Smart Cities Awards 2018 — winners announced

Nine winners of the Smart Cities Awards 2018 have been announced at Australia’s first Smart Cities Week, and the Sunshine Coast was recognised in several categories.

Telstra and Deloitte partnered with Smart Cities Council Australia New Zealand to present the awards, which rewarded leadership and celebrated best practice in the smart cities movement.

Sunshine Coast Council took home both the Leadership City Award and the Regional Leadership Award for its commitment to smart cities through data sharing, investment in IoT technology and free public Wi-Fi. It has harnessed a host of technologies — including smart bins, water meters, parking and sensors to monitor wildlife and waterways — and was celebrated for being the first local government to offset electricity consumption with its 15 MW solar farm. This is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 25,000 tonnes a year and deliver $22 million in savings to ratepayers over the next three decades.

The Leadership City Award was presented by Monique Esplin, Telstra’s General Manager for Growth and Strategic Markets, who stated: “Sunshine Coast Council has demonstrated a smart cities capability internally that has set itself up for long-term success.”

Sunshine Coast Council was also highly commended in the Digital City Services Award, coming second to City of Adelaide for its Economic Insights Dashboard — described by judges as a “powerful platform for citizen engagement”. The dashboard provides key city indicators by bringing together a range of data to facilitate decision-making and promote collaboration.

Economic Development Portfolio Councillor Stephen Robinson said it was an achievement for the Sunshine Coast to win three awards, stating: “This is an outstanding feat for our region and especially given that we were up against two capital cities in Brisbane and Adelaide for the top prize ‘Leadership City’ award”. He continued by stating “we can now proudly say that we’re a national leader for smart city technologies”.

Other award winners included: Newcastle City Council, for the Smart City Strategy Award; the University of Wollongong, in the Research and Innovation category; and Street Furniture Australia, taking home the Built Environment Award for a “partnership-driven and replicable approach to smart cities” that quantifies the impact of street activation.

Individual leadership awards were also handed out: Michael Whereat, Smart City Framework Lead, won in the Government Leader category; Catherine Caruana McManus, Director of Meshed, IoT Integrators for smart cities and founder of the IoT Alliance Australia, won in the Industry Leader category; and Katherine Tobias, KPMG’s Senior Consultant, Internet of Things Practice, won in the Emerging Leader category.

“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 livability, workability and sustainability of our cities and towns,” said Smart Cities Awards jury chair David Singleton AM.

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.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/quaddplusq