Christchurch City Council Wins IDC Smart City Asia/Pacific Award For EQRNet

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19 Smart City projects across Asia/Pacific excluding Japan named Best of the Best in the 14 IDC Smart City Functional eService Categories

IDC Asia/Pacific announced today the 19 winners for this year’s IDC Smart City Asia/Pacific Awards (SCAPA). Christchurch City Council were named as the winner in the Public Safety- Disaster Response/Emergency Management category for EQRNet - Earthquake Response Management.

In July 2018, the Smart Christchurch programme at Christchurch City Council (CCC) initiated a three year trial of the earthquake response network, EQRNet, with local company Canterbury Seismic Instruments (CSI). EQRNet is a dense network of more than 150 ground-based accelerometers which allows the Council to manage its earthquake response in real-time; safeguarding communities, staff, and assets above and below ground. This trial was initiated on the back of a 10-sensor pilot in the Christchurch CBD which demonstrated significant variations in ground-shaking over distances as small as 100m. This proved that a much greater level of monitoring is required than currently exists through GeoNet instrumentation.

Using EQRNet, CCC can instantly compare localised shaking to every building's design intent and NZ Building Code Limit States using best-practice spectral analysis techniques. The network’s output provides defendable real-time information to building managers, emergency teams, and the public, allowing better management of response during seismic events.

Louise Francis, IDC New Zealand Country Manager and ANZ Research Director, says

"For Christchurch City Council to be recognised on the regional stage, against such steep competition, is a tremendous achievement. New Zealand has consistently excelled every year since the Awards were launched by IDC in 2015 and now the Christchurch City Council is the latest to join the SCAPA hall of fame.”

The IDC SCAPA Awards are now in their 6th Year. This year’s winners were spread throughout Asia/Pacific: Taiwan with 4, China and Singapore with 3, South Korea and Australia with 2, and 1 from India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Zealand.

“Further automation of city operations, creating better accessibility to digital ecosystems and tools for residents, and enhanced government services experiences- all dominate the transformation themes of Smart City projects in SCAPA2020. This year, many Asia Pacific Smart City projects focused on agile public policies and initiatives for social inclusivity, intuitive and innovative city services, sustainable critical infrastructure revolutions and global engagements,” says Gerald Wang, Head of Public Sector at IDC Asia/Pacific.

The current global Covid-19 pandemic has further strengthened cities’ resolve to create cutting edge ‘live, learn, work and play’ digital ecosystems. “With the direct impact of COVID-19 halting day-to-day activities to the bare essential services, the race to digital for socioeconomic resiliency and survivability is much more exigent than ever before. City governments would do well to accelerate their digitalization plans and learn swiftly from the investments and innovative projects of our SCAPA 2020 winners,” ends Wang.

These are the Asia/Pacific winners of the 2020 IDC Smart City Asia/Pacific Awards, and the outstanding smart city initiatives that distinguished them:

All winners were decided based on IDC analysts’ benchmarking, public voting, and judging from an International Advisory Council. For queries about the methodology used for the Smart Development Index, contact Gerald Wang at gwang@idc.com. For media inquiries, contact Tessa Rago trago@idc.com or Alvin Afuang aafuang@idc.com.

IDC Government Insights Asia/Pacific announced the 19 winners at a virtual event earlier today, and lead analyst Gerald Wang provided an update on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to Asia/Pacific public sectors and providing essential guidance on IT priorities to respond and recover during these uncertain times. To view this event OnDemand, please click HERE.

For more information about this year’s winners and the IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards, visit www.idc.com/ap/smartcities. IDC Government Insights advises Governments on how to leverage technology to realign government services with the needs and expectations of citizens, to enhance service delivery, drive new revenue streams, and spur economic development.

To learn more about IDC’s Smart City research and advisory capabilities, please visit IDC Government Insights: Worldwide Smart Cities and Communities Strategies. IDC Government Insights has recently published its webinar series Responding to COVID-19 – What is Working and What Isn’t: Smart Cities and Government | Education | Healthcare. To know more about IDC Asia/Pacific’s latest data on COVID-19, click here.

About IDC Government Insights

IDC Government Insights assists government policy, program, and IT leaders, as well as the suppliers who serve them, in making more effective technology decisions by providing accurate, timely, and insightful fact-based research and consulting services. Staffed by senior analysts with decades of government and IT industry experience, our global research analyzes and advises on business and technology issues facing the Federal/Central and local/provincial Governments.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights: http://bit.ly/IDCBlog_Subscribe.

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