It may be home to less than 8 per cent of Australia’s population, but South Australia is leading the country when it comes to creating smart cities.
Two of the state’s council areas have been named on a list of the world’s 21 smartest cities: Adelaide, which made the list for the third consecutive year, and Prospect. Queensland’s Sunshine Coast was the only other Australian entry.
Administered by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), a global think tank headquartered in New York, the Smart21 represent global communities deemed most ready for the 21st century. The list recognises communities with strong government, business and community collaboration that help cities prosper.
“Smart cities are people-focused, and Adelaide is a city focused on creating an ecosystem of open and citizen-driven innovation to generate new standards in the way people live, learn, work and do business,” Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said.
“The idea of smart cities goes beyond the application of technology – it is about increasing liveability and improving sustainability through better planning and connectivity. These technologies are helping to improve community and business outcomes, as well as enhance the visitor experience to our city.”
The Smart21 communities are selected each year following an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data related to the six criteria of the ICF Method. This method provides a basis for understanding the factors that determine a community’s competitiveness in the digital economy, within economic, social and cultural terms.
The next step in the annual eight-month process is the selection of the Top 7 Intelligent Communities of 2020 on 10 February in Taoyuan, Taiwan. The city took out the global prize in 2019.
The Intelligent Community of the Year for 2020 will then be named in June at the 2020 ICF Global Summit in Dublin, Ohio, in the US.
“Our fingers are crossed that we will go beyond this ‘semi-final’ stage to make the Top 7 in the next few months and that we can ultimately be crowned as world leader,” Verschoor said.
“Making the Smart21, and hopefully progressing much further, helps put Adelaide in the spotlight as we seek to have more people live, work, visit and invest here.”
Across the Tasman, Wellington and Whanganui were also named Smart21 cities, rounding out five communities from Australia and New Zealand in the top 21.
The Smart21 of 2020:
- Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- Binh Duong Smart City, Vietnam
- Chiayi City, Taiwan
- Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
- Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
- Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- Hudson, Ohio, US
- Issy les Moulineaux, France
- Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
- Markham, Ontario, Canada
- Matsu, Taiwan
- Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
- Prospect, South Australia, Australia
- Rochester, New York, US
- Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
- Tallinn, Estonia
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Westerville, Ohio, US
- Whanganui, New Zealand
- Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada