Business Models of Public Smart Services for Sustainable Development

Abstract

The smart city concept has entered the public debate over the last decade as a concept for the development of urban space for the efficiency, improvement and availability of public and private services and sustainability. The Business Models Canvas is most often used in the literature for the creation of business models of smart services. On the basis of the above, we investigated whether the Business Models Canvas is the most used tool for creating business models for public smart services in Slovakia and whether cities and municipalities need to evaluate their models for the provision of public smart services. However, there is no commonly used methodology for evaluating smart city business models to help both practitioners and researchers choose the best option. The goal of the research is to create a tool for evaluating business models of public smart services in smart cities. The base method used was the Delphi method, based on the previous primary (content) analysis process of the Business Model Canvas best practices. In total, 709 towns and villages participated in the primary research. Subsequently, the obtained data were evaluated and used for further research using the Delphi method, in which 28 experts participated. The research was carried out between 2020 and 2023 in Slovakia. Primary research confirmed that the Business Models Canvas is the most used tool for creating business models for public smart services in Slovakia and cities and municipalities need to evaluate their models for the provision of public smart services. Areas and basic building blocks were also identified for the design of the evaluation methodology of business models for public smart services. The proposal of the methodology for evaluating business smodels for public smart services in Slovakia was implemented using the Delphi method with the cooperation of 28 experts. Based on the results of the Delphi method, a methodological procedure for evaluating business models for public smart services was established. The methodology proposed in the paper is a simple, organized, flexible and transparent system that facilitates the work of evaluators of business models of public smart services and marketing.