How can smart cities make money for the community?

Jon Salisbury, co-founder of Nexigen and creator of the smartLINK network, is one of the driving forces behind making Greater Cincinnati the first “smart” region in the country.

In this video from TechRepublic, Salisbury talks about how smart cities can create revenue and become self-sustaining based on looking for projects that add value, cut costs or create profit.

Salisbury gives examples like linkNYC, another kiosk company, that was able to sustain itself because of money being dumped into it but that he says is an ultimate failure because the city couldn’t support it. However, linkNYC has been a learning experience for all involved.

On the other hand, Copenhagen has a smart city data exchange that works like the stock market, where data is put out there and customers can purchase that data. The companies selling the data receives a cut, and the city of Copenhagen gets a portion of that as well and has become self-sustaining.