Nicos Komninos is a professor emeritus at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, founder of the Urban and Regional Innovation Research (URENIO) and currently CEO of Intelspace Technologies, a company developing platforms and solutions for smart cities.

1. Introduction Part I: Platforms, Smart Ecosystems and Connected Intelligence 2. Connected Intelligence and Great Challenges of the 21st Century 3. Smart Cities Are Cyber-Physical Systems of Innovation 4. Effectiveness of Smart City Solutions 5. Smart Ecosystems and Layers of Connected Intelligence Part II: Smart Growth: Externality Platforms and Disruptive Innovation 6. Smart Growth: Connecting Innovation and Digital Worlds 7. Externality Platforms, Disruptive Innovation and Smart Growth Part III: Safety and Security: Engagement Platforms and Social Innovation 8. Social Innovation in Smart Cities and Ecosystems 9. Cyber-Physical Spaces for Engagement, Social Innovation and Safe Cities Part IV: Sustainability: Awareness Platforms and Eco-Innovation 10. Environmental Sustainability Under the 'Smart Everything' Paradigm 11. Conclusion

Internet and World Wide Web platforms, big data analytics, software, social media and civic technologies allow for the creation of smart ecosystems in which connected intelligence emerges and disruptive social and eco-innovation flourishes.
This book focuses on three grand challenges that matter for any territory, no matter where it is located: (i) smart growth, a path that more and more cities, regions and countries are adopting having realised the unlimited potential of growth that is based on knowledge, innovation and digital technologies; (ii) safety and security, which is a pre-requisite for quality of life in a world of intense social, natural and technological threats; and (iii) sustainability, use of renewable energy, protection of living ecosystems, addressing climate change and global warming in a period of rapid urbanisation that makes established sustainability models and planning patterns quickly obsolete.
The core argument of the book is that problem-solving and novel solutions to these grand challenges emerge in smart ecosystems through connected intelligence. It is the broadest form of intelligence that combines capabilities from heterogeneous actors (humans, organisations, machines) and propel problem-solving through externalities and resource agglomeration, user engagement and collaboration, awareness and behaviour change. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of urban and regional studies, innovation studies, economic geography and urban planning, as well as urban policy makers.