Levelling Up Innovation in Local Government: An Evaluation of International Smart City Competitions

In August 2024, IMFG authors Austin Zwick and Zachary Spicer joined Shauna Brail, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto for a roundtable discussion hosted by IMFG on their paper, Levelling Up Innovation in Local Government: An Evaluation of International Smart City Competitions. The report evaluates whether the nationally-led smart city competition model advances technological adoption in participating cities. They discussed what they learned from studying smart cities competitions from around the world and what governments can do to improve these competitions in the future.