SOME OF THE MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED CITIES IN THE WORLD

JAKARTA

The first city on our list of the most technologically advanced

cities in the world is Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.

With over 10 million inhabitants, Jakarta is the most

populous city in Southeast Asia and is as large as

the state of Singapore. At the convergence of multiple

cultures including Arab, Indian, Malay, Javanese, Chinese

and Dutch, Jakarta is a high-tech Asian hub,

despite its terrible traffic.

JOHANNESBURG

The financial powerhouse of sub-Saharan Africa,

Johannesburg devotes itself to growing through technology.

The city planning committee has put a major focus on

tech industry partnerships, especially in information and

communications technology. Jo-burg’s police force has

even gone high-tech, installing CCTV cameras on every

street corner in the city centre to cut down on crime.

MUMBAI

Beating out Bangalore, the “Silicon Valley of India,” for the

only Indian spot on this list, Mumbai nonetheless packs a

heavy punch when it comes to tech, specializing in

information technology and healthcare technology.

Though the film “Slumdog Millionaire” casts the city’s

slums in a dire light, professors such as Suketu Mehta

cast them in a more positive light: as hubs for

entrepreneurial energy powered by locals forced

to provide what the state doesn’t.

SHANGHAI

The most populous city in China, Shanghai has devoted

itself to technology, even creating multiple industrial

zones exclusively focused on tech. The advanced city

has attracted major industry players such as ExxonMobil

and Tesla Motors, which signed a non-binding agreement

with a local company to make Shanghai its production

base in China.

BUENOS AIRES

Buenos Aires’ focus on innovation and its support of local

start-up accelerators has cemented the city as the best

tech hub in South America. Buenos Aires is also one of

the best examples of a city using tech to care for its citizens,

automating maintenance of almost 1,000 miles (1,500 km)

of water drainage pipes to cut down on flooding and

even allowing citizens to tweet a picture of issues

which are then fixed within 96 hours.

BEIJING

Beijing’s economy has largely moved past the industrial

model; its economy is now 77% service-based, largely in

finance, retail and information technology. China’s

Silicon Valley is Zhongguancun in the city’s northwest,

home to both start-ups and established tech giants

such as Lenovo, Google, and Microsoft’s new

Chinese research headquarters.

MOSCOW

Responsible for putting the first man in space, Russians are

notoriously skilled at computer science and technology.

So far, Moscow has excelled at creating copies of

Western companies, such as Yandex and VKontakte, the

Russian equivalent of Google and Facebook. These days,

the city is becoming a leader in new and less common

types of tech, such as nanotechnology.

DUBAI

Dubai is the de facto Middle Eastern hub for technology

(especially IT), home to global firms such as Hewlett-Packard,

Oracle and IBM. The city has invested heavily in tech, even

constructing Smart Palm trees with solar-powered phone-

chargers and Wi-Fi hotspots. It also launched the Dubai

Smart City project to connect residents in a fully-

integrated “smart” environment of the future.

MILAN

The economic powerhouse of Italy, Milan is mostly known for

its fashion and banking industries. Besides the glamour

and the money, Milan hosts numerous high-tech expos

and even hosted the 2015 World’s Fair. Within the

tech sector, the city is a leader in biotechnology.