Tempe Among World's Smart 50 Cities

Press release from the City of Tempe:

May 25, 2021

Tempe, AZ - Alongside cities from Canada, Hong Kong, Israel and Chile, the City of Tempe was named a winner of the Smart 50 Award. This program recognizes innovative and influential projects with current or future municipal-scale impacts.

Tempe won for its wastewater science program, a partnership with ASU Biodesign Institute that measures the signal of COVID-19 in community wastewater.

According to the Smart 50 Award panelists, "Tempe’s program serves to influence and encourage other cities by being a model for creating an early warning signal program for protecting community wellness, driving decision-making with data, communicating with transparency, and cultivating community trust. This is all accomplished with compassion, unparalleled service and science."

"This award recognizes Tempe’s commitment to courageously adopt new science, technology and innovation to better serve our community," said Deputy City Manager Rosa Inchausti. "The City of Tempe and ASU have created the prototype for innovation and collaboration that transforms city operations and in turn, transforms the quality of life for a community. The results: a modern model of local governance to create a New American City."

See a list of all 50 winning projects here.

This press release was produced by the City of Tempe. The views expressed here are the author’s own.