Seoul - The inaugural Seoul Smart City Prize has announced its first winners. Out of 240 entries, the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) selected 21 winning projects in categories such as digital inclusion, innovative policies and green growth. The prize was established to promote human-centered smart city initiatives.

The South Korean capital of Seoul has announced the 21 winners of its first Smart City Prize. A total of 240 cities, corporations, institutions and individuals entered the prize, which was established by the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) in 2023 to promote human-centered smart city initiatives, according to an online article from the newspaper Business Korea. WeGO is an international association of 160 local governments, 18 institutions and 37 corporations.
Odense and Wellington were the top cities recognized following three rounds of judging by a panel of smart city experts. The Danish city of Odense’s winning project is the Leadership, Empowerment and Advocacy for the People (LEAP) digital platform, designed to increase welfare via online questionnaires and public meetings. Wellington in New Zealand was praised for the Wellington Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin project.

The two top cities were followed in the ranking by Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation in Bangladesh, and Uğur İbrahim Altay, Mayor of Konya in Turkey. They jointly won the Leadership Prize category – the former for his contributions to the advancement and wellbeing of residents, and the latter for implementing nearly 200 smart city applications to increase the quality of life and service efficiency, according to the article.

Special Mentions were awarded in conjunction with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and International Institute for Management Development (IMD) to Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, and Madinah in Saudi Arabia.

“We have been so impressed by the abundance of highly impressive projects in cities across the world, which have been implemented in an inclusive and innovative manner to citizens in their own environment,” commented WeGO Secretary-General Park Jung-sook during the prize-giving ceremony. “We look forward to the start of a tradition that honors human-centered smart city initiatives and encourages others to solve problems and urban polarization.” ce/em