DataSmart Cities wins Platinum Icon in Digital India Awards

DataSmart Cities wins Platinum Icon in Digital India Awards

Digital India Vision adopted by Government of India to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. In order to realise the Digital India Vision, digital initiative at every level i.e. Centre, State and local bodies has been undertaken. To further promote spirit of competition and to learn best practices, National Informatics Centre (NIC) under Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology (MeitY) give Digital India Awards annually to give due recognition to such digital initiatives along with the team that help build and implement them.

This year Smart Cities Mission wins Platinum Icon in Digital India Awards 2022 for DataSmart Cities (DSC) – Empowering cities through data initiative.

DataSmart Cities (DSC)

DataSmart Cities (DSC)initiative was started under National Urban Development Mission, to unlock the potential of urban data for better governance in 100 Smart Cities and successfully institutionalised a “Culture of data” in India. It will help to realise the full potential of technology interventions and innovative ecosystem in cities.

Foundational pillars of DataSmart Cities

• First Pillar : well capacitated institutional structure across all tiers of governance along with the formation of networks and alliances
• Second Pillar : process enablers such as policies and standards
• Third Pillar : technology platforms to support implementation of policy intents

These three pillars are alternatively referred to as people, process and platform are proposed to support the creation of open data culture which will lead to greater data exchange for open innovation and co-creation.

Objective of DataSmart Cities

• Institutionalise a “Culture of data”
• Data driven governance
• Enable the framing of City Data Policy
• facilitate City Data Alliances
• Adopt appropriate Data platforms

Benefits of DataSmart Cities

• Empowerment of citizens : open data will promote open government which will build trust within citizens and collective conscience among communities
• Data driven governance and policy formulation : lead to greater efficiency in service delivery and resource allocation
• Promotion of data sharing and exchange : platform will assist in facilitating G2G, G2C & G2B data sharing for effective decision making in real time
• Promotion of multi-disciplinary research on civic issues : like transport, traffic and solid waste which may provide innovative solutions to city adminsitration
• Co-creation and Open Innovation and Civic engagement : between city government and entrepreneurs, industries and academia
• Enhancement of transparency and accountability : by making reliable data available through data platforms