// CITY_ASSESSMENT

How smart is Penang?

Penang scores 36.1% against the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework in 2026 — ranked #205 of 385 cities assessed, with every finding traceable to a public source.

Smart score

36.1%

Rank

#205 / 385

Criteria present

24 / 86

Evidence coverage

43%

Penang's smart city score by area

Data, Digital & Smart Foundation72%

6 present · 1 partial · 2 absent · 6 not assessed

Mobility & Transport83%

4 present · 2 partial · 0 absent · 6 not assessed

Environment, Energy & Climate60%

1 present · 4 partial · 0 absent · 8 not assessed

Infrastructure, Water & Waste100%

2 present · 0 partial · 0 absent · 9 not assessed

Health, Education, Safety & Inclusion75%

5 present · 2 partial · 1 absent · 5 not assessed

Economy, Innovation & Employment50%

2 present · 2 partial · 2 absent · 2 not assessed

Governance, Resilience & Operating Model50%

4 present · 2 partial · 4 absent · 4 not assessed

Where Penang is strong

  • Open Data & Transparency
  • Public Transport & Real-Time Information
  • Housing & Urban Planning
  • Health & Digital Health
  • Inclusion & Civic Participation

Where the gaps are

  • Energy & Smart Grid
  • Urban Data Platform & Digital Twin
  • Education & Digital Skills
  • Critical Infrastructure Resilience
  • Connectivity & ICT Infrastructure

Evidence highlights

Open Data & Transparency · Official open data portal

Malaysia has an official open data portal, data.gov.my, which serves as a one-stop center for open data from the Government of Malaysia.

https://www.data.gov.my/

Open Data & Transparency · High-value datasets published

The Malaysian open data portal (data.gov.my) publishes high-value datasets including transport-related data like "Prasarana Rapid Explorer" and "rapid-bus-penang" (GTFS static data), as well as vehicle registration and drug addiction data.

https://api.data.gov.my/gtfs-static/prasarana?category=rapid-bus-penang

Open Data & Transparency · Programmatic API access

The Malaysian open data portal provides programmatic API access, as indicated by "API Docs" on its website and a specific API endpoint for "rapid-bus-penang" GTFS static data.

https://api.data.gov.my/gtfs-static/prasarana?category=rapid-bus-penang

Digital Government Services · Online payments for taxes & fees

Penang offers online payment facilities for local taxes and fees through portals like eBayar, which allows payment of land tax, parcel tax, and assessment tax for various local authorities, and MBPP's e-services for compound payments and assessment tax.

https://www.penang.gov.my/

About this assessment

Penang was assessed against the 86 criteria of the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework on 2026-07-11 by AI agents gathering evidence from official public sources. Each criterion is marked present, partial or absent, and every finding links to where it was found. Scores refresh continuously as cities publish new evidence.