Smart City Investment Prioritisation Framework

The Smart City Investment Prioritisation Framework (SCIP) Tool was developed to address the need for an impartial, evidence-based framework to assess smart city readiness in the South African context. Local governments often face persuasive proposals from industry but lack the tools to evaluate them critically. Developed by the CSIR, the SCIP Tool provides a reliable and context-sensitive approach to guide municipalities in understanding their readiness and planning for smart city development (XLSX, 323KB). The tool evaluates two key components: pre-conditions and enablers. Pre-conditions assess whether a municipality can currently provide basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity, housing, economic opportunities, and infrastructure maintenance. This helps identify key challenges or pain points by examining infrastructure, service delivery capacity, governance, and financial resources. Enablers focus on the municipality’s ability to adopt and implement smart technologies, considering the presence of a smart city plan, digital infrastructure, skilled personnel, partnerships, and community involvement. Together, these components form a comprehensive framework to support informed decision-making and guide cities toward becoming smarter and more inclusive.

Abstract based on original source.