Do you have an innovative idea that uses technology to improve the economy, environment or society? Then the Infrastructure Canada Smart Cities Challenge (ICSCC) wants to hear from you.
The cities of Vancouver and Surrey, which are the two largest in B.C., are joining forces to submit an application to ICSCC, a Canada-wide competition encouraging cities to share their best creative ideas to better the lives of residents through data and connected technology. The winner receives $50 million to put towards a smart city transformation.
Both urban centres are already quite forward thinking in terms of implementing things like a fully closed-loop waste management system, where Surrey residents’ waste is converted into biofuel to power public waste collection vehicles, and Vancouver’s push into the mobile device arena.
“Vancouver has one of the hottest start-up scenes in North America, and is known as a digitally connected city with initiatives like free public Wi-Fi, apps that help residents and businesses connect with City services, and electric vehicle charging stations,” said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson.
“Now, with the Smart Cities Challenge and in partnership with the City of Surrey, we can make our cities smarter and more connected by leveraging ideas that use data and connected technology to address complex urban challenges. We’re calling on everyone to step up and give us their best ideas on how technology can make our cities even better places to live.”
The pair of cities will evaluate input from citizens and businesses in order to put together a final proposal for ICSCC. Submissions should focus on any of the following areas: economic opportunity, empowerment and inclusion, environmental quality, healthy living and recreation, mobility, safety and security.
“It is incredibly exciting to imagine the smart city possibilities with Surrey and Vancouver working together,” said Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner. “With ideas generated from our citizens, the cities of Surrey and Vancouver have an opportunity to realize smart city infrastructure investment that could prove transformational for our region and meaningfully benefit citizens’ quality of life for decades to come.”
Interested parties can send in their ideas at www.smartertogether.ca.
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