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Doha, Qatar: Doha has been recognised as one of the world’s intelligent cities in Boston Consulting Group’s inaugural Intelligent Cities Index 2026, placing it in the Emerging Maturity category among 61 major urban centres across 39 countries.
The index, released recently, evaluates how cities deploy artificial intelligence and digital technologies to improve resident outcomes, economic opportunities and urban services. It assesses performance across five domains: outcomes, strategy, adoption, ways of working and enablers. Cities are grouped into leading, accelerating, emerging or developing levels of maturity.
London leads the overall ranking, followed by Dubai, New York City, Washington and Amsterdam. All five demonstrate leading maturity in at least two domains. Dubai also ranks first globally in the adoption domain for its extensive rollout of smart city solutions and AI applications. Abu Dhabi and Riyadh feature among the accelerating cities, underscoring the Gulf region’s growing presence in the global ranking.
Doha appears in the Emerging cohort alongside cities such as Tokyo, Hong Kong and Medina. The Qatari capital is listed after Riyadh in the index’s ordered results, reflecting solid progress while highlighting opportunities for further advancement. The report notes that no single city leads every domain, and even top performers have areas requiring strengthening.
A central finding is that AI adoption drives better resident outcomes. Cities in the top third for AI use cases deliver higher quality of life. The index shows that expanding AI deployment can lift maturity even for cities starting with fewer applications. Residents across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including those in cities such as Doha, display particularly strong enthusiasm for generative AI tools and optimism about their future impact.
This positive sentiment forms a virtuous circle: higher usage increases satisfaction, which encourages more use cases and greater overall maturity. Smart city app usage follows a similar pattern, with satisfaction rising alongside frequency of use. Younger populations tend to lead in both adoption and positivity, a demographic advantage shared by several Middle Eastern cities.
The report stresses that technology alone is insufficient. The most mature cities balance hard enablers, data, infrastructure and AI deployment, with soft enablers such as talent, funding and innovation ecosystems. Thirty-seven cities achieve this balance. Leaders also maintain strong entrepreneurship environments that translate into economic opportunities for residents.
Multiple pathways exist for progress. Some cities succeed as balanced builders with consistent strength across domains. Others advance as focused specialists by excelling in strategy, governance or enablers. Recommended actions include clarifying long-term strategic priorities around high-impact AI and digital services, strengthening public-private partnerships, scaling proven applications and investing in talent and infrastructure.
“Cities can elevate their maturity by balancing their strengths across several areas or excelling in one area,” the report states. “There is no single path forward.”
For Doha and other Emerging cities, the index offers a clear roadmap: intentional focus on AI integration into core services, enhanced governance readiness and balanced enablers can accelerate progress toward higher maturity levels. As residents and businesses worldwide adopt AI at growing rates, city leaders who prioritise resident needs and collaborative ecosystems are best positioned to deliver lasting improvements in urban living.
The findings align with broader regional momentum, where Gulf cities continue to invest heavily in digital transformation and AI-powered public services.
