Government of Canada launches the Smart Cities Challenge

Challenging communities to improve the lives of Canadians through innovation, data, and technology

CALGARY, Nov. 23, 2017 /CNW/ - Making our communities smarter by being innovative and using data and connected technology will strengthen our communities and create opportunities to continue growing Canada's middle class.

Today, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, launched the Smart Cities Challenge, fulfilling a commitment made in Budget 2017. The Challenge will give communities a platform for implementing bold ideas to address priorities that they identify.

Communities of all sizes and from across Canada can apply—including municipalities, local or regional governments, and Indigenous communities. They will be encouraged to work with the private and not-for-profit sectors and the research community to achieve results that improve the lives of residents. It will be up to communities to set their goals and the pathways to achieving them.

With today's launch, communities can begin developing their proposals. Detailed application guidelines are now available on the new Impact Canada Challenge Platform.

Communities will have until April 24, 2018 to submit their applications. Those that are selected as finalists by the independent jury for the Smart Cities Challenge will receive a grant of $250,000 to support the development of their detailed proposal and business case. Winners will receive funding to implement their proposals.

Infrastructure Canada is engaging Indigenous leaders, communities and organizations to finalize the design of a competition specific to Indigenous communities that will reflect their unique realities and issues. Indigenous communities are also eligible to compete for all the prizes in the current competition.

The Smart Cities Challenge is part of the Government of Canada'sImpact Canada Initiative, which aims to accelerate and mainstream innovative programs that focus on the achievement of outcomes that address complex economic, environmental and social problems.

Quotes

"This challenge—the first of its kind in Canada—will encourage communities to innovate and take risks to improve people's lives. Across the country, communities large and small are bursting with new ideas. The Smart Cities Challenge will help bring them to life, and find solutions that achieve real and positive outcomes for Canada's middle class."

The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

"The Government of Canada has recognized it must be bold, ambitious, and inventive when tackling difficult challenges. As the lead in the Government of Canada for the Impact Canada Initiative, I am pleased to be part of an approach that will help governments deliver meaningful results to Canadians. I look forward to the creative solutions that are developed as part of the Smart Cities Challenge and other future Impact Canada Initiatives, and to seeing the ideas of Canada's best and brightest come to life."

The Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of Democratic Institutions

Quick facts

• Through the Investing in Canada plan, the Government of Canada is launching the first competition of the Smart Cities Challenge, helping communities across the country develop and implement their smart cities initiatives.
• The available Smart Cities Challenge prizes are: one prize of up to $50 million, available to all communities; two prizes of up to $10 million, available to communities below 500,000 residents; and one prize of up to $5 million, available to communities with under 30,000 residents. Finalists will be announced in Summer 2018 and winners will be announced in Spring 2019.
• Finalists and winning communities will be selected by an independent jury. An open call for jury members is posted on the Infrastructure Canada website.

Related product(s)

Backgrounder: Smart Cities Challenge (https://www.canada.ca/en/office-infrastructure/news/2017/11/backgrounder_smartcitieschallenge.html)

The Government of Canada is challenging communities of all sizes, from coast to coast to coast, to come forward with their best ideas to improve the lives of their residents through innovation, data and connected technology.

The Challenge Statement
Communities understand best their own pressing and important issues.

Each community will begin its Challenge application process by defining its Challenge Statement. The Statement will guide the proposal, and will define the outcome (or outcomes) a community aims to achieve by implementing its smart cities proposal.

The Challenge Statement should be measurable, ambitious, and attainable through the proposed use of data and connected technology.

Prize Structure
One prize of up to $50 million
Open to all communities, regardless of population

Two prizes of up to $10 million each
Open to all communities with populations under 500,000 people

One prize of up to $5 million
Open to all communities with populations under 30,000 people

Infrastructure Canada is engaging Indigenous leaders, communities and organizations to finalize the design of a competition specific to Indigenous communities that will reflect their unique realities and issues. Indigenous communities are also eligible to compete for all the prizes in the current competition.

The Process
There are five key steps to the Challenge process:

Application:

• Applicants engage with their residents, define their Challenge Statement, develop their ideas, and submit their applications by April 24, 2018.
  

Selection of Finalists, Summer 2018:

• Jury selects finalists; Infrastructure Canada provides $250,000 grants to finalists to develop their proposals.

Final Proposal, Fall 2018:

• Finalists work to develop fully-implementable proposals that outline all design, planning, and project management components; and establish partnerships with organizations that will help implement their proposal.
  • Final proposals are due in Winter 2019. The deadline and evaluation criteria for final proposals will be made public at the time of the announcement of finalists.

Selection of Winners, Spring 2019:

• Infrastructure Canada posts all final proposals on the Challenge website.
• Jury selects the winners by Spring 2019.

Implementation

• Winners will receive prize money through contribution agreements with Infrastructure Canada.
• Winners will implement their projects over 2-5 year timelines, depending on the nature of the project. They will maintain close contact with Infrastructure Canada, who will monitor progress towards established outcomes and work with winners if course corrections are necessary.
• Lessons learned and successful approaches will be shared with communities across Canada.

Who Can Apply

• Municipalities, local or regional governments
• Indigenous communities including First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities

Two or more of these organizations can submit a joint application. Indigenous communities are eligible to apply for any of the prizes regardless of their population.

Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated against criteria summarized below. Full criteria are posted in the applicant guide on the Challenge website.

Criteria Summary and Weighting
Problem Definition (55/100)

The Challenge Statement and outcomes.
The Challenge Statement is ambitious, measurable and achievable through the proposed use of technology and data.

Outcomes are meaningful, measurable, reflect the needs of the community and are explained within the context of a smart city approach.

Community Engagement
Proposals should demonstrate that efforts have been made to incorporate a diverse range of feedback from residents and community organizations and should demonstrate plans to sustain community engagement throughout the life of the proposal.

Preliminary Proposal Details (45/100)

Preliminary Proposal Description
Proposal qualifies as a smart cities approach, is feasible, suited to achieving the expected outcome in an impactful, ambitious and transformative way. Proposal is forward-thinking, pertinent, easily adaptable, and replicable, can be expanded within the community, is robust and flexible enough to accommodate changing circumstances, and has the potential to serve or enable other purposes or uses.

Strategic Alignment
Proposal is well-aligned with a larger smart cities vision for the community and complements additional efforts to achieve the outcome.

Applicant Readiness
Applicant has planned for organizational structures, processes and practices needed to implement its proposal.

Plan for using the grant
Applicant's plan to use the finalist grant reflects an appropriate use of funds to build capacity to implement its proposal.

Partnership Approach
Proposal identifies real and potential partners and all major players, who are relevant and have clear roles and responsibilities in the execution of the proposal and are diverse (e.g. private sector, not-for-profit, public utilities, research, and community organizations).

The Jury
Finalists and winners will be determined by a panel of jury members.

The Jury will be comprised of accomplished individuals from across the country who are publicly recognized in their field and have a strong track record of leadership across a range of disciplines.

Infrastructure Canada will strive to reflect gender parity and appropriate representation of Indigenous peoples and minority groups in the Jury composition.

Jury members will be selected by the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. The selection process is now open on the Infrastructure Canada website.

News and Updates
Updates on the Smart Cities Challenge will be posted on Twitter and Facebook as well as the Impact Canada Challenge Platform

Associated links

http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/cities-villes-eng.html

https://impact.canada.ca/en/challenges/smart-cities

Twitter: @INFC_eng 
Web: Infrastructure Canada

SOURCE Infrastructure Canada