Stockholm wins World Smart City Awards for European Project Stockholm was awarded the World Smart City Award in the city category for its leadership of the European Smart Cities and Communities project GrowSmarter. Digital Economy Transport and Mobility Climate Change and Environment Energy © Alis-Daniela Torres The City of Stockholm (Sweden) was named the world's smartest city during the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona on 20 November. The City's leadership in the European Smart Cities and Communities project GrowSmarter was the deciding factor for Stockholm to take home the award. Gustaf Landahl, Project Coordinator for GrowSmarter and Head of Department for Planning and Environment in the Environment and Health Administration at the City of Stockholm, said when accepting the award: "As a representative of the City of Stockholm and also the GrowSmarter project, this award acknowledges what we have done in Stockholm for many years." Then, he thanked the staff in Stockholm, the cities of Cologne and Barcelona for their partnership as Lighthouse Cities, and all the partners of GrowSmarter. GrowSmarter's project coordination team Gustaf Landahl, Lisa Enarsson and Sigrid Granström, all received the award during the ceremony on behalf of the City of Stockholm and the GrowSmarter project. "Stockholm is proof of what a connected, smart and sustainable city is. Winning the World Smart City Award is a testament to the huge journey we have been on both in the GrowSmarter project and in the City as a whole. That journey is never ending, but GrowSmarter has taken us an important step on the way," project managers in the City of Stockholm Sigrid Granström and Lisa Enarsson highlighted. The World Smart City Award recognises projects, ideas and strategies that promote sustainable urban development and this year more than 450 nominations were made from 54 different countries. The award is divided into seven categories and the city award is given to a city with global strategies combining project initiatives and policy implementations for their citizens. The other finalists in the city category were Bristol (UK), Curitiba (Brazil), Montevideo (Uruguay), Seoul (South Korea) and Tehran (Iran). Stockholm has been leading the GrowSmarter project since the beginning of 2015. The project is funded by the European Union through the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme and brings together cities and industry to integrate and demonstrate '12 smart city solutions' in energy, infrastructure and transport. GrowSmarter has renovated more than 130,000 m2 of building stock with energy efficiency and smart technologies, has deployed sustainable mobility solutions, and much more to improve sustainability in its Lighthouse and Fellow Cities. The solutions developed by Stockholm, Barcelona and Cologne together with the industry partners of the project, have been replicated in the fellow cities of Suceava, Graz, Porto, Valetta and Cork. Experiences from implementation and replication in GrowSmarter will be further disseminated to other European cities through the city network ICLEI and the EU Smart Cities and Communities Partnership. The project will present its results at a final conference in Stockholm on 3 December. The Smart City Expo World Congress is Europe's largest Smart City Conference with over 20,000 participants from all around the world. The conference is a forum to exchange ideas about smart cities and innovations of the future.
