Dive Brief:
- IDC Government Insights has announced the winners of its first Smart Cities North America Awards (SCNAA), designed to recognize progress cities have made in various areas, including civic engagement, smart water and sustainable infrastructure.
- The winners are as follows:
| Category | City |
|---|---|
| Administration | Arlington, TX |
| Civic Engagement | Kansas City, MO |
| AV/Public Transit/Ride-sharing | Ann Arbor, MI |
| Digital Equity and Accessibility | Transit Wireless - NYC |
| Education (Tie) | -Abilene Christian University Campus, Abliene, TX -State of Arkansas |
| Emergency Management | El Paso, TX |
| Police and Law Enforcement | Baton Rouge, LA |
| Public Health and Social Services | Boston, MA |
| Smart Buildings | Miami-Dade County, FL |
| Smart Water | Virginia Beach, VA |
| Sustainable Infrastructure (Tie) | -Spokane, WA -San Diego, CA |
| Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture | Little Rock, AR |
| Transportation Infrastructure | Detroit, MI |
| Urban Planning and Land Use | Austin, TX |
- IDC Government Insights will recognize these winners at the Smart Cities New York event in May, and it will offer a forum for the cities to share best practices and lessons learned for the benefit of others hoping to mimic these projects.
Dive Insight:
By developing an awards system that covers 14 categories, IDC Governments is encompassing all aspects of the "smart city" realm — including both "smart" innovation, as well as improved development in core city government sectors such as education and administration. The categories attracted approximately 70 submissions from across North America, and 26 were chosen as finalists back in March.
Of the winners, many have been leaders in their respectively-awarded categories for quite some time. Ann Arbor, MI, home of the University of Michigan, has touted its MCity AV proving ground since 2015, and announced plans for AV shuttle tests in July 2017. Meanwhile, Transit Wireless made waves in 2017 when it introduced underground wireless and cellular connectivity across New York's MTA system. And, Kansas City, MO has long-worked to become the world's "most connected smart city" through data collection investments along its streetcar corridor.
The overarching value of this awards system will come from the forum that IDC Government Insights plans to establish. By promoting the successes of these cities and offering tangible tips on how to implement such solutions, neighboring communities will likely begin to construct plans for how to improve their smart city efforts in similar ways.
