COUNTRY| Canada
REGION| Americas
SECTOR | all sectors
QII Principles | Principle 1: Sustainable Growth & Development, Principle 2: Economic Efficiency, Principle 3: Environmental Considerations, Principle 4: Building Resilience, Principle 5: Social Considerations, Principle 6: Infrastructure Governance
QII Sub-Principles | 1: SDGs, 1: Paris Agreement, 1: Wider economic benefits, 2: Value for money analysis, 2: Operation and maintenance, 2: Technological innovation, 2: Risk management, 3: Environmental Impact Assessment, 3: Environmental Impact Mitigation, 3: Disclosure of environmental aspects, 3: Ecosystems, 3: Biodiversity, 3: Climate, 3: Weather, 3: Emissions, 4: Resilience, 5: Social Impact Assessment, 5: Job creation, 5: Capacity and institutional building, 5: Gender, 5: Universal access to services, 5: Social inclusiveness, 5: Low-income groups, 5: Children, 5: Displaced communities, 5: Indigenous groups, 5: Elderly, 5: Vulnerable environments, 5: Marginalised groups, 6: Growth & development strategies, 6: Access to information and data, 6: Transparency of infrastructure investment, 6: Enabling Environment, 6: Policy
Overview
Cost: $300 Million
Size: The program is expected to benefit all Canadians.
Parties involved (public and private): Public (Infrastructure Canada)
Brownfield or greenfield: Both
Context: As data and technology evolve at a startling pace, communities worldwide have harnessed these tools to improve local conditions for residents. In Canada, the Smart Cities Challenge (SCC) was designed with the unique Canadian context in mind, and envisaged the development of smart communities of all sizes, all across the country, and intentionally inclusive of Indigenous communities. A federal investment in smart cities – through this vehicle of a prize challenge – was designed to incentivize local innovation while improving the lives of residents. By spotlighting the participants of the Challenge and sharing lessons learned, the benefits can be spread across the country and can demonstrate effective and transferable solutions that other communities can apply.
Aim(s) of the project: The Smart Cities Challenge is a Canada-wide smart cities competition open to communities of all sizes. It was launched in 2017 and has had one round of the Challenge to date, with at least one more round anticipated. It aims to incentivize innovation in Canadian communities by rewarding communities who use data and connected technology to solve local issues. The Challenge seeks to identify and mobilize around opportunities to address community needs as well as share and transfer these solutions to others.
Timeline
Key dates including procurement, construction, operations: Program was launched in 2017, first round of winning communities was announced in 2019. The program is intended to sunset in 2027.
Relevance to QII
The defining characteristic of the Smart Cities Challenge was its open-ended nature. Communities in Canada were asked to consult their residents and identify local problems which would be addressed using data and connected technology. As such, the themes of the 130 applications that were received in round one touched on a variety of themes, notably economic opportunity, empowerment and inclusion, environmental quality, healthy living and recreation, mobility, and safety and security. Finalist and winning projects touched on a number of QII principles, two of which are explored in detail below.
Benefits
Highlights: A key goal of the Smart Cities Challenge is to enhance the capacity of all communities in Canada to use advances in technology to address local needs. To that end, the Smart Cities Community Support Program was created as a complement to the competition, in order to build awareness and understanding of the benefits of applying a smart cities approach to communities across Canada. The Program provides all communities in Canada with capacity-building resources and advisory services.
Expected and realised benefits: Key expected benefits include : improved innovation capacity in communities, improved socioeconomic outcomes for residents, the creation of multi-stakeholder partnerships and networks, and replication of effective solutions through the dissemination of knowledge about smart cities.
Metrics
SCC is an experimental program and thus has a team dedicated to tracking the outcomes and impact of the program. It reports on outcomes regularly to a variety of internal and external partners on the basis of an internal results framework. Quantitative and qualitative data is collected and analysed routinely. In addition, the SCC uses an innovative funding model which links payments of the winners to the achievement of concrete outcomes. These outcomes-based Contribution Agreements, which are signed with winning communities – align funding to project outcomes and milestones which are negotiated with each community to suit their unique project.
Name of Institute
Infrastructure Canada
Website URL