Winners of inaugural Smart Cities Awards announced
A serial disruptor, a government visionary, an emerging leader and a world-leading council are among the winners of the inaugural Australian Smart Cities Awards.
The awards, held as part of Australia’s first Smart Cities Week, recognise and reward leadership, celebrate best practice and stimulate action to advance the smart cities movement.
Telstra and Deloitte partnered with Smart Cities Council Australia New Zealand to present the awards.
Sunshine Coast Council was presented with the coveted ‘Leadership City’ category for a nation-leading commitment to smart cities through data sharing, investment in IoT technology, free public Wi-Fi and a 15KW solar farm that offsets all of Council’s energy use.
The Sunshine Coast Council also took home the ‘Regional Leadership Award’, while Council’s Smart City Framework Lead, Michael Whereat, was acknowledged with the ‘Government Leader Award’.
Nine awards were presented during the celebration in Sydney at Telstra’s Customer Insights Centre. Serial disruptor and leading thinker Catherine Caruana McManus and KPMG’s emerging innovator Katherine Tobias were recognised with individual leadership awards.
The City of Adelaide was applauded for its Economic Insights Dashboard, which the judges said was a “powerful platform for citizen engagement”. Street Furniture Australia took home the ‘Built Environment Award’ for a “partnership driven and replicable approach to smart cities” that quantifies the impact of street activation.
Smart Cities Awards jury chair, David Singleton AM, says the “winners of the inaugural Smart Cities Awards set a high benchmark, and in years to come, this awards program will build a pipeline of world standard initiatives from Australia’s public sector, industry leaders and research stakeholders”.
“Our award winners demonstrate that a smart city embraces outcomes-based technology, data and design. But more powerfully, smart cities build a connected community that can solve common problems to enhance the liveability, workability and sustainability of our cities and towns”.
Monique Esplin, Telstra’s General Manager for Growth and Strategic Markets, presented the final award of the evening for ‘Leadership City’, saying: “Sunshine Coast Council has demonstrated a smart cities capability internally that has set itself up for long term success”.
As host for the awards reception proceedings, Allan Mills of Deloitte said: “the awards presented this evening will provide other cities with a benchmark, and evidence that Australia can play a leadership position in the global smart cities movement.”
Adam Beck, Global Chairman of Smart Cities Week for the Smart Cities Council, extended his appreciation to the inaugural Smart Cities Awards Chair, David Singleton AM, and the jury members for their service.
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