The concept of a smart city is becoming the leading paradigm worldwide. Consequently,
a creative mix of emerging technologies and open innovation is gradually becoming the defining
element of smart city evolution, changing the ways in which city administrators are organizing their
services and development globally. Thus, the smart city concept is becoming extremely relevant
on the agendas of policy-makers as a development strategy for enhancing the quality of life of the
citizen and improving the sustainability goals of their cities. Despite of the relevance of the topic, still
few studies investigate how open innovation shapes the way cities become smarter or focus on the
experiences of professionals to understand the concept of a smart city and its implementation. This
paper fills this gap and analyzes the processes for building effective smart cities by integrating the
different perspectives of smart innovations and using the core components of smart cities according
to a conceptual framework developed in previous research. In so doing, it provides useful insights
for smart city stakeholders in adopting social and technological innovation to improve the global
competitiveness of their cities. The empirical dataset allows examining how “smart cities” are being
implemented in Manchester (UK), and in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Diego City (United States
of America (USA)), including archival data and in-depth interviews with core smart city stakeholders
who are involved in smart city projects and programs across the cases. Results from empirical data
suggest that the conceptualization of smart cities across the cases is similar with a strong emphasis on
social and technological innovation aimed at addressing municipal challenges in the core sub-systems
of the cities, which include mobility, environmental sustainability, entrepreneurial development,
quality of life, and social cohesion. The results also reveal benefits and challenges relating to smart
innovation ecosystems across the cases and the future directions of their diffusion
