With more than 60 nominations already submitted, International Data Corporation (IDC) is making final preparations to host its inaugural Smart City Middle East Awards at Dubai’s Jumeirah Creekside Hotel on Tuesday, May 1st, 2018.

Designed to recognize and reward the region’s most innovative ICT-enabled Smart City projects and initiatives, the nominations are set to undergo a comprehensive multi-stage validation and judging process, with awards being handed out across nine categories:

IDC has noted a significant increase in the number of cities around the world that are actively looking to become ‘Smart’ by implementing innovative solutions that address the challenges of rapid urbanization. The key motivating factor behind all these initiatives is the desire to transform the lives of residents by enhancing public safety, transportation, education, healthcare, and other aspects of day-to-day life.

“The Middle East has become a hotbed of innovation in this regard, with cities across the region leveraging cutting-edge technology to meet the needs and expectations of their citizens, businesses, and residents,”

says Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC’s group vice president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.

“Given the sheer scope of this ongoing transformation, the time has come to recognize and reward the outstanding contribution made by the organizations that are driving Smart City initiatives and projects across the region.”

The hotly anticipated awards lunch will be preceded by the IDC Smart City Middle East Event, which will present expert insights into the emerging challenges and opportunities being encountered by cities, local governments, and their ICT suppliers in the Middle East region.

The event will feature a combination of insightful presentations and interactive panel discussions, with IDC’s vice president for Government Insights and Smart Cities, Ruthbea Yesner Clarke, examining the latest developments in the global Smart City space as part of her keynote address.

“The awareness of the potential around Smart Cities has grown exponentially in recent years,”

says Clarke.

“Cities, municipalities, and governments around the world are realizing that they can positively alter the lives of millions of urban residents by exploiting opportunities presented by digital transformation.

To achieve this, they must harness the data from smart devices, networks, cloud infrastructure, and applications to develop new insights, products, and services, integrating smart technologies to enable a truly connected Smart City ecosystem.”

Fadi Shanaah, Orange Business Services’ business development director for Smart Cities and healthcare, will also be speaking at the event as he explores the creation of a holistic strategy for managing the data journey and enabling the Smart Cities of tomorrow.

The agenda will also examine the need to optimize Smart City investments, facilitate ubiquitous connectivity, and enable collaborative innovation, with fascinating contributions from Khwaja Saifuddin, senior sales director at Western Digital; Kia Cottrell, business development manager at Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company; and Hisham S. Hammami, CIO of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj.

Featured image via https://www.idcsmartcityawards.com/