The award, held biennially, is aimed at recognizing and showcasing successful new public service practices or improved environmentally friendly systems into major cities and local governments either locally or overseas. It is a unique meritorious award, which was originally proposed by the former Mayor of Guangzhou, Wan Qingliang, and has become a joint cooperative initiative by Metropolis, the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the city of Guangzhou.

For more information on the press conference and the Guangzhou Innovation Award, read the original news stories in Chinese and their related pdf documents in Spanish. You will also find the press release published on the Metropolis website on pdf format:

http://gz.ifeng.com/zaobanche/detail_2012_03/29/176558_0.shtml

http://roll.sohu.com/20120329/n339216075.shtml