Financial Times and Citi Announce Finalists for 2012 FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today the Financial Times and Citi announced the finalists for the inaugural FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards: Urban Ideas in Action programme, sponsored by Citi. The awards aim to recognise leaders, teams, organisations and community groups that have developed innovative solutions to urban challenges that benefit cities, citizens and urban communities in the fields of education, energy, healthcare and infrastructure.

“The journey of each FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards finalist is unique yet they all share an unwavering commitment to progress. As we mark 200 years of enabling progress, we are proud to recognize the leaders and the ideas that can help cities grow.”

Finalists were chosen in each category for demonstrating particular originality, efficiency and impact in meeting urban challenges. A global winner and category winners will be announced at an awards dinner in New York City on 5 December 2012.

Education:

Abhyas Trust - Power of Seeing, India

Asociacion Aprendo Contigo, Peru

City of Dubrovnik - Educational Vertical, Croatia

College Possible, United States

Sustainable Cities Initiative, United States

Energy:

City of Houston - Green Office Challenge, United States

Community Cooker Foundation, Kenya

Proterra, United States

The Energy and Resources Institute, India

Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Japan

Healthcare:

Child Eye Care Charitable Trust, India

GlaxoSmithKline New Citizen, China

Pro Mujer, Nicaragua

Protect Your Child, Egypt

Infrastructure:

Bitcarrier, Spain

Ikhayalami, South Africa

JCDecaux - Vélib', France

ORE Design + Technology, United States

The judging panel includes:

David Adjaye, OBE, Principal Architect, Adjaye Architects
Professor Abhijit Banerjee, Professor, MIT and Co-author, Poor Economics
John Bowis, OBE, Honorary President, Health First Europe
Sir Terry Farrell, CBE, International Architect & Design Champion and Director, Terry Farrell and Partners
Reinier de Graaf, Partner, OMA
Dame Zaha Hadid, DBE, Founder, Zaha Hadid Architects: (Honorary President of the judging committee, non-voting)
Edwin Heathcote, Architecture and Design Critic, Financial Times (co-chair)
Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director, INSEAD eLab (co-chair)
Professor Carlo Ratti, Professor, MIT and Founding Partner, Carlo Ratti Associati
Luanne Zurlo, Founder and President, Worldfund

"We at the FT were delighted by the quality of entries, which came from all over the world,” said Michael Skapinker, Assistant Editor and Editor of Special Reports at the Financial Times. “They demonstrated a range of innovative ideas to solve urban problems and improve city life. We were particularly impressed by how many of the ideas submitted had already been implemented successfully. The shortlist contains the best of these."

“As an institution that connects over 1,000 cities and millions of people, we are invested in helping today’s cities identify solutions to the challenges they face,” said Citi CEO Vikram Pandit. “The journey of each FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards finalist is unique yet they all share an unwavering commitment to progress. As we mark 200 years of enabling progress, we are proud to recognize the leaders and the ideas that can help cities grow.”

Submissions were received from 41 countries, including: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Uganda, U.A.E., the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay.

For more details on the FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards, please visit www.ft.com/ingenuity.

About the Financial Times:

The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organisations, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing essential news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community, the FT has a combined paid print and digital circulation of almost 600,000 (Deloitte assured, 2 April 2012 – 1 July 2012) and a combined print and online average daily readership of 2.1 million people worldwide (PwC assured, May 2012). FT.com has more than 4.8 million registered users and over 300,000 paying digital subscribers. The newspaper has a global print circulation of 280,124 (ABCs, August 2012).

About Citi:

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

About Citi for Cities:

Citi for Cities is an initiative that harnesses the best of Citi across the globe to enable cities to become more efficient, by providing financing that facilitates commerce and modernization, and by empowering citizens to access services that enhance liveability and prosperity. Citi aims to help cities achieve their ambitions across the key ecosystems that power a city including administration, roads and transit, ports of entry, energy and utilities, workplace and education, health and safety and regeneration and development. Citi’s span of engagement with cities includes public and private sectors, the financial sector and citizens and the communities in which they live. For more information, please visit www.citiforcities.com.

About the FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities today, a number which is expected to rise in the decades ahead. As a result, cities have a pressing need to address the challenges of urbanisation and find solutions that modernise infrastructure, improve efficiency, enhance quality of life and foster sustainable growth and development.

The FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards: Urban Ideas in Action, a global programme sponsored by Citi, was developed to recognise leaders, teams, organisations and community groups that have developed groundbreaking solutions to urban challenges that benefit cities, citizens and urban communities in the fields of education, energy, healthcare and infrastructure.

Criteria and metrics for the Awards were developed by INSEAD, one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools. All entries were reviewed by the FT and INSEAD for qualification. As sponsor, Citi did not review or judge submissions.

Submissions were reviewed based on a range of criteria, including originality, impact, efficiency and outcomes.

Finalists were profiled in a series of Financial Times global magazines. A global winner and category winners will be announced at an awards dinner in New York City on December 5, 2012.