The World Smart City Awards 2026 are an awards program linked to Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) that recognizes and supports innovative city strategies, projects, and ideas that drive meaningful change for citizens and advance urban transformation. Winners are announced at SCEWC26 in front of a large audience of smart city professionals.
Program overview
• Program Name: World Smart City Awards 2026
• Purpose: To recognize and support innovative city strategies, projects and ideas that drive meaningful change and push urban transformation forward.
• Where winners are announced: At SCEWC26 (Smart City Expo World Congress 2026), in Barcelona.
• Recognition: Winners are announced in front of a large audience of smart city professionals at SCEWC26.
Submission timeline
• Submission deadline: 29 June 2026
• Finalist notification: Finalists are informed starting 21 September 2026
• Awards ceremony: 4 November 2026 (during Smart City Expo World Congress)
Official award categories
• City Award
• What it recognizes: A global strategy developed by a city combining projects, initiatives and policy implementation in two or more urban fields.
• Who can submit: City governments only (submissions from private or non-governmental entities are subject to disqualification for this category).
• Project Awards
• Subcategories: Enabling Technologies; Energy & Environment; Mobility; Governance & Economy; Living & Inclusion; Infrastructure & Building
• What it recognizes: Innovative and successful projects already implemented or in the process of implementation within a specific urban development area (with one main topic selected).
• Innovation Award
• What it recognizes: Original initiatives and creative solutions improving communities, including proposals that do not need to already be in implementation (focused on potential to contribute to cities’ transformation, adaptation, or response to urban challenges).
Who can apply
• Eligible applicants: Public and private actors, including cities, businesses, entrepreneurs, startups, developers, research centres, universities, civic techs, civil society representatives, NGOs, cooperatives/consortiums, and individuals with ideas and solutions for city management and development.
• City Award restriction: Only city governments may submit to the City Award category.
Submission requirements
• Submission method: Entries are submitted electronically via the online form on the awards website.
• Language: The form and complementary information must be completed entirely in English.
• Supporting document: One uploaded supporting document in PDF format, up to 10 pages/slides.
• Images: Five landscape-format images (JPEG, high resolution—at least 2048px) representing the proposal and/or beneficiaries; organizers may use these images for promotion if selected as a finalist.
Evaluation criteria
• Entries are evaluated across multiple aspects, including:
• Innovation, relevance, impact, citizen engagement/co-creation, inclusivity, feasibility, replicability, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and soundness (reliability of data presented).
Finalist and ceremony commitments
• Finalist materials: Finalists are required to provide graphic material (such as high-quality images and/or a short video) for award promotion as a condition to remain a finalist.
• Attendance requirement: Finalists must attend the Award Ceremony in person in Barcelona or designate an official representative; attendance is a mandatory condition to be considered a finalist.
The World Smart City Awards 2026 provide a high-visibility opportunity for cities and organizations to gain international recognition for strategies, projects, and innovations that strengthen sustainability, inclusion, and urban progress.