NZ a Leading Nation in IDC Awards

NZ a Leading Nation in IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) 2017
IDC NEW ZEALAND PRESS RELEASE

New Zealand a Leading Nation in IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) 2017

AUCKLAND, June 1st, 2017 - Today IDC Asia/Pacific released the finalists in the IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) 2017. Out of 14 categories in total, New Zealand projects have been named as finalists in six categories: Transportation, Public Works, Smart Grid, Smart Water, Connected Health and, Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture, Open Spaces. Shortlisted from over 150 submissions these projects are leading the way in their respective categories and with six local finalists the calibre of Smart Cities initiatives in NZ is evident.

Jefferson King, Associate Market Analyst at IDC New Zealand noted "These successful cases show that smart city solutions are no longer just in the concept phase in New Zealand. Real innovation is taking place, with clear benefits for the economy.”

The finalists and categories are as follows:

• Auckland Transport (AT) in the Transportation category. AT analyses a livestream of information flowing from its 3,000 buses, including ticket sales, routes, schedules, and more for the up to 2 million residents and tourists that use the system every year. This allows AT to plan bus routes, and experiment with new ideas like dynamic pricing as well as provide an app with live bus times for riders.

• NEC in the Public Works category. In collaboration with the Wellington City Council, NEC developed the KITE flexible sensing platform for Wellington. The platform gathers information on air quality, water quality, pedestrian mobility, waste management, parking, street lighting, solvent detection, and graffiti detection. This information provides actionable insights that facilitate improved economic and environmental benefits for the city.

• Unison Networks in the Smart Grid category. Unison Networks has a long term Smart Grid strategy which includes using a range of sensors to improve decision making and efficiency throughout the Unison Network.

• Qrious in the Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture, Open Spaces category. Qrious developed the Voyager portal which uses big data and analytics solutions to analyse anonymous mobile location data. The portal provides tourism and events operators with insights into tourist activity.

• Waikato District Health Board in the Connected Health Category. The DHB's SmartHealth solution utilises a smartphone app that patients can use to have consultations and schedule appointments with their GP.

• Waitaki District Council in the Smart Water category. The council have upgraded the existing Oamaru Water Treatment Plant with better water filtration technology and analytics based solutions to track water treatment efforts in real-time.

The NZ finalists comprise six out of a total 46 smart city projects across Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) and were shortlisted from over 150 submissions from vendors, local governments and analysts. NZ's total is bested only by China (nine finalists) showcasing the quality of the local projects and the ability to compete on a regional stage.

"Information is now a key driver of innovation and the finalists showcase New Zealand's growing strength in this area," says King. "If you look at the breadth of industries that these projects are influencing, it illustrates how data and analytics are being used to drive the New Zealand economy."

King adds "There are clear external benefits to these applications; ranging from more efficient use of public resources to attracting foreign direct investment and skilled employees to New Zealand."

The public voting period commenced on 31 May and ends 30 June 2017. The public are encouraged to participate by clickingHERE or by voting through the Smart City Website. Voters will stand a chance to win a one of 10 Gear VR virtual reality headsets.

All finalists will compete with other outstanding projects through public voting, IDC internal evaluation and judging from an International Advisory Council. 50% of the criteria for judging will come from public votes while the other half will be based on internal assessment from the IDC Research Team and the Advisory Council. IDC will declare one winner under each smart city strategic domain.

The Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) were created to identify, benchmark and publicly vote on the best projects each year across 14 functional smart city strategic domains. It is an intensive six-month process that tracks and evaluates hundreds of smart city initiatives in Asia Pacific. The 14 award categories are Transportation; Public Works; Smart Buildings; Smart Grid; Smart Water; Administration; Economic Development; Land Use and Environmental Management; Permitting, Licensing, Inspection and Zoning; Public Safety; Education; Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture, Open Spaces; Connected Health; and Social Services.

For more information on the Smart City Asia Pacific Awards, please contact Jefferson King at jking@idc.com, 09 374 6684

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