How to Become a Smart City? Balancing Ambidexterity in Smart Cities

Most cities have limited resources to become a smart city. Yet some cities have been more successful than others in becoming a smart city. This raises the questions why were some cities able to become smart, whereas other were not able to do so? This research is aimed at identifying factors influencing the shift towards becoming a smart city. In this way insight is gained into factors that governments can influence to become a smart city. First, Literature was reviewed to identify dimensions and factors enabling or impeding the process of becoming a smart city. These factors were used to compare two similar type of case studies. The cases took different paths to become a smart city and had different levels of success. This enabled us to identify factors influencing the move towards smart cities. The results reveal that existing infrastructures should be used and extended in such a way that they can facilitate a variety of different applications. Synergy from legacy systems can avoid extra expenditures. Having such an infrastructure in place facilitates the development of new organizational models. These models are developed outside the existing organization structure to avoid hinder from existing practices and organizational structures. This finding suggests that smart cities focussed on structural ambidexterity innovate quicker.

How to Become a Smart City?: Balancing Ambidexterity in Smart Cities. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317202634_How_to_Become_a_Smart_City_Balancing_Ambidexterity_in_Smart_Cities [accessed Sep 27, 2017].