Smart Cities Challenge

Communities lead the way

Results are in!

The winners of the Smart Cities Challenge are announced.

The Smart Cities Challenge is a competition open to all municipalities, local or regional governments, and Indigenous communities (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) across Canada.

This Challenge will empower communities across the country to address local issues their residents face through new partnerships, using a smart cities approach.

A smart cities approach means achieving meaningful outcomes for residents through the use of data and connected technology. This approach can be adopted by any community, big or small.

Finalists will receive support to develop their smart cities proposals. Winning communities will be awarded with prize money to help implement them.

Through the Smart Cities Challenge, we hope to:

The Challenge Statement

To begin, each community will define its Challenge Statement.

The Challenge Statement is a single sentence that defines the outcome or outcomes a community aims to achieve by implementing its smart cities proposal. The Challenge Statement must be measurable, ambitious, and achievable through the proposed use of data and connected technology. Below, for illustrative purposes only, are examples of Challenge Statements. Please refer to the Applicant Guide for further details on these Statements which include ideas on the kinds of smart cities activities or projects that could address them and indicators on how progress might be measured.

Smart Cities Challenge: a new kind of initiative

The Smart Cities Challenge is a new way the Government of Canada is helping communities become healthier, more inclusive and liveable.

By challenging communities to use data and connected technologies to address their most pressing problems, the Smart Cities Challenge is encouraging innovation through:

• Competition

  There is nothing like friendly Canadian rivalry to motivate communities to collaborate towards a common goal. The Challenge has meaningful prizes and a strong incentive to win.

• Transparency

  Competing communities will share their ideas publically after submitting their applications. This transparency will encourage residents, decision-makers, private and public sector institutions across Canada to be inspired by the ideas and accomplishments of others.

• Outcomes

  The Challenge is about solving issues that matter to residents. Winning proposals will be those that identify the most compelling, meaningful outcomes and set measurable and ambitious milestones to achieve them.

• Experimentation

  The Challenge encourages communities to try new approaches, evaluate progress as they go, and make course corrections as needed.

• Inclusiveness

  With prize categories for communities of all sizes, all Canadian communities have the opportunity to participate. The Challenge’s jury members, who will select finalists and winners, will come from diverse backgrounds, regions and perspectives. Challenge finalists and winners will be representative of Canada’s diverse communities.

• Empowerment

  The Challenge will benefit all communities who compete, whether they win or not. By engaging residents, developing proposals, and building partnerships, communities will learn throughout the competition process. Communities that make it to the finalist stage will be supported by a $250,000 grant to develop their final proposals.

• Knowledge-Sharing

  The knowledge and ideas created from this competition will be shared beyond participants and winners, so that communities across the country can benefit. Proposals and best practices will be posted online, and community leaders, residents, private and public sector stakeholders will have a chance to network, engage and share ideas through various platforms.