Joburg to award four smart city challenge winners, applauds quality of solutions

THE City of Johannesburg (CoJ) would be announcing four winners for its yearly Smart City Innovation Challenge, instead of three, owing to the quality of solutions received, said CoJ Smart City Office leader Lawrence Boya.

Each of the four winners would receive R500 000 and an opportunity to pilot their solutions with the city’s departments or entities.

The challenge is a search for the best smart digital technology solutions to help citizens stay connected and allow businesses, citizens and public administrations to find ways to respond faster and in a more integrated way to both crisis situations and daily life.

The initiative is aimed at maximising the use of technology to empower residents and to find solutions to Joburg’s most pressing issues, Boya said.

The solutions need to accelerate service delivery, improve the liveability and safety of the city and enhance operational efficiencies, Boya added.

This year’s innovation challenge sought to find solutions with the special focus to respond to gender-based violence, economic development and township economies, Fourth Industrial Revolution readiness, institutional operations and management, predictive analytics to