IBM has named Lagos amongst 31 other cities globally selected for its Smarter Cities Challenge grant for 2013.

Smarter Cities Challenge is a variant of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps, a pro bono consulting program that assists governments with projects that intersect business, technology, and society.

Launched in 2011, the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge is a three-year, 100-city, US$50 million competitive grant program.

This is IBM’s single-largest philanthropic initiative globally, where the leading technology and business consulting company assigns a team of six top IBM experts to each winning city to study a key issue identified by the city’s leadership.

Housing West Africa’s largest and busiest air and sea ports, and with a population of about 16 million, Lagos is reputedly one of the most populated, most industrious and fastest growing cities globally. The only other African city selected by IBM for its 2013 Smarter Cities Challenge grant is Cape Town, in South Africa.

“IBM’s commitment to emerging markets remains unshaken and the Smarter Cities Challenge grant for the city of Lagos clearly demonstrates this,” said Taiwo Otiti, IBM’s country general manager for West Africa.

IBM opened its West Africa hub office in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial and industrial capital, in 2009.

Well before the IBM team arrives (in 2013) for its three-week pro bono consulting engagement valued at $400,000 per city, the IBMers will already be hard at work studying the city’s issue. 

After they arrive in Lagos, the team will work with city officials to analyze data, soliciting the input of dozens of local agencies and advocacy groups.

  IBM then provides detailed recommendations for how the city can efficiently and effectively address the issue.

The grant recipients were announced yesterday at a summit in New York, USA bringing mayors and city leaders together with experts and urban policy leaders.

Mayors in attendance include those from among cities that were previously awarded Smarter Cities Challenge grants, as well as those whose cities were today being named 2013 winners.

At the summit, mayors shared successful strategies on topics ranging from transportation and economic development, to sustainability and citizen participation. 

They reviewed innovative solutions to the major challenges facing cities today, such as identifying financing, refining operating strategies, improving productivity, driving organizational change, and using data and technology effectively.

The need to use innovative approaches that address civic challenges has never been greater.

According to the United Nations, in 2008 more than half the world’s population began living in cities for the first time.

These population centers are more economically powerful, politically influential, and technologically advanced than at any time in history. However, they also struggle with increased demand for services, along with budgetary and operational challenges.

In year-one and two of the Smarter Cities Challenge, IBM completed work in 64 cities globally, deploying nearly 400 of its most talented experts who delivered concrete and measurable results to winning cities.

In 2012, IBM provided expert counsel to 33 cities worldwide which had earned IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grants. 

They included engagements in: Cheongju, Korea, where IBM recommended smarter transportation strategies; Dortmund, Germany, and Malaga Spain, where IBM formulated plans for economic, workforce, skills development; Jacksonville, USA, where IBM outlined steps for downtown revitalization ; and Louisville, USA, where IBM showed how to use data to identify, predict and mitigate conditions that trigger asthma.

Others are; Nairobi, Kenya, where IBM created a plan for traffic management; Geraldton, Australia, where IBM suggested ways for the city to become a leader in smart grid technology adoption and digital services; Curitaba, Brazil, where IBM suggested approaches to sustainability and citizen engagement.

For 2013, cities around the world once again competed vigorously to benefit from IBM’s talent and expertise.

The winning cities proposed innovative projects and areas of focus for IBM experts. These included strategies that address: Economic and Workforce Development — reducing local dependence on a single industry;  Social Services – creating an ecosystem that supports independent living for a growing senior citizen community; Sustainability – setting policies around billing rates, electric vehicle use, and solar power generation on a smart power grid; and Capital Budget Planning – enabling citizens to request expenditures, while also analyzing their potential impact; as well as Urban Planning – taking a more systematic, data-driven approach to housing policy, downtown revitalization, zoning, and permits.

The 31 cities that have won IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grants for 2013 are: Belfast, United Kingdom; Buffalo, USA; Burlington, USA; Cape Town, South Africa; Chennai, India; Christchurch, New Zealand; Copenhagen, Denmark; Date, Japan; Faro, Portugal; Foshan, China; Fresno, USA; Gurgaon, India; Jeju, Korea; Khon Kaen, Thailand; Knoxville, USA; Kyoto, Japan; Lagos, Nigeria; Lodz, Poland; Makati City, Philippines; Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia; Pingtung County, Taiwan; Porto Alegre, Brazil; Québec City, Canada; Reno, USA; Richmond, USA; Stavanger, Norway; Trujillo, Peru; Tucson, USA; Valparaiso, Chile; Vitória, Brazil and Waterloo, Canada.

“We congratulate the cities selected as IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant recipients for 2013. This was a difficult decision because so many cities made strong cases to earn our time and talent.  But the winners distinguished themselves among their peers by convincingly demonstrating their preparation and willingness to make the kind of improvements that will improve their residents’ quality of life and make their cities even smarter,” said Stanley S. Litow, IBM vice president of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, and president of IBM’s Foundation.