IDC names the best North American smart cities

The IDC announced the winners of its Smart Cities North America Awards (SCNAA). The awards recognize North American communities for progress in smart cities projects and represent best practices for further smart city development in the region. 

SCNAA winners demonstrated examples of urban innovation with a focus on these technologies:

• Cloud
• Platforms
• Analytics
• IoT
• Mobile solutions
• Data 

The criterion also included unique partnerships, funding models and/or community involvement.
 
SEE: 5G: What it means for IoT (ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature) | Download the free PDF version (TechRepublic)
 
The winners were selected based on 2,500 votes for 11 smart city categories.
 
This year’s winners by category are:

• Administration

• Civic Engagement

• Economic Development, Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture, Open Spaces

• Police and Law Enforcement and Emergency Management

• Public Health and Social Services -TIE

• Sonoma County, CA—Accessing Coordinated Care and Empowering Self-Sufficiency

• State of Oklahoma—OK Benefits

• Smart Buildings

• Smart Water -TIE

• Towns of Cary, Morrisville, Holly Springs; Cities of Raleigh, Wilson, Wake County, NC, and NC Emergency Management—North Carolina Regional Water Level Monitoring Data Sharing Pilot

• Markham, Ontario, Canada—Smart City Accelerator Program

• Sustainable Infrastructure

• Transportation – Connected & Autonomous Vehicles, Public Transit, Ride-Hailing/Ride-Sharing

• Transportation – Transportation Infrastructure

• Urban Planning and Land Use

“It is clear from the overwhelming number of impressive responses we received to our third annual SCNAA awards, government officials across the country are committed to implementing innovative Smart City initiatives, designed to bring about meaningful changes to the way we live, work, play and interact,” said Ruthbea Yesner, vice president, IDC government insights and smart cities strategies, in a press release. “Winners on this list represent the best and brightest change agents within government and their successful projects offer a roadmap to others looking to implement effective change and radically transform urban environments for the better.”

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