List of the smartest African Cities in 2023

Smart cities are the future of urban living. By integrating technology into every aspect of urban life, these cities can create a more efficient, sustainable, and livable environment for their residents. From transportation to public safety to waste management, smart city technology can make a significant impact on urban life.

A smart city’s network of sensors and gadgets that gather and analyze data in real time is its central component. The Internet of Things (IoT) technology is used by these gadgets to connect to the Internet and communicate with one another. Various city services can be optimized thanks to the processing of the data acquired by these sensors by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that can spot patterns and trends.

More cities across the globe are integrating new tech solutions to socio-economic and political issues, some more so than others. As a result, the International Institute for Management and Development tracks the smartest cities in the world and releases an annual ranking based on its methodology that generates its IMD Smart City Index.

The IMD Smart City Index assesses the perceptions of residents on issues related to structures and technology applications available to them in their city. This edition of the SCI ranks 141 cities worldwide by capturing the perceptions of 120 residents in each city. The final score for each city is computed by using the perceptions of the last three years of the survey, with the weight of 3:2:1 for 2023:2021:2020.

There are two pillars for which perceptions from residents are solicited: The Structures pillar referring to the existing infrastructure of the cities, and the Technology pillar describing the technological provisions and services available to the inhabitants.

Each pillar is evaluated over five key areas: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance. The cities are distributed into four groups based on the Global Data Lab’s Human Development Index (HDI) score of the city they are part of.

The report elaborates more extensively on the institute’s methodology and takes a deep dive into the performances of each pillar evaluated. Below are the smartest African cities based on the IMD.