India Smart Cities Award

The India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) is organized under the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

Smart Cities Mission

Smart Cities Mission launched on 25 June 2015, is aimed at providing core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’.It is a transformational mission aimed to bring about a paradigm shift in the practice of urban development in the country. Of the total proposed projects under SCM, 6,041 (76%) projects worth ₹1,10,635 crore have been completed and the remaining 1,894 projects worth ₹60,095 crore will be completed by 30 June 2024.

100 Smart Cities have taken up projects across diverse sectors related to mobility, energy, water, sanitation, solid waste management, vibrant public spaces, social infrastructure, smart governance, etc.  Most notable milestone achieved in the Mission has been, the Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCC) which is operational in all 100 Smart Cities. These ICCCs work as the brain and nervous system for city operations, using technology for urban management. The urban services have significantly improved in diverse fields like crime tracking, safety & security of citizens, transport management, solid waste management, water supply, disaster management etc.

India Smart Cities Award Contest

The India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) recognises pioneering city strategies, projects and ideas to award the exemplary performance, enable peer-peer learning and disseminate best practices. The ISAC recognizes and reward 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 quality of life for all.

In the past, the ISAC has witnessed three editions in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

ISAC 2022

The fourth edition of the ISAC was launched in April 2022 in Surat. The ISAC 2022 award had a two-stage submission process consisting of ‘Qualifying Stage’, which involved 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

A total of 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, for each award category top 12 proposals were identified by a jury of the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). In the third stage, each proposal proponent made a presentation to a panel of subject experts, leading to selection of Top 6 proposals. Finally, in the fourth stage, top 6 proposals made an elaborate presentation to a jury headed by MoHUA directors and comprising subject matter experts.Post this fourth stage, top 3 proposals have been 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 have been identified – 35 in Project Award, 6 in Innovation Award, 13 in National/Zonal City Award, 5 in State/UT Award and 7 in Partner Award categories. 

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Source : Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs