Energy self-sufficiency, the use of rainwater to flourish urban greenery, smart waste containers, the potential of the Internet of Things in public administration or communication with citizens through information technology and open data. All of these are potential solutions to the current problems of cities and municipalities, as well as topics covered by smart cities that directly and indirectly affect the quality of life of citizens. The growing population of cities, and conversely the decreasing population in smaller municipalities, is the logical cause of the need to seek an optimal standard of living and to increase the attractiveness of the affected locations through innovative solutions. These smart solutions, although the topic of Smart City is increasingly discussed, often have a rather thorny road to implementation. And that is exactly what the Smart Cities competition seeks to change.
The Smart Cities competition is organised annually by the Smart City Innovations Institute, a non-governmental, non-profit organisation, with significant support from the Ministry of Regional Development and under the auspices of prominent institutions such as the Association of Regions of the Czech Republic, the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Its primary objective is to support and promote innovative and pioneering projects in the environment of municipalities across the country and to connect individual private and public sector actors in order to apply these projects as effectively as possible. As already mentioned, the event is held annually and this year is no exception.
The opportunity to register solutions will be available until 31 July, when applications for this year’s edition will finally close. All registered solutions will then be evaluated by the competition’s expert jury, which always includes leading experts and specialists from the public sector, technology leaders and academia. Projects are always awarded to individual jury members based on their expertise in their respective fields. In their evaluation, the judges take into account the compatibility of specific solutions with the 4 main pillars of the Smart City. These are feasibility, sustainability, economy and awareness.
“We would like to invite all those who would like to see their project or smart solution win the competition and at the same time help to spread good practice and a greener and ‘smarter’ future, says Mgr. Tereza Karafiátová, Executive Director of Smart City Innovations Institut, z.ú.
The 7th edition of the competition was announced on 1 February. Counties, cities, municipalities, individuals, companies or other institutions can submit their projects and smart solutions to the competition using the form available on the competition website:
