This article was originally posted by Forbes.com. View the article here.

Smart city innovation is accelerating – so fast in fact, that distant visions of the future are now becoming present-day realities, transforming how communities live, work and play. At the heart of this transformation is digital connectivity infrastructure that underscores every aspect of modern life. This invisible foundation for the future is enabling more inclusive, sustainable and resilient outcomes for our cities and the communities that inhabit them.

When it comes to delivering a smart city or embarking on that journey, it’s critical that you understand the communities of today. How are people connecting? What are the moments that matter? What is essential for safety? How can we help restore local pride? You quickly understand that technology alone is not the answer to these and many other questions. What’s fundamental is that smart city solutions are deployed with empathy and purpose, building back from an outcome that we collectively want to achieve. Only then do connectivity and the technology it enables become powerful tools for social progress.

Often, smart city projects conjure up images of major metropolitan areas. However, they are equally, if not more crucial, to the regeneration of cities that have been left behind in decades past. One such UK city has undergone an ambitious transformation by focusing on digital inclusion, improved services, and community engagement.

A city reimagined

It might not be the first place that comes to mind, but Sunderland has been celebrated as the UK’s smartest city. Now a recognised leader in smart city innovation, Sunderland is a great example of a city that’s harnessing advanced technology to enrich the lives of its residents, boost economic growth, and pave the way for a smarter, more connected future.

Sunderland has a proud history of innovation and industry, renowned for shipbuilding, coal mining and glass building. In 2019, the city’s leaders saw an opportunity to help drive citywide regeneration, identifying opportunities that would best support its communities and aid innovation in the running of a sustainable metropolitan area, home to some 280,000 people.

This saw the beginning of the smart city programme, focused on transforming the community through a combination of connectivity solutions, including public Wi-Fi, a private 5G network, a low-power wide-area network (LoRaWAN), and fibre rollout. It has been a springboard for reimagining public services and community engagement.

It takes a village to build a smart city

One of the most powerful drivers behind smart, transformative communities is the strength of effective, long-term public-private partnerships. Why? Because delivering the digital infrastructure that underpins a smart city isn’t a short-term task. It involves large-scale, future-focused projects that require both ambition and resilience.

The most successful smart cities actively collaborate with private sector partners to co-invest in, build and sometimes co-own infrastructure. In many cases, cities partner through concession agreements, where private organisations front the initial investment and recoup costs over time. This shared model enables cities to unlock ambitious projects that might otherwise remain out of reach, especially when public resources are limited.

However, partnerships like these aren’t just about funding fibre rollouts or deploying 5G. They’re about combining strengths. The public sector brings a deep understanding of local needs and long-term social outcomes, while private organisations offer technical expertise, innovation and operational agility.

The results speak for themselves. Cities like Sunderland, London, Rome and New York have leveraged these models to deliver transformative projects, by building ecosystems of committed, capable partners.

For business leaders across industries, there’s a clear opportunity to get involved. Beyond telecoms and infrastructure providers, technology firms can develop integration platforms that connect city systems and services. Data companies can help establish secure, ethical frameworks for data sharing that protect citizens while enabling smarter decision-making. Startups and SMEs can pilot hyperlocal projects, whether it’s smart lighting, community Wi-Fi, or connected healthcare services, demonstrating value at a neighbourhood level before scaling city-wide.

No matter your sector or size, contributing to a smarter, more inclusive city isn’t reserved for the few. It’s about finding where your organisation’s skills, technology, and ideas can plug into a broader mission to improve lives and strengthen communities.

Because building the future isn’t a solo project. It’s a collective one, and it works best when everyone has a seat at the table.

A blueprint for future cities

The development of smart cities isn't just tech for tech’s sake — it’s a strategic lever for economic empowerment, education, and wellbeing. For local businesses, the network infrastructure opens new markets and productivity gains. For public services, it means access to immersive tools, efficient resource management, and greater digital inclusion. It also brings new options for care and independence.

Connectivity underpins it all. As the enabler of digital services, automation, and data-driven decision-making, robust infrastructure is the bedrock of any smart city vision. Across the globe, every smart city project must share a common thread: empowering people by delivering the connectivity that makes innovation meaningful.

There’s proof of what’s possible when technology is deployed not just with intelligence, but with heart. As cities look to build smarter futures, they would do well to start where Sunderland did, listening to the needs of their citizens and building from the ground up, leaving no one and nowhere behind.

The future isn’t just smart, it’s human. And it starts with connection.