For the third year in a row, Le Monde is kicking off its Urban Innovation Challenge. The Le Monde - Smart Cities Awards promote the best urban transformation projects deserving greater attention, so that they could become a source of inspiration for others.

Do you have innovative solutions to address urban challenges ? Le Monde invites individuals, companies, foundations, NGOs, municipalities, public entities and students to submit a project in the following categories :

· Energy : a project that seeks to reduce the carbon footprint of cities.

· Citizen engagement : an initiative whereby citizens play a role in developing and managing physical and/or virtual urban spaces and services.

· Housing and urban planning : innovation in urban living space.

· Mobility : initiative that facilitates sustainable and human mobility.

· Cultural action : social and digital innovation with a cultural impact.

· Urban innovation : Social, technological or circular innovation applied to a city.

Each team or participant must submit an application online on Le Monde Urban Challenge website.

APPLY HERE FOR EUROPEAN AWARDS (before February 25th 2018)

APPLY HERE FOR GLOBAL AWARDS (before May 13th 2018)

More details about the challenge are available here.

The European Awards will be attributed to projects implemented in Europe. The ceremony will take place in Lyon (France) on May 19th 2018.

The Global Awards will be attributed to non-Europe-based projects. The ceremony will take place in Singapore in July 2018.

Here are the members of the jury :

Faculty members, urbanists and architects :

  • Nathalie Crutzen, professor at Liège University Management School, Director of the Smart City Institute.

  • Isher Judge Ahluwalia, economist, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations of Delhi.

  • Francis Jutand, deputy executive director of Institut Mines Telecom, Paris.

  • Michel Lussault, professor of urban studies, director of the Urban School, University of Lyon.

  • Jorge Perez Jaramillo, architect, former director of planning in Medellin.

  • Arjan Van Timmeren, professor of Environmental Technology & Design at TU Delft.

Private sector experts

  • Pilar Conesa, founder of Anteverti, a consulting firm based in Barcelone. Curator of the Smart City World Expo Congress of Barcelona.

  • Cécile Maisonneuve, chairperson of La Fabrique de la cité, a Paris based think tank on urban studies funded by Vinci.

  • Bruno Marzloff, founder of the consulting firm Chronos, specialized in innovative and sustainable urban mobility, Paris.

  • Rémi Feredj, executive director of La Poste Immobilier, Paris.

NGOs, associations and public sector experts

  • Véronique Fournier, executive director of the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre.

  • Jean-Pierre Elong-Mbassi, secretary general of United Cities and Locals Governments in Africa, an organisation that represents local level public authorities across the continent.

  • John Rossant, founder of NewCities, a NGO based in Montreal, which focuses on the future of cities and their inhabitants.

  • Michel Sudarskis, secretary general of the International Urban Development Agency (INTA).

  • Mark Watts, executive director of C40, a London based network that unites the world’s metropolises in joint initiatives and best practice applications, in particular in the field of sustainable development.

  • Nicholas You, co-president of Global Cities Business Alliance, a think tank based in London. Former political advisor in charge of operations for UN Habitat.

Elected officials

  • Karine Dognin-Sauze, vice-president of Lyon Metropole.

  • Amalia Zepou, deputy mayor of Athens, in charge of civil society

Team from « Le Monde »

  • Jessica Gourdon, journalist specialized in urban innovations.

  • Claire Legros, journalist specialized in urban and social innovations.

  • Francis Pisani, journalist, writer and speaker, specialized in urban and technological innovations.

  • Laetitia Van Eeckhout, journalist specialized in urban innovations and environnement.