Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) has opened applications for the 3rd Seoul Smart City Prize. The competition is open to city governments, institutions, corporations, and individuals worldwide to recognise outstanding smart city innovation policies.

The Seoul Smart City Prize was established in 2023 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in collaboration with the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organisation (WeGO). It builds on Seoul’s digital government capabilities, the award aims to present a vision for the future of smart cities and promote the global adoption of smart-city ideas.

In the first competition in 2023, 240 entries were submitted from 93 cities across 47 countries, including Los Angeles (USA), Madrid (Spain), and São Paulo (Brazil). Last year, a total of 216 projects incorporating various technologies such as AI, IoT, and digital twins were submitted by 123 cities from 58 countries, including London (UK), Helsinki (Finland), and Abu Dhabi (UAE).

The gold prize was awarded last year to two projects — ‘BIAG’, a health governance system from Baguio, Philippines, and ‘Improving the School System through Digital Transformation’ from Reykjavik, Iceland. This year’s competition features a total of 21 awards across three main categories: Projects, Leadership, and Special Mention. Specifically, there are sixteen awards in the Project category (eight for human-centred projects and eight for technological innovation projects), two awards in the Leadership category, and three awards in the Special Mention category.