New Delhi: The India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) 2022 saw 66 final winners with Indore bagging the first prize in the ‘Sanitation’, ‘Water’, and ‘Urban Environment’ categories, Ahmedabad coming first in the ‘Culture’ as well as the ‘ICCC Business Model’ categories, Jabalpur in the ‘Economy’ category, Chandigarh in the ‘Governance’ and ‘Mobility’ categories, Vadodara in the category of ‘Social Aspects’, and Coimbatore securing the first position in the ‘Built Environment’ category, among others.
The President of India will felicitate the winners of ISAC 2022 awards on September 27, 2023, in Indore.
The India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) 2022 award had a two-stage submission process consisting of the ‘Qualifying Stage’, which involved an overall assessment of the city’s performance, and the ‘Proposal Stage’ which required the smart cities to submit their nominations for six award categories as follows:
- Project Awards: 10 different themes
- Innovation Awards: 2 different themes
- National/Zonal City Awards
- State Awards
- UT Award, and
- Partners Awards, 3 different themes
In all 845 nominations were received for ISAC 2022 from 80 qualifying smart cities. These entries were evaluated in 5 stages. In the first stage, a pre-screening of the 845 proposals was carried out. 50% (423 proposals) moved to the next stage. In the second stage, the top 12 proposals were identified by a jury of the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) for each award category. In the third stage, each proposal proponent made a presentation to a panel of subject experts, leading to the selection of the Top 6 proposals. Finally, in the fourth stage, the top 6 proposals made an elaborate presentation to a jury headed by MoHUA directors and comprising subject matter experts.
Post this fourth stage, the top 3 proposals were identified for each award category by the Apex Committee of Smart Cities Mission.
Of the total 845 applications received under the five awards categories, 66 final winners were identified – 35 in the Project Award, 6 in the Innovation Award, 13 in the National/Zonal City Award, 5 in State/UT Award and 7 in Partner Award categories.
ISAC is organized under the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. This is one of the important activities initiated under the Mission, where pioneering city strategies, projects and ideas are recognised to award exemplary performance, enable peer-to-peer learning and disseminate best practices. The ISAC recognises and rewards the cities, projects and innovative ideas that are promoting sustainable development across the 100 smart cities, as well as stimulating inclusive, equitable, safe, healthy and collaborative cities, thus enhancing the quality of life for all.
In the past, the ISAC witnessed three editions in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The fourth edition of the ISAC was launched in April 2022 during the ‘Smart Cities-Smart Urbanization’ event in Surat.
– global bihari bureau
