Adelaide has been recognised by global think tank The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) as one of the world's top smart cities for the third year running.
Winning a place among ICF's 'Smart21' is a tremendous achievement for a city that continues to punch above its weight and first step to greater recognition as an Intelligent Community.
The recognition is about much more than being a smart city. The 21 cities all demonstrate evidence of strong government, business and community collaboration that helps these cities prosper.
The next step in the Intelligent Community awards cycle is the selection of a 'Top 7' and the world leader is announced in June next year.
Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said it was a huge honour to be recognised alongside global leaders in the smart city space.
"Smart cities are people-focused and Adelaide is a city focused on creating an ecosystem of open and citizen-driven innovation to generate new standards in the way people live, learn, work and do business," said the Lord Mayor.
"Making a city smarter is all about making cities and regions work better to increase the economic and social wellbeing of their communities.
"The idea of smart cities goes beyond the application of technology - it is about increasing liveability and improving sustainability through better planning and connectivity. These technologies are helping to improve community and business outcomes, as well as enhance the visitor experience to our city.
"We have positioned ourselves well in the smart city space on the back of our world-leading
Ten Gigabit Adelaide fibre optic network and we consistently embed smart technology into our city's infrastructure.
"Our fingers are crossed that we will go beyond this 'semi-final' stage to make the Top 7 in the next few months and that we can ultimately be crowned as world leader.
"Making the Smart21 and, hopefully progressing much further, helps put Adelaide in the spotlight as we seek to have more people live, work, visit and invest here."
Only two other cities in Australia have made the Smart21 and we congratulate our neighbours in the City of Prospect and Sunshine Coast Council in Queensland.
