can create a favorable environment, they cannot substitute systems not only for the young but for adults at all stages of private initiatives. Cities need to set up labs and launch social life (WHO, 2020). Every municipal decision must encourage initiatives, but all of these should rely on private involvement sufficiency and resilience, and so doing more with less is the and financing. Overall, quality of collaboration will influence sixth model. The seventh is about repurposing business for the propensity to innovate. society and the environment in a way that can help to contribute to the common good. Finally, developing scale-up solutions can Developing a sustainable city policy requires setting up new help to expand and diffuse already tested business models. business models. These models could be launched by players Enlarging social experiments will be key. from many different industries. Our study shows that the business opportunities generated by smart city initiatives To set their strategies, companies across industries need to will mainly be business-oriented services. We need to assess adapt their current offerings to satisfy smart cities’ needs mechanisms to assist the innovation process for embedding and urban transformation. In multiple industries, companies sustainability in business models. Both city governments and have already begun to transform their existing products and companies have to define a clearer agenda for sustainable develop new services to satisfy and contribute to changing business models. One key element is for both investors and urban markets. They are transforming their supply portfolios city executives to pay attention to the long-term horizon, through combining existing vertical businesses. For example, to implement recycling activities to save resources, and utility companies are rolling out smart meters and encouraging to introduce a circular economic framework. The aims of new behaviors for saving resources. Others are introducing a complementary work would be to identify, categorize, dynamic pricing models. Real-estate investors can integrate and explain business model innovations turned towarddatabases into their operations to improve both occupancy rates sustainability. Moreover, to be durable, new business models and revenues by optimizing their pricing based on supply and must rely on providing financial mechanisms to reduce risk. demand. Moreover, artificial intelligence and machine learning Finally, to improve their attractiveness (for example: What can be useful. For example, using them to process data on are the risks? Who bears the risks? How will investors occupancy, pricing, renovations, censuses, and third-party be incentivized?), new business models must offer better real estate can help investors to accurately predict real-estate transparency regarding their contribution to sustainable urban demand. In many cases, pulling together companies’ data and models and innovation processes. external data is very helpful. For instance, it is important to know whether some businesses have created headquarters or New business models R&D centers in outlying areas; the opening of a new school, Scholars have identified eight business model archetypes meanwhile, signals the need for family-friendly units. More that align well with urban transformation objectives and and more real-estate investors are now including car-sharing complement our study of the six smart cities.5 systems or mobility options in their real-estate condominium models to better fit market trends. The first model involves maximizing material and energy efficiency by, for example, reducing the use of resources. The Mobility and infrastructure second is the creation of value from “waste” through developing Infrastructure suppliers can use digital technologies to optimize a circular economy (UN-Habitat, 2010). The third business how they operate physical assets and to reduce social costs model concerns switching from nonrenewable resources and such as diseases linked to pollution, work stoppages, traffic energy sources to renewables, as well as nurturing natural congestion, and time leakages. For smart cities, improving the resources with a view to, for instance, reducing artificialization efficiency, capacity, and expertise of infrastructure providers is of soils, expanding green areas, and capturing atmospheric heat essential. Information technologies can provide detailed real- in buildings designed according to passive design principles. time information on how assets are being used (for example, The aim of the fourth model is to deliver functionality rather peak usage times, hourly energy consumption, car-slot use, than ownership—that is, introducing car sharing, soft mobility, occupation rates of houses and offices), and they can also mine and sharing systems that mitigate the need for residents to that data to yield insights (CapGemini, 2020). buy their own vehicles. The fifth is governments’ adoption of a stewardship role, under which they tend to all aspects of their In addition, cities can use apps to ease pressures on public populations’ well-being. Citizens expect public decision making assets and infrastructure over time. First, information given to focus on care, health, quality of urban life, and education to users offers them a deeper understanding of the different (5) Bocken, N. M., Short, S. W., Rana, P., & Evans, S. (2014). A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes. Journal of Cleaner Production,65, 42-56. 232 Quélin and Smadja | HEC PARIS | SMART CITIES | The sustainable program of six leading cities | 2021