ABSTRACT
The interest in innovation issues relating to modern urban areas (smart cities) has got to do with processes of a global nature: it is in cities that more than half of the world’s population live. In addition, around 80% of global GDP is generated in these areas, and around 75% of world energy and material resources are consumed there (Hämäläinen, 2020, pp. 63–86).
Based on a review of literature, the author assumes that in the current phase of smart city growth, the importance of infrastructure development activities has been reduced compared to the years before, while it is increasingly important for inhabitants to read the complex space that is saturated with technologies. He therefore proposes a business model for SMEs developed in his own research to create friendly business spaces in the subjective cognitive map of a city created by its inhabitants. The proposed model is an opportunity to move away from focusing on seeking only more advanced technologies, in favour of their users reading it.
In the author’s own research, qualitative data analysis methods such as content analysis and analysis of meanings were used. The choice of the adopted methodology is based on the nature of the research material, which comprises brief descriptions of the activities of companies operating in the so-called leisure industry. The analysed research material comes from 2017–2019. The final proposal resulting from the author’s own research is a four-factor business model.
