London tops BCG ranking as Dubai stands out for AI adoption and smart city innovation Dubai: Dubai has been ranked the world's second most intelligent city in a new global study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), placing ahead of New York City, Washington and Amsterdam in the consultancy's inaugural Intelligent Cities Index. Only London ranked higher than Dubai in the assessment, which evaluated how 61 of the world's biggest cities use AI, digital technology and governance to improve life for residents and businesses. The study assessed cities across five areas — outcomes, strategy, adoption, ways of working and enablers — before grouping them into four maturity levels: leading, accelerating, emerging and developing. According to the report, Dubai was among only five cities to achieve the highest "leading" maturity level overall, while Abu Dhabi ranked 20th globally, placing it in the "accelerating" maturity cohort. Abu Dhabi also ranked among the world's top 10 for intelligent city enablers, reflecting the strength of its technology, infrastructure, funding, ecosystem and talent foundations. Having two UAE cities ranked among the world's top 20 in BCG's first Intelligent Cities Index shows the progress the country has made in putting AI into everyday urban life," said Dr Akram Awad, Managing Director and Partner and Global Lead for Smart Cities at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He said the report highlights strong adoption of smart city applications, AI platforms and digital government services, supported by high levels of resident optimism. "That combination gives cities a strong foundation to continue improving how people live, work and interact with public services." The top five cities in the index are: London Dubai New York City Washington Amsterdam According to the consulting major, each of these cities demonstrates leading maturity across at least two of the five assessment domains, although none dominates every