The Role of Economic and Innovation Initiatives in Planning a Smart City Strategy in Greece

As digital technology has become an integral part of urban life’s daily operations, the urban landscape is constantly evolving with the needs of its society. This new reality has allowed municipalities to invest in technologies related to smart cities and to exert a greater influence on the national and local economy. In line with this, the paper aims to understand the mechanisms of planning and implementing a municipality’s strategy in Greece to exploit the smart city benefits and to foster economic development. It is important to identify the role of different factors including strategy during the planning and implementing phases of initiatives concerning the economy and innovation in a smart city. To achieve this, data were collected via a questionnaire and processed using the advanced statistical technique PLS-SEM. The main findings highlight the importance of planning initiatives aligned with the needs of the municipality and the business ecosystem. The existence of a smart city strategy has a catalytic effect on the final impact of the implemented initiatives on the urban ecosystem. A systematic analysis of the smart cities’ dynamics and the new state of the urban ecosystem can help the local actors focus on value creation and public service provision, fostering innovation and profitability.