The Smart Cities Council (SCC) hosted Smart Cities Week Australia 2020 event scheduled for 26-28 August in Melbourne will reorganise as a series of intense online collaborations, followed by a one-day networking opportunity. The announcement was made today in response to the unfolding situation with the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic. SCC’s innovative Smart Cities Activator platform will support a new ‘blended’ convening approach offering knowledge exchange, skills development, leadership building and collaborative project planning opportunities. Adam Beck, Executive Director of SCC Australia New Zealand says “Today’s announcement of a ‘new-look’ Smart Cities Week Australia actually starts with a valuable opportunity for cities to engage in our first online project planning process – preparing a COVID-19 Mitigation Roadmap.” Philip Bane, Global Managing Director of the Smart Cities Council added “Cities are looking for us to respect their situation and respond with empathetic, action-oriented programs.” “SCCANZ’s package of curated events and activities that provide for remote action, followed by some strategic in-person networking is a fresh approach and keeps our cities moving forward in a positive manner.” Originally scheduled as an in-person event for 26-28 August in Melbourne, Smart Cities Week Australia has now been curated as a series of activities that start with online collaborative project planning activities. These activities will start as early as April and run through to November 12th with a final one-day ‘Networking Day’ and celebration of the winners of the National Smart Cities Awards. Beck further added that "we are excited to also announce that the National Smart Cities Awards are still on track for launching next week." "These are the nation's leading smart cities awards and we cannot wait to see the leadership projects and policy's that will be submitted," Beck says. “As an organisation with an international footprint and robust digital infrastructure, we are in the unique position to have our staff and partners all over the world contribute to our new online components of Smart Cities Week Australia.” Beck stated. ‘We are looking forward to facilitating this high value ‘cities helping cities’ approach.” The new Smart Cities Week Australia program will be posted at smartcitiesweek.com in the coming weeks.
