Espoo only Nordic city in World Smart City Awards final
Espoo has been selected to the final of an international smart city competition together with cities from China and Colombia. We are nominated for the World Smart City Awards in the competition’s main category with our development programme for impact leadership. The winner will be announced in Barcelona on 6 November 2024.
The annual World Smart City Awards is an international competition that highlights innovative strategies, ideas and projects to improve cities’ vitality, sustainability and financial profitability.
“In Espoo, our leadership is based on knowledge, data and analysis. The development programme for impact leadership has given us a lens through which we have found both a roadmap and practical actions. We have been determined in our progress and have done the right things in cooperation with VTT. We welcome this recognition,” Mayor Jukka Mäkelä says.
Espoo competes in the final with Shenzhen in China and Santiago de Cali in Colombia. The competition received a total of 429 proposals from 64 different countries. The winner will be announced in Barcelona on 6 November 2024.
Espoo’s cross-organisational development programme was key to success
The Smart City Expo World Congress, held in Barcelona since 2011, is the world’s leading city-focused event. Espoo became a finalist in the main category for the World Smart City Awards thanks to Espoo’s Impact Strategy, which is the city’s development programme for impact leadership.
Since 2019, Espoo has carried out the impact leadership programme in cooperation with VTT.
“The pandemic highlighted needs related to knowledge management, which led to the creation of Espoo’s first city community-level impact map. Impact leadership was the spearhead of our competition application, but making it to the final is a reward for all the extensive innovative development work the city has done to promote knowledge management,” says Director for Digital Services Development Piia Wollsten.
Espoo’s impact leadership programme implements unit-specific pilots on selected themes as well as an impact assessment training package, which was launched for the third time in autumn 2024. The training gives participants the opportunity to deepen their knowledge in systems thinking and understanding of how complex societal challenges can be managed and solved by utilising knowledge. The trainer of the programme has been VTT’s Principal Scientist Peter Ylén.
“The fact that we are the only Nordic city in the competition is a sign of our pioneering approach. Being a pioneer also means having the courage to explore new operating models, tools and approaches. We reached the globally acclaimed final of smart cities with our programme that crosses department borders within the city organisation. Warm thanks to each of the pilot result units that have participated in the development of Espoo’s impact leadership programme,” says Development Manager Anni Orttenvuori-Ganter.
The Smart City Expo World Congress aims to strengthen cities’ capacities and spread urban innovations globally. The aim of the event is to improve the future of cities and their residents by promoting social innovations and identifying opportunities for cooperation.
Inquiries
Piia Wollsten, Director for Digital Services Development, tel. +358 50 3052374, piia.wollsten@espoo.fi
Anni Orttenvuori-Ganter, Development Manager, Data and Knowledge Management, tel. +358 40 6394951, anni.orttenvuori-ganter@espoo.fi
Watch the video submitted by Espoo to the competition.(external link, opens in a new window)
Learn more about Espoo’s impact leadership.
World Smart City Awards 2024 finalists.(external link, opens in a new window)