The news that the US will invest heavily in smart cities technology might have come at any time in the last 10 years or so. Smart cities have been the stuff of conferences and media tattle for that long but still our towns and cities remain largely in the analog era.

Why?

Because if developing technology that works is hard enough (as Samsung this week was reminded) then raising funds in government and public sector is also tricky and meeting centuries of regulations and cultural blockers is probably the hardest of them all.

We remain stuck in traffic jams because we don’t have true real-time geospatial information and predictive feeds, we get sick and die because we lack the tools to diagnose us earlier, we still waste time buying tickets and ensuring we can prove who we are, and we still drive cars when we could be productive or enjoying life.

But this will change and if we are to meet the demands placed in us by the massive shift towards urban living we will have to – and quickly.

Martin Veitch, IDG Connect Editorial Director