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New Zealand big winner in 2016 Top Smart City Projects
Mon, 22nd Aug 2016
FYI, this story is more than a year old

New Zealand is proving itself on the world stage, winning three awards at the 2016 Smart City Asia Pacific Awards, which recognises the most outstanding smart city projects in the Asia Pacific excluding Japan region.

New Zealand came out on top in three categories: Land Use and Environmental Management, Smart Grid and Public Works.

The awards are in its second year, with winners coming from all over the Asia Pacific.

“The Smart City momentum is growing extensively in the Asia Pacific region as many nations see it as an organic, bottom-up and middle-out innovation growth that will spearhead the next cycle of eGovernment evolutions,” says Gerald Wang, head of Government and Education, Asia Pacific.

“While at least 90% of all AP local governments or smart cities' growth leverage funds that are provided by central or federal functions, many of them are notably given the autonomy to create their own unique identity in city governance, strategic operations and provisioning of effective eServices,” he says.

“As such, there is notably a growing prevalence of citizen-directed initiatives and driving local industries, which ultimately contributes back to stimulating domestic social and economic sustainability,” explains Wang.

“This year's submissions and winners highlight the impacts of climate change and slowing global trade. This led to the stronger push for environmental sustainability and operational efficiency so as to bring about better living standards and future continuity of the various AP cities,” he says.

According to Wang, IDC Government Insights went through a rigorous six-phased benchmarking exercise to determine the Top Smart City projects for 2016. These included identifying and cataloging the key Smart City projects in Asia/Pacific by IDC analysts across APeJ (25%), online voting to determine public opinion (50%), and the assessment of an International Advisory Council (25%).

The IDC Government Insights Smart City Development Index for 2015 - 2016 will be published later this year.