Semi-finalists announced for AppMyCity! contest to select world's best urban app

• 10 mobile apps from 5 continents in the running for US$5,000 prize
• 3 finalists to be selected on May 21 and invited to present their apps to the 800 high-level participants at the New Cities Summit in Dallas, June 17-19, 2014
• AppMyCity! is organized by the New Cities Foundation, in partnership with Guardian Cities

PARIS, France and DALLAS, Texas, May 6, 2014 – The New Cities Foundation announced the list of 10 new urban apps that have been selected as semi-finalists for the global AppMyCity! contest, www.appmycity.org

The ten app developers in the running for the annual 5,000 USD$ prize come from ten countries and five continents. Together, their apps are active in more than fifty cities. The apps were selected by the New Cities Foundation because of their potential to improve the urban experience, connect people, and make cities more fun, fair, vibrant and sustainable places.

Introducing the AppMyCity! 2014 Semi-finalists:

• Blue Parking, from Valladolid, Spain, provides a real time overview of available parking spots and allows in-app payment. Real time information is user generated so no additional sensors are required, whilst a printable QR code allows traffic wardens to check payments.

• Djump works in Paris, France, and Brussels, Belgium. It is a peer-to-peer car sharing service that allows drivers with a car to register, users to request a ride, and drivers to answer the call. Users can track drivers in real time and can choose to give a voluntary donation at the end of the ride.

• I Change My City, from Bangalore, India allows users to upload a geo-tagged picture of an urban problem issue. This issue then gets reported to the local government, and users can track all progress as well as vote to draw extra attention to certain issues.

• Parqueate, from Bogotá, Colombia, provides the biggest database of parking facilities in the Colombian capital, inviting users to add new parking spots as well as rate existing ones. In the future, users will be able to rent out their unused parking spaces through the app

• Peerby, from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is a ’marketplace liquidity hack’ which encourages neighbors to share items. Users post something they want to borrow, and neighbors will get a push notification to which they can respond in a single touch.

• RipeNearMe, from Adelaide, Australia, maps edible plants growing on public land and food grown by ordinary citizens. Users can locate, share, swap or sell produce, and can even subscribe a tree/plant and get a notification when it is ripe.

• Mind My Business, from New York, USA uses open data, predictive analytics and a patent pending ranking approach to give small shopkeepers updates on everything happening in their area. This includes upcoming roadworks, recent complaints by nearby residents (noise/litter), or changes in laws which could affect them.

• SIGA Chile, from Santiago, Chile, provides a platform which maps how accessible public places are for people with disabilities. Users can evaluate places and their facilities, upload pictures, and discuss how they could be improved.

• Social Cyclist, New York, USA, encourages bike riders to map their preferred routes, report hazardous road conditions and vote on their preferred site locations for future cycling infrastructure. The app can also give feedback on and report problems with bike-sharing schemes. This aggregate data can then be used by cities to plan future infrastructure.

• Switch Skate Guide, São Paulo, Brazil, allows users to add to and browse an evolving map of skate spots. They can geo-tag their pictures and videos to a particular spot, as well as interact with other users.

John Rossant, Founder and Chairman of the New Cities Foundation and AppMyCity! judge, said: “This year’s lineup of AppMyCity! Contenders clearly demonstrates how mobile apps are enhancing many aspects of city life, whether it’s solving transport challenges, encouraging collaboration within communities, promoting creativity, or bringing citizens closer to authorities. I look forward to working together with my fellow judges over the next two weeks, to pick the three finalists who will join us at the New Cities Summit in Dallas and pitch their apps to our international audience.”

Bruno Aracaty, co-founder of Colab, Brazil, winner of the 23013 AppMyCity! contest, said:  “Winning AppMyCity! completely changed our lives, it was a tipping point for us. After the prize we had several meetings with the most important city managers in Brazil and we were invited to speak at numerous conferences. We had a boom in the number of users and we managed to raise venture capital investment to further develop our app. After the Prize, our ‘project’ became a ‘company’."

AppMyCity! background and timeline

Applications for the AppMyCity! 2014 contest closed on April 18. The 10 semi-finalists were selected by the New Cities Foundation out of a total of 93 candidates, representing over 150 cities and 26 countries.

