Kansas City) dominated the top ten. There were also some surprises: Cleveland, typically seen as a net loser in the transition from industrial to technological, came in 12th ahead of tech giants San Jose and San Francisco, while Minneapolis, one of the larger metro areas in the United States, came in at the bottom ten of the index.
“Our absolute conviction is that Smart City technology can benefit every single city in the world, but it’s useful to look at where those benefits will be felt most strongly,” said Jim Nolan, Executive Vice President, Chordant, at InterDigital. “A ranking like the CA-Chordant Smart City Benefits Index should catch the attention of public officials, as they hold the responsibility for making their cities and regions competitive as homes for people and businesses. It’s critical that they start thinking today about how Smart City technology can shape the future.”
According to Compass Intelligence, the global Smart Cities market is expected to surpass $1.4 trillion by 2020, with Smart Governance and Smart Energy topping the categories of major investment. The final results and data model can be consulted at www.chordant.io/smart_cities_index.
CA-Chordant Smart City Benefits Index Top 10 Results:
Smart City Benefits City INDEX (X/105)
1   Boston, MA67.1
2   Chicago, IL64.2
3   Atlanta, GA61.9
4   Philadelphia, PA60.5
5   Austin, TX59.5
6   San Diego, CA58.9
7   Seattle, WA58.1
8   New York, NY57.7
9   Phoenix, AZ56.9
10   Kansas City, MO   56.1
About Chordant™
Chordant, an InterDigital business, is part of a global company passionate about innovation and a standards-based approach that stimulates thriving global ecosystems. Solutions powered by the Chordant platform address the fundamental challenges in Smart City deployments. Like a perfect chord of musical notes, the Chordant platform brings harmony to diverse devices, data and services. We have created one of the largest Smart City deployments, integrating hundreds of transport data sources into a transport data marketplace. Our Smart City solutions have also been recognized by leading analyst firms and organizations. For more information, visit: www.chordant.io.
About InterDigital®
InterDigital develops mobile technologies that are at the core of devices, networks, and services worldwide. We solve many of the industry's most critical and complex technical challenges, inventing solutions for more efficient broadband networks and a richer multimedia experience years ahead of market deployment. InterDigital has licenses and strategic relationships with many of the world's leading wireless companies. Founded in 1972, InterDigital is listed on NASDAQ and is included in the S&P MidCap 400® index.
InterDigital is a registered trademark of InterDigital, Inc.  Chordant is a trademark of InterDigital.
For more information, visit: www.interdigital.com.
About CA Technologies
CA Technologies (NASDAQ:CA) creates software that fuels transformation for companies and enables them to seize the opportunities of the application economy. Software is at the heart of every business in every industry. From planning, to development, to management and security, CA is working with companies worldwide to change the way we live, transact, and communicate – across mobile, private and public cloud, distributed and mainframe environments. Learn more at www.ca.com.
About Compass Intelligence
Compass Intelligence, a market analytics and consulting firm, specializes in deep-level market segmentation and actionable research for the high-tech and telecom industries while delivering metrics-driven intelligence and insights. Compass Intelligence provides executive insights, market sizing/modeling, competitive analysis, strategic consulting, research-based marketing support, and expert recommendations on multiple markets. Visit us at http://www.compassintel.com. Follow Compass Intelligence on Twitter at @CompassIntel.
www.compassintelligence.com
InterDigital Contact:
Patrick Van de Wille
Email: patrick.vandewille@interdigital.com 
+1 (858) 210-4814