Zurich takes top spot in Smart City Index 2023

Three Swiss cities have been named among the nine smartest cities in the world, according to the IMD Smart City Index 2023. The index assessed a total of 141 cities worldwide and is compiled annually since 2019 by the World Competitiveness Center of the IMD Business School.

The city of Zurich ranks first worldwide in the Smart City Index 2022, a position it has secured since the very first edition of the index. This places the biggest city in Switzerland ahead of Oslo, Canberra, and Copenhagen. Lausanne followed in fifth place and Geneva was named sixth. London, Singapore, and Helsinki ranked between Lausanne and Geneva. 

Leading the ranking, Zurich scored well above average across virtually all criteria. The city achieved top scores for its structures in the areas of health and safety, activities, work and school, and governance (score AAA for structures; scale from AAA to D). For the technology category, Zurich is ranked amongst the top cities as well (score A), scoring high especially for the mobility and work and school criteria.

In all three ranked Swiss cities, respondents cited affordable rent, traffic congestion, and air pollution as priorities to tackle in the future. According to IMD, many cities have shown either continuous improvement or stability from year to year in the Index. These so-called “super champions” are Zurich, Oslo, Singapore, Beijing, Seoul, and Hong Kong.