// CITY_ASSESSMENT
How smart is NEOM?
NEOM scores 31% against the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework in 2026 — ranked #357 of 388 cities assessed, with every finding traceable to a public source.
Smart score
31%
Rank
#357 / 388
Criteria present
18 / 86
Evidence coverage
44.2%
NEOM's smart city score by area
2 present · 2 partial · 2 absent · 9 not assessed
2 present · 2 partial · 2 absent · 6 not assessed
1 present · 5 partial · 2 absent · 5 not assessed
3 present · 2 partial · 1 absent · 5 not assessed
1 present · 2 partial · 1 absent · 9 not assessed
4 present · 3 partial · 0 absent · 1 not assessed
5 present · 4 partial · 5 absent
Where NEOM is strong
- ▸Food Security & Urban Agriculture
- ▸Critical Infrastructure Resilience
- ▸Climate Adaptation & Heat
- ▸Culture, Tourism & Recreation
- ▸Water & Sanitation
Where the gaps are
- ▸Smart Traffic & Electric Vehicles
- ▸Digital Government Services
- ▸Housing & Urban Planning
- ▸Education & Digital Skills
- ▸Public Transport & Real-Time Information
Evidence highlights
Connectivity & ICT Infrastructure · City IoT / sensor network
NEOM is building a fully digital Internet of Water (IoW) infrastructure and AI-enabled smart networks for its water system, connecting customers to treatment facilities and designed to achieve benchmark network losses.
https://www.neom.com/en-us/our-business/sectors/waterWater & Sanitation · Smart water metering / leak detection
NEOM is implementing AI-enabled smart networks and a fully digital Internet of Water (IoW) infrastructure for its transmission and distribution pipelines, designed to achieve global benchmark network losses, indicating smart water metering and leak detectio…
https://www.neom.com/en-us/our-business/sectors/waterWater & Sanitation · Wastewater treatment
NEOM aims to achieve water positivity by recycling wastewater for beneficial reuse in construction and irrigation, and its advanced water recycling technologies will also recover biosolids for agricultural use.
https://www.neom.com/en-us/our-business/sectors/waterInnovation & Economic Development · Innovation hub / startup ecosystem
NEOM is designing an ecosystem that blends learning with future-focused research and innovation, building a living lab where education, research, and innovation address real-world needs, and offers opportunities for partners to incubate and deploy scalable …
https://www.neom.com/en-us/our-business/sectors/education-research-and-innovationAbout this assessment
NEOM was assessed against the 86 criteria of the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework on 2026-09-03 by AI agents gathering evidence from official public sources. Each criterion is marked present, partial or absent, and every finding links to where it was found. Scores refresh continuously as cities publish new evidence.