The Seoul Metropolitan Government has won the city category at the Smart City Expo World Congress, the organizer announced Wednesday, in recognition of its smart city strategies for the underprivileged.

The World Smart City Awards is given for innovative city strategies, that can make an impact on the lives of citizens and make cities more sustainable and inclusive.

Seoul has been “proven to be an inspiration for those concerned by inequalities. The digital transformation is amplifying,” said Barcelona Deputy Mayor Laia Bonet, upon presenting the awards' main prize. Seoul’s work “is truly honoring the motto of this smart city expo world congress. Cities inspired by people, and those who are citizens are not left behind.”

“It is a great honor for Seoul to be selected as a winner city at this prestigious Awards Ceremony called Smart City World Congress,” said Kang Yo-sik, president of the Seoul Digital Foundation after receiving the award on behalf of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

Expressing his gratitude to the official of the judging committee, Kang said “Seoul will continue to do its best as a leading smart city in the future."

Seoul’s smart city strategies have focused on making digital public services -- in telecommunication, transportation, education safety and utility areas -- more accessible to people without much access to digital technologies.

The Metaverse Seoul platform, which was selected as one of the 200 best inventions of 2022 by Time magazine, is also part of the city government’s efforts to make public services more inclusive.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Government was one of the six cities nominated in the city category of the World Smart City Awards. The other five cities and states included Kyiv of Ukraine, Bogota of Colombia, Curitiba of Brazil, New South Wales of Australia and Toronto of Canada.

Kyiv also received a special recognition in the city category of the awards.

"The war on Ukraine is a war on our common values of democracy and shared prosperity. Our colleagues from Kyiv know this better than anyone. Day in and day out, they are defending peace and human rights. And I am glad that we can recognize they are strong here today. The offense from Kyiv. I am sure I don’t speak on behalf of Barcelona only when I say that we stand, we stand by you," Bonet said.