With Cities Helping Cities, We Change the World!
The Smart Cities Council is has convened its Readiness Challenge for over five (5) years NOW!
The 2022 Readiness Challenge’s theme is ‘scaling innovation.’
You win by applying - As an applicant you gain access to Smart Cities Activator, the world’s most complete listing of upcoming smart city projects that make cities livable, workable and sustainable.
You win as a Finalist - If safe and you can travel, the Council will provide scholarships for attendance at upcoming Smart Cities Week(s.)
You win when selected as a Readiness Cohort Leader - along with project acceleration, your city’s staff can earn the world’s only Smart Cities Practitioner certificate - October 4, in all, a value of over $250,000.
The Global Readiness Challenge is a rolling-process with new applications accepted each calendar quarter. The criteria for becoming a Readiness Cohort Leader are:
- Leadership - does the city share with other cities its learnings and experience from its ow smart city projects?
- Transparency - is the city willing to discuss difficult subjects and lead difficult conversations about issues that affect all of us?
- Commitment - is the city committed to being a leader and helping other cities, regardless of its size, budgets, and location?
- Willingness is the city committed to leading a Readiness Cohort in 2021 providing personnel, insights and information about a shared problem
Here is a webinar that explains the process (ignore dates in this webinar.)
If your city wins, it will be one of several Readiness City Cohort Leaders. There is no cost to your city other than time. Your city will lead (with assistance from the Council and global experts) a global effort to solve a common problem.
Follow the example of the city of Nashville, TN - a Readiness Challenge Winner for the first quarter of 2021 -
- The Council has been working with the Metro Nashville and Davidson County to lead a Readiness Cohort about addressing disparate impacts of urban flooding on residents. Urban flooding is the most common natural disaster in the United States, causing the most damage and killing the most people.
- Nashville is committed to developing programs and policies based on data that promote flooding resilience in vulnerable neighborhoods.
- Working with the Council, Nashville will lead an effort to increase the use data and analytics to inform local policy and program development.
- Cities with a similar problem will join Nashville in activating beneficial action for urban flooding resilience and equity.
These articles will help you understand what the Council is looking for -
Nashville urban flooding mitigation
Orange County, Florida smart and healthy building project
So – this process is simple –
- Identify your most urgent needs
- Indicate your willingness to participate in a Readiness Cohort and possibly lead it
- Join with other cities to solve our most pressing problem
Using Smart Cities Activator the world's only online collaborative planning platform - you can work virtually and safely in over 150 languages!
What previous winners have said -
"Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said he was proud that Brisbane had been recognized as a global leader in smart cities. “Brisbane is a smart, connected city, and as our city grows we want to continue harnessing the data available to us, so we can make the Brisbane of tomorrow even better,” Schrinner said. “From launching our Open Data website in 2015 to deploying 20 smart poles in 2020 and using smart sensors for monitoring air quality, public habits and soil moisture, Council has been delivering ‘on the ground’ informative projects for many years. Initiatives like these continue to influence and transform the way we plan, build and innovate for the city. Brisbane is quickly developing a blueprint for other cities looking to transform and we look forward to sharing our knowledge through this program.”
"The 2019 Readiness Challenge provided the City of Montgomery an opportunity for greater collaboration among our city stakeholders and partners. The Workshop provided a vehicle to share innovative ideas in 3 main focus areas including Digital City Services, Economic Development and Education and Workplace Development and we will continue to work toward moving our projects forward."
~ Savio Dias, IT Manager/Systems, City of Montgomery
This grant is an invaluable opportunity for Puerto Rico to develop a roadmap for implementing smart technologies and solutions as we rebuild.”
~ Governor Ricardo Rosselló, Governor of Puerto Rico
“At Amazon Web Services, everything starts with the customer and we work backwards from there. The Smart Cities Readiness Challenge provides the opportunity to hear from city officials directly. Learning about their challenges at the earliest stages in planning allows us to work together to deliver citizen services that improve communities and help build a long-term roadmap for success.”
~ Hardik Bhatt, Leader for AWS Digital Government for the US State & Local Governments, Amazon Web Services
“Supporting and being part of the Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge process has been extremely valuable to Battelle. Beginning with evaluation of City proposals, through to working with the winners and runners up, we have gained tremendous insight into where cities are in their planning and visioning processes, and in their specific targeted areas for deployment. This information is crucial to our Smart Cities strategy and program and has allowed us to ensure our offerings to the market and cities are in line with where those city leaders and industry partners are focused. We have also been able to showcase our thought leadership, by working with cities directly on their technology roadmaps.”
~ Domnine Garcia, Smart Cities Program Lead, Battelle
2017 Readiness Challenge Winners
Feedback -
“Winning the Smart Cities Council Challenge Grant puts us that much closer to creating a comprehensive and inclusive strategy to use technology in a way that benefits communities that are usually left behind.”
~ Steve Adler, Mayor of Austin
“A year ago, the city of Indianapolis was in a learning phase. ... Now, the city is in a planning phase, synthesizing available technologies with community needs to determine the most impactful steps forward.”
~ Katie Robinson, Director, Indianapolis Office of Sustainability
“Some of the folks I met with didn’t even realize the potential for what ‘Smart cities’ means for their work. ... There is now a unifying vision.”
~ Ellen Hwang, Program Manager, Innovation Management, City of Philadelphia
