Toronto invites residents to help city win $50-million ‘Smart Cities’ prize
Canada’s infrastructure minister wants communities to “think outside the box” with projects.

TheStar.com
Jan. 8, 2018
David Rider

The city wants Torontonians’ suggestions on how to win $50 million from the Canadian government for “smart city” projects.

Ottawa recently launched the “Smart City Challenge,” a national competition to get municipalities, regional governments and Indigenous communities brainstorming ways to use data, sensors and other tech to improve people’s lives.

Toronto is eligible for the top prize, “up to” $50 million, open to communities of all size. Communities with fewer than 500,000 people can also compete for two prizes of up to $10 million, while places with fewer than 30,000 residents can aim at a prize of up to $5 million.

There will be another competition specific to Indigenous communities.

Ottawa wants proposals “to design innovative solutions to their most pressing challenges using data and connected technologies.”

Amarjeet Sohi, the federal infrastructure minister, said in a statement he wants communities “to be bold and think outside-the-box. I want you to approach the challenge through a lens of transparency, experimentation, inclusiveness, empowerment, and knowledge-sharing. And above all, I want you to think about what will have the biggest impact on the people who call your communities home.”

The city of Toronto invited people on Monday to be part of a mass brainstorm.

Ideas can be submitted through an online survey at toronto.ca/smartcitieschallenge or in hard copy at all Toronto Public Library branches, or through a formal, more detailed Smart Cities Challenge proposal.

Submissions to the Toronto must be made by Feb. 2. Cities’ submissions to Infrastructure Canada are due April 24.

An independent jury will choose finalists, which will then submit final proposals, and select the winners in spring 2019.

The Toronto Public Library will host a smart cities panel discussion, open to the public, with the city’s chief transformation officer and other officials, on Jan. 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Toronto Reference Library.