The role of the private sector on developing smart cities under a quadruple helix approach

Urban areas across the globe are increasingly finding their way into the Smart Cities approach. As an initiative that aims to improve the quality of citizens' lives by finding new solutions to deal with urban problems deriving from fast urbanization, Smart Cities’ success depends on the involvement of society, the public sector, as well as private sector. However, to accelerate sustainable development, a quadruple-helix approach might be considered. Most publications on smart cities have been addressing government and civil society roles to generate innovations in urban areas. The role of academia and industry, the latter being the focus of this research, still requires new studies to shed light on the potential contributions of these groups of actors. The industry represents actors that, at the same time, can contribute to developing Smart Cities and being impacted by city changes, which reinforces they have a role in discussing Smart Cities. In this early-stage research paper, the industry is approached as the private sector. This short paper aims to discuss the role of the private