Stockholm, Yingtan, La Paz win big at Smart City Expo World Congress

It’s the last day of the Smart City Expo World Congress, an annual event exploring, celebrating and driving smart city innovation.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” write the event organisers. This year’s event, held at the Gran Via Venue in Barcelona, is focusing on the themes of zero waste, inclusivity, and the progression of smart city initiatives from small proof-of-concept projects to smart implementation at scale. 

The event is comprised of a Congress, with more than 400 international experts coming together to share knowledge and insights, and a 45,000 square metre Expo, where more than 844 companies are showing off their smart city projects and designs to more than 21,000 attendees. 

The Smart City World Expo Congress also distributes a number of awards each year to cities and companies that lead the pack in terms of smart city initiative adoption and sustainable practice. 

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Among the winning companies were UK-based waste management company FCC Environment, which picked up the top award for Innovative Ideas in recognition of its work to create self-supporting, electric, modular lorry chassis for urban services. Predictive satellite maintenance company Hexagon also scooped up a victory for its urban environment solutions, and the Los Angeles Data Science Federation claimed the top spot in the Governance & Finance category. 

However, as cool as all that is, it’s a smart city event, and the awards we’re most interested in are those for Urban Mobility, Digital Transformation and the Smartest City. Here are the winners. 

Mobility Award: La Paz, Bolivia 

The national administrative capital (the highest one in the world) of Bolivia, La Paz has a unique set of problems, the altitude and mountainous terrain being among them. To get around the city, La Paz uses a system of urban cable cars - a world first. It has 10 operational lines covering 31.6km and has 37 stations. 

Digital Transformation: Yingtan, China 

Responsible for building the world’s first 5G all-domain digital twin city (no, not like Minneapolis) Yingtan is leading the field in terms of IoT adoption as part of digital foundations that support urban living. 

Smart City: Stockholm, Sweden 

No stranger to accolades for its smart city infrastructure and projects, Stokholm took home the top award at the event. Praised for its inclusivity and sustainable initiatives, the city beat out Bristol in the UK and Seoul in South Korea to claim the top spot and the highest award at the event.