Smart 50 Award Winners Demonstrate True Growth in Smart City Implementations

Source: Smart Cities Connect | By: Chelsea Collier

Smart city enthusiasts like to use information to measure progress. Of course this is mostly focused on ICT-enabled activities that track everything from air quality to energy usage across a municipal system. Apart from analytical data analysis, there is another way to assess positive momentum, and that is through a respected, long-standing and competitive awards program that recognizes top projects from around the world.

The Smart 50 Awards first took place in 2018 with the intent of recognizing “municipal-scale projects exemplify innovation and concrete influence in their community or communities or implementation” across the categories of “networks and data, energy and buildings, infrastructure and resilience, mobility, and citizen life and governance.”

In the years that followed, Smart 50 Awards have highlighted hundreds of projects that demonstrate excellence and cross-sector collaboration between municipalities, industry and community partners. The multi-year trajectory clearly demonstrates the impressive progress from year to year as city leaders learn how to thoughtfully integrate connected technologies to respond to the key municipal priorities.” 

“Each project showcases unique elements in unique communities, and that’s what makes it all so fascinating; but what they have in common is a commitment to utilize data in meaningful ways that improve quality of life for residents,” said Laura Benold, Smart Cities Connect Media & Research Managing Editor. “We aren’t necessarily looking for anything fancy or expensive, though those projects do bubble up. We’re mostly interested in impact, and we can’t wait to see what everyone has been up to over the last 12 months.”

In 2023, the Smart 50 Awards will add an extra feature to the program. In addition to recognizing the Top 50 Awardees, three winners will honor outstanding community leaders and partners that exemplify the spirit of the awards – truly innovative solutions to improve cities and regions. 

On May 15, an in-person awards reception will celebrate awardees and winners in Denver, Colorado, as an important part of the week’s Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo event. Additional information and registration details are available at https://spring.smartcitiesconnect.org/register.html. 

Award submissions are currently live until the February 24 deadline. Government, industry and community partners are encouraged to submit their city-wide or regional projects for the opportunity to be featured amongst the esteemed list of winners. Past winners are encouraged to re-apply and feature new projects in their community or expansions of past projects. Congratulations to all Smart 50 Awardees and best wishes for all who apply in 2023!

2022 Award Recipients:

Chelsea McCullough