Le Monde awards seven world prizes for Smart Cities urban innovation | Le Monde

Grand Prix Le Monde – L’ATELIER BNP PARIBAS

WeCyclers, Lagos (Nigeria)

This project, developed by the company WeCyclers, aims to improve the collection of domestic waste in Nigeria, using customized bicycles, adapted for the transport and collection of domestic waste and a system of confirmation of transactions by SMS. The project thus responds to major ecological and public health issues.

Mobility Prize

Surtrac Intelligent Traffic, Pittsburgh (United States).

Surtrac is a system for urban traffic flow control in the city of Pittsburgh designed by the Robotics Institute at the Carnegie Mellon University. This system, equipped with artificial intelligence produces predictive data and thus enables the coordination of the traffic lights. It improves the traffic flow and on average reduces travel time by 25% and pollution by 20%.

First Accessit. The Ultimate Public Transport System, Singapore.

A revolutionary public transport system based on driverless, electric vehicles.

Second Accessit: Niteroi Urban Mobility Operation Center, (Brazil).

A project developed by the French firm, Engie and the city of Niteroi for the improvement of traffic flow using an innovative control centre.

Energy Prize

Sylfen for its ‘smart energy hubs’, Grenoble.

This firm has developed an innovative solution for the stockage of hybrid energy. This is a world first; it enables the stockage, in the form of hydrogen, of the electricity produced locally, then its restitution. Sylfen has already won the Le Monde – Smart Cities European prize this year in this category.

Two accessits ex aequo:

The MEU Project, Lausanne (Switzerland).

This platform, developed by the Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, enables the visualisation of a city’s consumption of energy, in its totality and by neighbourhood, or by building.

BeeBryte’s App., Singapore.

An application aimed at reducing consumers’ electricity bills by 40%, using a regulation system in real time and the stocking of energy.

Urban innovation prize

Jugnoo, Chandigarh (India)

This application, developed by the start-up Jugnoo, links bike-taxi (rickshaws) drivers and clients for transport and deliveries in 40 Indian cities. It is already used by over five million people.

First Accessit: Vehicle Crowd-Sourced Infrastructure and Weather Monitoring, Pittsburgh (United States).

Device developed by Carnegie Mellon University enabling the optimum inspection of roads by means of a camera mounted on garbage trucks.

Second Accessit: Lyon Living Lab Confluence, Lyon

This project developed by the City of Lyon enables a considerable amount of data to be recorded in real time: temperature, CO2, the presence of people in a room, lighting, etc. with the aim of regulating the consumption of energy. Already the winner this year of Le Monde – Smart Cities European prize in this category.

Citizen participation prize

The walkway project

Curridabat (Costa Rica)

Developed by the municipality in Curridabat in the context of a citizen project, this application lists the obstacles which disabled people meet in the street: poorly maintained sidewalks, missing handrails, etc.

First Accessit: myResponder – mobile application on a cardiac arrest strategy, Singapore.

Mobile application enabling users to notify a hospital complex when victim of a heart attack and the location of the nearest defibrillator.

Second Accessit: Ileau (Local Interventions in Environment and urban planning, Montreal (Canada).

A project for cooperation between over 40 environmental, social, regional, public or private partners aimed at reducing urban heat islands and at greening certain spaces.

Habitat Prize

Récipro-Cité, Lyon

Récipro-Cité is a company creating social links, which has invented a device enabling the development of co-operative activities in the sharing of materials and exchange of services amongst the inhabitants in a building or a neighbourhood, through the association Chers Voisins and a Projects House. Récipro-Cité has already won the Le Monde – Smart Cities European prize in this category.

First Accessit: Habiter l’infini, Paris.

This project, developed by the architects, Arkhenspaces, proposes a new habitat model, with a considerable number of shared spaces and a customizable private sphere. Already this year’s winner of Le Monde – Smart Cities European prize in this category.

Second Accessit: Vivienda social con subsidion techo, Yanamayo (Peru).

A project aimed at involving the Yanamayo peasant communities in the construction of their new homes.

Cultural Action Prize

Salon 1861, Montreal (Canada).

A project for the restoration of the Saint-Joseph of Montreal church, a project supported by the Quo Vadis property management company in partnership with three universities, the residents in the neighbourhood and the NGOs. The church has been converted into customizable spaces for the use of the residents: co-working spaces, restaurants, lecture rooms or performance spaces, social entrepreneurship, etc.

First Accessit: iDiscover App and Map, Hong Kong (China)

Application developed by the Urban Discovery company targeting tourists in search of authenticity.

Second Accessit: La Cité du Vin, Bordeaux.

A new museum enabling the visitor to enjoy the world of wine with the aid, in particular, of a smart, multi-media device.

Members of the Jury: Francis Pisani (President), Benjamin Blandin, Pilar Conesa, Karine Dognin-Sauze, ­Véronique Fournier, Vincent Giret, Martine Jacot, Francis Jutand, Claire Legros, Lydia Lim, Bruno Marzloff, Marion Moreau, John Rossant, Gwendolyn Regina, Saskia Sassen, Michel Sudarkis, Louis Treussard.