Makati City among 2023 World Smart Cities Awards finalists
Makati City has been selected as one of the finalists for the World Smart Cities Awards 2023 under the City Awards category, making it the only city in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific to be shortlisted for this prestigious recognition.
According to Mayor Abby Binay, this marks the first time for the city to become a finalist in the category. In 2019, it became one of the contenders in the Innovation category through its project on the "use of technology to improve city disaster preparedness and communication to and from city citizens."
"We are honored to be chosen among the top six finalists in the highly coveted City Award category of the 2023 World Smart Cities Awards. Being the only city from the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific Region to make the cut makes this achievement even more noteworthy," she said in a statement.
Makati received a nod for its entry titled Makati City’s IoT Revolution: Empowering the City to Become Better Stewards of Energy & Environment, which puts the spotlight on its innovative use of smart initiatives—specifically the Internet of Things (IoT)—to tackle challenges in the real world.
The term IoT, or Internet of Things, refers to the "collective network of connected devices and the technology that facilitates communication between devices and the cloud, as well as between the devices themselves."
The Smart City Expo World Congress, which presents the awards show every year, noted that Makati City is demonstrating the use of IoT devices and solutions not only as a tool in creating data-driven policies but also in "creating behavioral transformation among its citizens." This according to them, empowers its citizens to be responsible stewards of the city’s resources that could yield sustainable results.
According to its website, the City Award is given to cities "for developed global strategies combining projects, initiatives, and policy implementations for their citizens."
Among the other finalists in the category are Sunderland in the United Kingdom; Cascais in Portugal; İzmir in Turkey; Curitiba in Brazil; and Barranquilla in Colombia.
Winners will be announced on Nov. 8 in Spain.