Focused on helping communities across the globe, IBM today launched Smarter Cities Challenge, a competition providing grants to 100 municipalities worldwide for a better, more competent rendering of municipal services. IBM has allocated $50 million worth of cash and technology to this latest engagement. This is yet another generous outlay from IBM following what has been it’s program for three years now and counting, Corporate Service Corps.

IBM experts will be working hand-in-hand with participating municipalities, providing recommendations for development, better services while encouraging public awareness and participation. The collaboration will be tackling several local issues which involves community management specifically in the areas of healt hcare, education, safety, social services, transportation, communications, sustainability, budget management, energy, and utilities.

Considering all the data gathered, IBM experts will evaluate the necessities while examining strengths and weaknesses of individual communities, following the pattern of successful cities. This means collecting, sharing, analyzing and acting on data, and linking different processes together to cutback expenditures while at the same time, improving output. Realization of these goals means a better catering of constituents’ needs, and subsequently, attract potential residents and business investments.

According to the United Nations, more than half of the world’s human population began living in cities for the first time in the world’s history in 2008.

“Cities are vitally important to society and the economy,” said Stanley S. Litow, IBM Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, and President of IBM’s Foundation. “But they have enormous challenges and need the innovation, creativity and technical know-how to tackle longstanding, tough issues and plan for the future. We’re excited at the prospect of helping city leaders address the most demanding challenges of our time and make their cities even more liveable.”

While the program has just been inaugurated, it has provided a series of pilot grants in Baltimore, Maryland; Austin, Texas; and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (Greater Charlotte).

“We are honored to have been the first city chosen for IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge,” said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. “Over the last number of weeks, we enjoyed brainstorming with IBM about making the delivery of Baltimore City’s citizen services even more effective. It was refreshing to hear new and creative points of view, and inspiring to hear about the successful approaches undertaken by other like-minded cities. I was particularly pleased that they quickly grasped our vision for the future, and offered strategies for realizing and even enhancing those potential plans.”

Municipalities are chosen based on certain conditions including a proposal of 2-4 strategic issues that are relevant and solvable, and can greatly utilize the resources of IBM. The cities attitude towards the project, its history of innovative problem solving, its motivation to employment of technology and willingness is also evaluated.

Since 2003, IBM has compromised 150,000 of its talented employees to share over 10 million hours of service for the betterment of communities in 70 countries.  See here for more details on the Smarter Planet initiative, and here for more info on IBM’s goals.