he United Nations (UN) and the government of the Republic of Korea announced the launch of the Big Ideas Competition for Sustainable Cities and Urban Communities on Monday.
The competition seeks data-driven solutions to advance basic service delivery, sustainable transport and energy, resilience to natural disasters & climate change and harmonious urban environments.
“Engaging citizens at the forefront of collaborative design is at the core of our innovations work,” said UNDP’s Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Nicholas Rosellini, who is also Bangkok Regional Hub director.
“Given the complexities of challenges that cities in Asia are faced with, we need to encourage as well as give recognition to citizens’ ideas and insights in developing the next generation of innovations,” he added.
Residents of ASEAN countries and the Republic of Korea are encouraged to participate in the competition. The submission deadline is June 3. Applicants will compete for 11 country-specific prizes, three excellence prizes and one grand prize, with the total prize fund worth over US$35,000.
“I was very impressed by the ideas submitted last year, especially the breadth of creativity and the enthusiasm of respondents,” said Derval Usher, head of the UN Global Pulse Lab in Jakarta.
“Working with citizens to address big societal challenges is an important approach to public policy, so we are delighted to be involved in the Big Ideas Competition once again”.
The Big Ideas Competition for Sustainable Cities is a collaboration between the Korea Association for ICT Promotion, the Korea Big Data Alliance, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning of the Republic of Korea, the National Information Society Agency of the Republic of Korea, the UN Development Programme Asia and the Pacific, UN Volunteers, and the UN Global Pulse Lab in Jakarta. The Australian government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also supports the competition.
More information for applicants can be found on the UN Global Pulse website: http://unglobalpulse.org/news/bigideascompetitionsustainablecities (ebf)
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