As the interest in smart city technology increases, so will its worth in the coming years.

According to a new report from Marketsandmarkets, a marketing research company, the global smart cities market is expected to top $1 trillion by 2016.

Currently, the report estimates the value of the smart cities market at $526.3 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of about 14.2 percent from 2011-2016. Here’s how the report breaks down the increase by industry type:

Over that time, the smart energy industry is expected to see the largest growth, from $22.9 billion in 2010 to $80.7 billion in 2016, a 28.7 percent compound annual growth rate. The smart transportation and smart security market are also expected to see growth, up to $68.8 billion and $307.2 billion by 2016. According to the report:


Globally, there are some 700 cities, each with population exceeding 500,000 and are growing faster than the average growth rate of cities. This opens up the market for industry players to grow their business in new and emerging smart cities. The infrastructure investment for these cities is forecasted to be $30 trillion to $40 trillion, cumulatively, over the next 20 years.

These projections follow along with another report estimating growth in smart cities. Last year, Pike Research said that smart city investment would grow to more than $100 billion by 2020.

With so much growth potential it’s no surprise that a large number of companies are quickly looking for their niche in the smart city market.