UPDATED, May 15, 2019: The winners of the 2019 IDC Smart Cities North America Awards (SCNAA) were recognized at Smart Cities New York on Tuesday. The projects were selected following a two-part process: finalists were first reviewed by a panel of seven vendor-neutral judges, then the public was encouraged to cast votes for their favorite projects. An IDC representative said 19,829 unique votes were cast.
The following projects were honored at the event:
| Category | Project |
|---|---|
| Administration | -Get It Done Expansion, San Diego |
| Civic Engagement | -Smart Living in the Windy City, Chicago |
| Digital Equity and Accessibility | -NYCx Co-Labs, Brownsvile and Brooklyn, NY |
| Economic Development, Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture, Open Spaces | -Economic, Mobility and Safety through Data Driven Operations Management, Las Vegas |
| Education | -Chattanooga Smart Community Collaborative (CSCC), Chattanooga, TN |
| Public Safety | -Real Time Crime Center, New Orleans |
| Smart Buildings | -Houston Smart Buildings, Houston |
| Smart Water | -Beaver Creek CSO Abatement and Flood Mitigation Program, Albany, NY |
| Sustainable Infrastructure | -ShakeAlertLA Mobile Application, City and County of Los Angeles |
| Transportation | -Accelerating Response for Safer Communities, San Jose, CA |
| Transportation Infrastructure (tie) | -Open Government Coalition – Waze WARP, Louisville, KY -Delta Air Lines' Curb-to-Gate Biometric Terminal, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta |
| Urban Planning and Land Use (tie) | -StreetCaster, Boston -Emergency Operations Situational Analysis Smart Dashboard, Raleigh, NC |
Dive Brief:
- IDC Government Insights announced the finalists for its second Smart Cities North America Awards (SCNAA).
- The awards are designed to recognize successful smart cities projects and "provide a forum for sharing the best practices to help accelerate Smart City development in the region."
- Public voting for the winners is open through April 3, with winners to be announced on April 9. Those winners will be recognized at the Smart Cities New York event in May.
Dive Insight:
Now in its second year, the SCNAA helps to promote and support all aspects of the smart city realm, including categories including administration and land use that are rarely highlighted as "innovative." And while awards like SCNAA are not uncommon in the smart cities space, SCNAA offers a valuable feature that makes it stand out from the awards pack: public voting.
In order to win these awards, cities are challenged not only to promote their innovative offerings to the public, but also to educate them on how it works and why it's valuable to the city. This process fosters a sense of civic buy-in to the projects, which is crucial for many of them to be sustainable.
Additionally, with so many finalists across the awards categories, cities are offered a window into other smart initiatives that are happening around the U.S. and Canada. IDC Governments notes that this awards system acts as a "forum" to share best practices on implementing smart city solutions, which can support and inspire communities that may look to finalists as role models for success.
