Seoul Smart City Prize Winners Receive Awards from WeGO
Seoul, October 10th — World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) hosted the award ceremony for the second Seoul Smart City Prize at COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in Seoul. The ceremony recognized outstanding smart city initiatives that prioritize human-centric and technological innovation.
Among the top honorees were the cities of Abu-Dhabi and Cali, as well as the mayors of Addis Ababa, Arlington, Baguio City and Iligan. Out of over 216 submissions from 58 countries and 123 cities with regional distribution made globally throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America and Oceania 42 semi-finalists were invited to attend the Seoul Smart City Prize Ceremony. WeGO acknowledged 21 cities, corporations, institutions, and individuals across several categories for their exceptional contributions to smart urban development.
Baguio City, Philippines earned the Human-CentriCity Gold Award for its commitment to digital inclusion, particularly through its Leadership, Empowerment, and Advocacy for Inclusive and Accessible Health Governance System. The city’s healthcare system faces issues like fragmented records, inefficiencies, and care gaps, leading to higher costs and delays. BIAG project addresses this by providing accessible health records, telemedicine, and equitable healthcare access. It connects hospitals for seamless care with comprehensive medical records from birth to death. BIAG aims to transform healthcare in Baguio City and beyond, ensuring efficient, inclusive, and high-quality care for all.
Reykjavik, Iceland, secured the Tech-InnovaCity Gold Award, recognized for its Better City For Children – School Services project, which empowers local communities to play a vital role in schooling services development efforts. Reykjavik revamped its school services by creating a digital system, streamlining applications, and improving communication. Key changes included secure info-sharing between teachers and specialists, forming solution teams for early intervention, and replacing paper forms with a single digital application. These efforts boosted the efficiency of school services.
In the Leadership Prize category, Adanech Abiebie, Mayor of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was honored for his significant contributions to Addis Ababa’s development and residents’ well-being, positioning the city as an international leader in smart urbanism.
The Human-corporation award went to a new member of WeGO, LG Electronics, that won the Nokia Arena_Smart Stadium (Tampere) project.
Special recognition was also awarded in collaboration with key partners such as the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and SEMI. GGGI’s Special Mention went to Iligan, IMD awarded Istanbul while SEMI awarded Dassault Systèmes with Special Mentions for their outstanding contributions to sustainable urban growth.
“We were truly impressed by the remarkable breadth of smart city projects from around the world, all of which embody innovation and inclusivity. These qualities are precisely what the Seoul Smart City Prize seeks to highlight. Our evaluation process was rigorous, ensuring that the projects selected represent the best in human-centered smart city development,” said Jeong-kee Kim, Secretary-General of WeGO.
The WeGO Secretary-General further added, “This marks the beginning of a tradition that will celebrate smart city projects dedicated to solving urban challenges and fostering inclusivity. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to all participants in this year’s inaugural Seoul Smart City Prize.”
The Seoul Smart City Prize Ceremony was attended by the last year prize winners who came to Seoul to participate in the Off-line Training Program for the Prize Winners 2023 and joined the Seoul Smart Life Week to welcome 2024 winners and celebrate this moment together.
The selection process was conducted in partnership with Seoul National University’s Center for International Development Evaluation, with three evaluation rounds. Winners were selected by a distinguished panel of smart city experts. The 2024 prize finalists received their awards from Seoul Smart City Prize Steering Committee members and also from 2023 Seoul Smart City Prize winning cities, including Yves Daccord, President of Le Temps; Ajit Manocha, President & CEO of SEMI; Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of GGGI; Bruno Lanvin, President of the IMD Smart City Observatory, Mayor of Medina, Fahad Albuliheshi, and Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Maimunah Mohd Sharif and Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, Mathew Hale.
About WeGO
The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), is a membership-based international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities through facilitating public-private partnerships (PPP). WeGO was founded by 50 member cities in 2010 as the World e-Governments Organization, hence our acronym. In response to the evolving concept of smart cities, WeGO expanded its vision and mandate at the 7th General Assembly (2017) and its name to the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization. WeGO’s Secretariat is based in Seoul, Korea, and has regional offices in East Asia (Chengdu, China), the Mediterranean (Beyoglu, Turkey), Africa (Abuja, Nigeria), Middle East & North Africa (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), Latin America (Cuenca, Ecuador), and Central Asia (Almaty, Kazakhstan). As the leading platform on smart city development, WeGO’s mission is to share knowledge and good practices in e-Governance; strengthen administrative efficiency and transparency; advance digital capacity; facilitate civic involvement; bridge the digital divide and inequality; and promote cooperation solidarity among cities and local governments around the world.
WeGO serves for its members as their international platform to improve the quality of life, innovate in the delivery of public services, and strengthen regional competitiveness.
Press Contact:
Name: Kakim Danabayev
E-mail: kakim@we-gov.org
Phone: +82-70-4202-9169