THE Clark Green City (CGC) and Project Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (Noah) have been named finalists in a competition by the International Data Corp.
The announcement was well received by the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). It was the DOST and the ICTO that are credited with the development of Project Noah, an initiative that established an early-warning system that provide communities with weather forecasting and automatic warning signals against any risk of impending floods at least six hours prior.
“We are pleased with the international recognition of ICTO initiatives to improve the human condition in the Philippines,” DOST-ICTO Spokesman Roy Espiritu told the BusinessMirror. “ICT [information and communications technology ] is, indeed, a game-changer and extremely rewarding for those who take the time and effort to utilize it to better themselves and the ICT ecosystem.” Nominated in the “land use and environmental management category,” the CGC’s initiative “combined specific primary functions comprising of educational area, government, central business, agroforestry research and development, wellness and recreation and ecotourism to address climate change,” IDC said. Project initiatives included the establishment of open green spaces, plotting more pedestrian area and improving mass transport system, the technology research firm added.
The CGC and Project Noah were named finalists by IDC in its “Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (Scapa) 2016.”
The Philippines earned nominations in 2 out of the 14 award categories, IDC said in a statement sent to the BusinessMirror via electronic mail.
The Scapa is IDC Asia/Pacific’s way of recognizing the deserving countries and organizations that were assessed to have the best smart city projects in Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) in its annual Smart City Development Index research.
“The smart city index was created to help city leaders understand the strategic impact and maturity of their smart city initiatives,” Gerald Wang, head of IDC government insights Asia Pacific, was quoted in a May 22 statement as saying. Wang explained in 2015, IDC tracked hundreds of smart city initiatives and an eventual 14 projects were named the best in the region in their operational functional domains.
“The signing of Republic Act 10844 is indicative of the Government’s commitment to improve not only the use of ICT in the daily lives of our citizens but also the delivery of basic services,” Espiritu said.