Medellin and Bogota were recognized as information communication technology (ICT)-savvy metropolises at the 12th Ibero-American Encounter of Digital Cities.
The capital of the Antioquia department took the top prize in the big city category followed by its rival Bogota at the event organized by the Ibero-American Association of Research Centers and Telecommunications Companies – AHCIET – taking place 28 September through 30 in Bilbao, Spain.
At the 8th Ibero-American Digital Cities Award, Medellin also took second runner-up spot in the special category of ICT and Health after Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte both in Brazil.
“This is the biggest award one can receive in Ibero-America when one is recognized as a digital city. Now we have the challenge of starting to turn Medellin into an intelligent city,” said Yan Camilo Vergara, manager of Medellin Digital, to Medellin-based newspaper El Colombiano.
Smaller Colombian towns were not left out in the cold. Pereira, the capital of Risaralda department, was second runner-up in the medium sized city category trailing the Argentine towns of Tigre and La Plata.
Colombia took gold and bronze with Genova in Quindio department and Trinidad in Casanare department respectively, either side of Villarrica in Paraguay in the small city category.
The only category in which Colombia did not get a look in was ICT and Tourism in which the only prize was won by San Jose, Costa Rica.
Citizens of digital cities, according to the organizers have “fast and easy access to a range of telecommunications networks.”
The encounter is taking place in the Palacio Euskalduna de Congresos next to the architecturally dramatic Guggenhein Museum, on Bilbao’s waterfront.
