Analytics, Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Rating, Transport

The smartest city in the world technologically, according to the 2017 Smart City Index looking at 500 cities selected to take part in the survey, is Copenhagen, followed by Singapore and Stockholm. An analysis of the cities for 19 factors gave the top three cities scores of respectively 8.24, 7.83 and 7.82 points on the ten-point scale. The score for Tallinn was 4.75 points.

Of Tallinn's closest neighbors, Helsinki ranked 23rd with 7.02 points, Vilnius 73rd with 5.13 points and St. Petersburg 88th with 3.98 points.

The factors looked at by the authors of the survey were digitalization, meaning 4G, high-speed internet and high smartphone penetration; transport and mobility, which should be knowledge-based with smart parking, traffic sensors and car sharing apps; sustainability, with a focus on clean energy and environmental protection; and online access to governmental services and a high level of citizen participation.

All of these factors, and more, were then analyzed to determine the final index of 100 cities. To round off the study and add a human element, the research team then asked 20,000 technology and urban planning journalists to rate how smart their cities are.

Tallinn's main strength was the level of digitalization of the city government, by which criterion Tallinn placed 7th overall with 9.39 points. The capital of Estonia was relatively strong also in urban planning, where it scored 7.62 points and placed 35th among all the cities taking part in the survey, and in waste management, placing 31st with 7.09 points.

The weakest scores for Tallinn were in "smart construction," 2.30 points, the education component, 2.47 points, clean energy 2.56 points, and standard of living, 2.90 points.

The aggregate score given to Tallinn by experts was 6.50.

The least smart cities globally, according to the index, are Mexico City, Saudi capital Ar-Riyadh, Monterrey in Mexico, Medellin in Colombia, and the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires.