Mumbai, Apr 9 (IANS): Mumbai is among the world cities that have made significant progress on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a new global study.

Mumbai was categorised "Sprinter" on the SDG progress along with cities like Singapore, Osaka and Tokyo.

The new "Smart City Solutions for a Riskier World" study showed that while Covid-19 posed significant hurdles to cities worldwide, it also accelerated a wave of innovation that will continue after the crisis.

The study was carried out by ESI ThoughtLab research and sponsored by Oracle, Deloitte, Intel, and others.

The research underscores the vital role technology, data, cybersecurity, and public-private partnerships play to ensure a healthy, safe, and prosperous future for citizens in the wake of the pandemic.

Conducted in August and September 2020, the research included a survey of senior officials from 167 cities across 82 countries, including in Asia, North and Latin America, Europe, and Africa.

Cities were assessed and categorised based on progress in two categories: progress in applying smart solutions, with cities being classified as either "beginner," "intermediate", or "leader;" and progress on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with cities classified as either "implementer," "advancer," or "sprinter."

Mumbai, Chennai and Pune were among cities categorised as "intermediate" in applying smart solutions.

"We are seeing that the more successful cities are focusing on emerging technologies that have a direct impact on service delivery, such as cloud computing, AI, and digital assistants," John Tuohy, Director, Smart Cities strategy, Oracle, said in a statement.

"Providing remote access to staff and residents is crucial for maintaining business continuity."

The survey showed that 65 per cent of city leaders noted the biggest lesson learned during the pandemic was just how crucial smart city programmes were for their future.

While 43 per cent respondents learned the importance of operational continuity and agility, 37 per cent of city leaders said Covid-19 highlighted the need to invest more in upgrading core infrastructure, according to the survey.

About 88 per cent of city leaders identified investment in cloud platforms as the most urgent requirement needed for the successful delivery of critical and non-critical citizen services.

Moreover, 66 per cent of cities are investing heavily in AI and 80 per cent will do so over the next three years, especially in the area of digital assistants and chatbots, said the study.