Espoo in World Smart City Awards final – we congratulate the winner and rejoice in the recognition
Espoo reached the final of an international smart city competition as the only Nordic city. We were nominated for the World Smart City Awards in the competition’s main category with our development programme for impact leadership.
In the competition’s main category, Espoo was the only European city and entered the final together with Shenzhen of China and Santiago de Cali of Colombia.
China’s Shenzhen came out as the winner.
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. This year, the competition received a total of 429 proposals from 64 different countries.
“Our place in the final is a great recognition for Espoo and our work in the field of knowledge-, data- and analysis-based management. We are proud to have achieved this recognition together with our partners. This achievement encourages us to continue developing impact leadership,” says Mayor Jukka Mäkelä.
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 Development Manager Piia Wollsten from the city’s Digital Services.
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.
Development Manager Anni Orttenvuori-Ganter, who accepted Espoo’s award in Barcelona, praises the amazing atmosphere of the final.
“It is great how much positive attention our innovative leadership development programme garnered in Barcelona. The fact that we were the only Nordic city in the competition shows that we truly are pioneers. Warm thanks to each of the pilot result units that have participated in the development of Espoo’s impact leadership programme,” says 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
World Smart City Awards winners 2024.(external link, opens in a new window)