The international judging panel will now assess the ten semi-finalists and choose the three most outstanding apps, which will be announced by Guardian Cities on May 21.

The three finalists will be invited to the New Cities Summit in Dallas on June 17-19 where theywill each have five minutes to present their app to the 800 thought leaders present at the Summit. Following the presentations, the audience will cast a live vote to select the winning app. The winner will be announced during the Summit, and will walk away with the US$5,000 cash prize, to be used towards further development of the app.  

To find out more visit www.appmycity.org and www.newcitiessummit2014.org

Local press contact:

Brunswick Group - Dallas
Daniel Harrison
newcities@brunswickgroup.com
+1 214 254 3790 

International press contact:

Marina Bradbury
Communications & Media Relations Manager
New Cities Foundation
mbradbury@newcitiesfoundation.org
+33 6 17 79 17 72

Neil Mac Lean
Press & Communications Assistant
New Cities Foundation
nmaclean@newcitiesfoundation.org 

About AppMyCity!

AppMyCity! is a competition organized by the New Cities Foundation that promotes and rewards mobile apps that improve the urban experience, connect people, and make cities more fun, fair, vibrant and sustainable places.

AppMyCity! 2014 Judging panel

The judging panel comprises the following 10 leading experts from the private, non-profit, cultural and media fields:

• Naomi Alderman, novelist, broadcaster and games designer
• Arun Bhikshesvaran, Chief Marketing Officer, Ericsson
• Esther Dyson, Chairman,  EDventure Holdings
• John Egan, CEO, Sandbox
• Di-Ann Eisnor, VP Platform and Partnership, Waze
• Hussein Kanji, Partner, Hoxton Ventures
• Jemima Kiss, Head of Technology, the Guardian
• Anil Menon, President Globalization and Smart+Connected Communities, Cisco
• Christian Noske, Senior Associate,  BMW i Ventures
• John Rossant, Founder and Chairman, New Cities Foundation

AppMyCity Timeline - 2014

-          May 21: Three Finalists announced

-          June 18: Winner chosen at the New Cities Summit in Dallas, Texas

AppMyCity! is organized by the New Cities Foundation.

Media Partner:

 GUARDIAN CITIES

About the New Cities Summit

Organized by the New Cities Foundation, the New Cities Summit is the premier global leadership event on the future of cities. Fostering positive urban change, the high level gathering advocates cross-sector collaboration through network building, cutting-edge forums and lively discussion. The Summit showcases and disseminates the best ideas on the future of cities and generates concrete, scalable solutions capable of being adopted and replicated across the world. Following the inaugural Summit in Paris in 2012, last year’s event was hosted in São Paulo. The New Cities Summit 2014 will be hosted in Dallas, Texas, USA, from June 17 - 19.

    www.newcitiessummit2014.org

    @newcitiesfound#ncs2014

About the New Cities Foundation

The New Cities Foundation is a leading global non-profit organization with a vision to build more inclusive, dynamic and creative cities benefiting people and society. Its mission is to incubate, promote and scale urban innovations through collaborative partnerships between government, business, academia and civil society. The New Cities Foundation hosts a number of leadership events on the most pressing urban issues, including its flagship event, the New Cities Summit, which takes place this year in Dallas, Texas, on June 17 – 19, 2014 (www.newcitiessummit2014.org). The Foundation also hosts smaller leadership events worldwide, such as Cityquest - KAEC Forum, a high level event focusing on the conception and building of new cities around the world (www.cityquest.net). The Foundation’s applied research wing, the Urban (co)LAB, manages a number of projects including Task Forces, thought leadership activities and competitions. The Urban (co)LAB recently completed two Task Forces on Urban E-health in Rio de Janeiro and on Connected Commuting in San Jose, California. The Urban (co)LAB also manages the AppMyCity! contest for the world’s best new urban mobile app, and seeks out the most talented urban innovators for the WhatWorks series of talks hosted at the New Cities Summit. An independent, non-profit organization, the New Cities Foundation was created in 2010 and is financed by its members and partners. Overall, its members include some of the most forward-thinking companies, universities, cities and city organizations from around the world. The New Cities Foundation’s Founding Members are Cisco and Ericsson. The Foundation is based in Geneva and its head office is in Paris.

For more information about the New Cities Foundation, please visit: