IBM Support for 24 Smarter Cities of the World
Technology company IBM has selected 24 cities worldwide to receive IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grants. The grants provide the cities with access to IBM’s experts to analyze and recommend ways they can become even better place in which to live, work and play.
The IBM Smarter Cities Challenge is a competitive grant program in which IBM is awarding a total of $50 million worth of technology and services to 100 municipalities worldwide over the next three years.
Teams of specially selected IBM experts will provide city leaders with analysis and recommendations to support successful growth, better delivery of municipal services, more citizen engagement, and improved efficiency.
[ Also Read: Peepli Dead: True Story of Cyber Zombies in India ]IBM selected cities that made the strongest case for participating in the Smarter Cities Challenge. During these engagements, IBM technical experts, researchers and consultants immerse themselves in local issues and offer a range of options and recommended next-steps.
Among the issues they examine are healthcare, education, safety, social services, transportation, communications, sustainability, budget management, energy, and utilities.
Here are the 24 cities that earned IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grants in 2011:
- Antofagasta, Chile
- Boulder, CO
- Bucharest, Romania
- Chengdu, China
- Chiang Mai, Thailand
- Delhi, India
- Edmonton, Canada
- Eindhoven, Netherlands
- Glasgow, UK
- Guadalajara, Mexico
- Helsinki, Finland
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Milwaukee, WI
- New Orleans, LA
- Newark, NJ
- Nice, France
- Philadelphia, PA
- Providence, RI
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Sapporo, Japan
- St. Louis, MO
- Syracuse, NY
- Townsville, Australia
- Tshwane-Pretoria, South Africa
IBM released the list of these cities today, March 9.
[ Also Read: IBM Game to Help You Solve City Problems ]“We selected these cities because of their commitment to the use of data to make better decisions, and for their desire to explore and act on smarter solutions to their most pressing concerns,” said Stanley S. Litow, IBM vice president of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, and president of IBM’s Foundation.
“The cities we picked are eager to implement programs that tangibly improve the quality of life in their areas, and to create roadmaps for other cities to follow. The stakes have never been greater but we’re excited at the prospect of helping cities tackle the most pressing challenges of our time.”
[ Also Read: Transport Simulator Cities in Motion Released ]During Smarter Cities Challenge engagements, IBM will help recipients become comfortable with a free Web site called City Forward (http://www.cityforward.org).
The site gives policy makers, citizen-advocates and the public a new perspective on how their respective cities are performing compared with others.
Photo courtesy: IBM
