ABI: Connected Infrastructure Offers Monetization Opportunities for Cities

Cities looking at depressing budget numbers and growing future investment demands should consider developing non-traditional revenue sources, according to ABI Research.

The time may be right for this. Unanticipated expenditures on COVID-19 pandemic needs, such as policing and healthcare, has depleted municipal coffers. At the same time, ways must be found to finance important new initiatives such as connected infrastructure.

The answer may be establishing new sources of revenue by monetization of data that is being generated by owned or controlled assets, according to Dominique Bonte, ABI’s vice president end markets. Linking revenue generation to connected assets could be a potentially lucrative approach, reports Bonte.

ABI cites The North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA), a consortium of technical suppliers in Dallas, Arlington, Irving, Plano, Frisco, Garland and other north Texas communities, as an example of the type of thinking that potentially could create these revenue streams.

The organization is exploring and evaluating options on monetizing data from assets such as buildings, lighting and roads via Marketplace city, the government technology procure platform, ABI says. Business models including private funding and revenue sharing are being looked at as ways to finance smart mobility, fleet electrification and “circular economy” type approaches. The group also is looking at curb pricing as a way to monetize roadside real estate, which ABI says is increasingly valuable.

Though communities may be finding themselves in a bit of a financial bind, rapidly evolving technology may offer a way out. “The arrival of 5G enabled edge cloud capabilities will further facilitate the sharing and monetization of mission-critical low latency data enabling remote and automated traffic management, driverless transportation, and emergency response management,” Bonte said in the press release. “It will drive the value of connected infrastructure and asset data to around US$2 billion by 2030 globally.”

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