Nunavut a finalist for $10 million Smart Cities Challenge prize; Lindsay’s Pinnguaq involved

A collaboration between the Nunavut Association of Municipalities (NAM), Lindsay’s Pinnguaq Association, the Embrace Life Council and Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre has resulted in a project, representing all 25 communities of Nunavut, being selected as a finalist in the Smart Cities Challenge $10 million prize.

The project, currently titled “Community, Connectivity and Digital Access for Suicide Prevention in Nunavut” was developed by the four organizations between January and April 2018. Its goal is to implement protective and preventive measures to reduce the risk of suicide in Nunavut.

Full details on the project are included in the attached brief which outlines the key initiatives, the next steps and the background of the project. Full details on the Smart Cities Challenge can be found here.

The four organizations will now receive a contribution of $250,000 to create their final application for one of two $10 million grand prizes. A full list of the finalists is available here.

“This is a great opportunity to implement a series of initiatives that can measurably affect all twenty-five communities in Nunavut,” says Brian Fleming, the executive director of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.

“We are excited at the opportunity to convince the jury of the benefit of not only continuing to grow our te(a)ch program, but to add to its growth through the creation of Makerspaces, and Mesh Networks,” says Ryan Oliver of the Pinnguaq Association.

The final application is to be submitted by winter 2018 with the winners of the Smart Cities Challenge being announced in spring 2019.

Lindsay’s Pinnguaq was created as a not-for-profit, Pangnirtung-based technology startup in 2012 with the goal of providing play experiences in Indigenous languages.

Since then, according to its website, the organization has begun to embrace ways of incorporating play and gaming into wide reaching applications that can benefit tourism, education, and economic development. The root of its mission is to embrace technology as a means of unifying and enabling all people.