This year’s Smart City Awards honored a handful of municipalities, regions and companies in Greece, as the annual event rewards the most innovative actions in the field of “smart cities”. Organizers referred to projects that combine digital transformation, sustainable development and real improvement of the everyday life of citizens.
The big winners of 2026
At the top of the distinctions were the Municipality of Athens, which was awarded the title of Smart City of Year. The municipality, the largest and most populous in the greater Athens-Piraeus agglomeration, was praised for presenting an integrated model of a modern, sustainable and digitally accessible city that serves as a model for the whole country.
To the west of Athens, but still in the Attica prefecture, the Municipality of Mandra – Idyllia was picked as the Municipality of the Year, with the organizers citing applications that focus providing direct services to the citizen, while the Municipality of Kalamata won the title of “Smart Town of the Year”.
At the regional level, eastern Macedonia and Thrace emerged as “Smart Region of the Year”, for the successful implementation of digital transformation projects and sustainable development initiatives.
Technology, social cohesion
In terms of the private sector, the company Crowdpolicy was declared Smart City Supplier of the Year for its contribution to the development of infrastructure that promotes transparency and participation in public administration.
Kudos for Gavdos
The most poignant moment of the evening was presentation of the Platinum Prize to the Municipality of Gavdos. The project “Cultural Workshop Gavdos: From Ruin to Pillar of Sustainability and Culture” showed that innovation does not necessarily require huge budgets, but vision and respect for tradition. Specifically, a ruined building on the small isle, located due south of Crete, was transformed into a living “cell of culture”, linking sustainability to the identity of the island.
