The Government of Canada announced the four winners of the country’s first-ever Smart Cities Challenge, the pan-Canadian competition that encouraged communities to harness the potential of connected technology and data to improve the lives of Canadians.
The winners will receive prizes worth a total of $75 million, which will be used to implement their visions. The winners are:
- Town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia – $5 million prize for its proposal to reduce energy poverty.
- Nunavut Communities, Nunavut – $10 million prize for its proposal to use a life promotion approach to suicide prevention.
- City of Guelph and Wellington County, Ontario – $10 million prize for its proposal to create a Circular Food Economy.
- City of Montréal, Quebec – $50 million prize for its proposal to improve mobility and access to food.
More than 200 communities, large and small, from across Canada responded to the Smart Cities Challenge, which was launched in November 2017. Of the 130 applications received, 20 were selected as finalists on June 1, 2018, and received grants of $250,000 to develop their proposals into fully-implementable business proposals. These final proposals were submitted on March 5, 2019, and were evaluated and assessed by the independent Smart Cities Canada jury based on the criteria set out in the Smart Cities Challenge Finalist Guide.
An independent Jury of 13 members assessed and evaluated the final proposals based on detailed criteria. The jury was led by Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships Chief Executive Officer Mark Romoff.
The four winners will implement their smart cities approaches over the next five years. Updates on their implementation will be posted on Infrastructure Canada’s website, where their proposal summaries are currently posted so they can inspire communities across the country on their own smart cities journeys.
This was the first of three competitions of the Challenge.
