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Summary Smart Cities in Brazil: Some Drivers and Players Paving the Path of Competitiveness and Quality of Life 3 I. Introduction 3 II. Conceptual Framework 3 III. Cases5 Case I: Integrated Operations Centers in Brazilian Big Cities ...................................................... 5 The pioneer case of São Paulo ................................................................................................. 5 The diffusion of Integrated Operations Centers in Brazil ........................................................ 6 Tendencies to Integrated Operation Centers ............................................................................ 8 Players on Integrated Operations Centers ................................................................................ 8 Case II: Smart Grid Digital Application ........................................................................................ 9 Underlying Solutions to Smart Grid ........................................................................................ 9 Applications and Benefits ...................................................................................................... 10 IV. Conclusions 11 V. References 11 2
Smart Cities in Brazil: Some Drivers and Players Paving the Path of Competitiveness and Quality of Life I. Introduction An underlying assumption behind the idea of smart cities is the pivotal role of urban areas as engines of economic growth and development. On the one hand, cities are clusters for education, health-care, culture, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, social services, government administration, and communications, as well as the rules and institutions that create the social environment for doing business and investing in new technologies that promote evolution. On the other hand, urbanization also comes with challenges in areas such as energy, mobility, waste disposal and management, employment, and other issues regarding social inclusion and environmental sustainability. These challenges are even more important when considering that, according to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, UN-DESA (2015), 89 percent of the urban agglomerations expected to emerge by 2030 are located in less developed countries (see Table 1). Many of these urban spaces combine economies that promote productivity and wealth creation with diseconomies that must be overcome to preserve and reinforce their role as poles for wealth creation. Highincome countries Upper-middleincome countries Lower-middleincome countries Lowincome countries 10 million 0 6 6 1 13 5 to 10 million 3 4 5 8 20 1 to 5 million 17 68 43 13 141 Total 20 78 54 22 174 Table 1: Number of urban agglomerations of income groups expected to emerge until 2030, by size of urban settlement Therefore, the current scenario requires cities to develop and implement ways to manage these challenges. It is clear that many of the existing approaches have been, in different degrees, based on information and communication technologies (ICT), but “[t]he concept of smart city is far from being limited to the application of technologies to cities,” as presented by Albino et al. (2015). We argue for a comprehensive perspective: smart cities, especially in a developing country context, should be understood and promoted as an economic and social space that fosters creative initiatives—not necessarily high-tech ones—to tackle modern challenges to achieve higher living standards and sustainable, inclusive and environment-friendly growth. This paper describes how the idea of smart cities and the underlying technologies materialized in the Brazilian context. In Section II, a conceptual framework is presented, in which key drivers of smart cities are identified, explaining how they determine the outcomes in the cases presented in Section III. This framework is not only an analytical tool for the cases, but also a provider of key elements for a coherent identification of efforts being carried out in Brazilian smart cities, and the potential of innovations in different knowledge fields to create growth, dynamic competitiveness, and wellness. Finally, in Section IV, there is a short discussion on policy implications derived from the selected cases. II. Conceptual Framework Figure 1 presents the conceptual framework used for the identification and analysis of the most relevant smart cities solutions being deployed in Brazil. Creative solutions for a city's problems usually are developed and marketed by three types of actors: local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) or entrepreneurs searching for appropriate solutions for local problems, local service providers using technology to make existing services "smarter," and global companies implementing solutions with adaptations to local needs. These players are represented in the interface between people and technology, and they often interact with other agents within the innovation system. The outcome deriving Total 3
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