‘This augers well for the future of smart cities in Australia’

Recognising and rewarding leadership plays an important role in celebrating best practice and stimulating discussion and action.   

As Chair of the inaugural Australian Smart Cities Awards - the nation’s first and only national dedicated smart cities award program -  it’s been an honour and a terrific opportunity to gain insight into some of Australia’s best work in the smart cities arena. 

Winners are to be announced on 30 October and the calibre of entrants and the interest in this awards program is exciting.  

The smart cities community is vibrant, as is evidenced by the entrants, and this augers well for the future of smart cities in Australia. 

Across the nine award categories, the awards jury have seen the best from government, industry and academia in a way that truly reflects the diversity of the smart cities movement. 

We now know what activities are occurring, how they’ve taken place, what they are aiming to achieve and what ‘good’ looks like.  

The other members of the jury comprised industry leaders representing government, the private sector and leading industry bodies - Brook Dixon (Delos Delta), Amanda Newbery (Articulous), Janine Griffiths, (Accenture), Meredith Hodgman (Austrade), Eamon Waterford (Committee for Sydney) and Johanna Pitman (CityConnect, BlueChilli).  

The Australian Smart Cities Awards may be the new kid on the awards block, but they are already proving to be a formidable force in the smart cities space, playing a pivotal role in assisting with communication to industry and even more broadly to the community.