The Public Technology Institute (PTI), a nonprofit research and development group, will honor nine cities and counties later this month for their innovation in information technology, Federal Computer Week (FCW) reports.

PTI spotlights governments that employ IT to increase the efficiency of public services and reduce costs, among other things, FCW reports.  Cities and counties that entered were also judged on the likelihood that their systems or models could be re-created in other locations, according to FCW.

Winning locales will be recognized at the organization’s 2006 Congress for Technology Leadership, to be held in Chicago from April 30 to May 2, FCW reports.

Awards are handed down to winners in small, medium and large municipalities, for four categories including emergency management, public safety, sustainability, and telecommunications, IT and the Internet, according to FCW.

Fairfax County, Va., took the large municipality emergency management award for a subscription-based application in which residents can request to receive emergency alerts via e-mail, cell phone or PDA, FCW reports. Fairfax County was also recently honored by CIO. Check out the 2006 Enterprise Value Award Winners Guide.

Phoenix, Ariz., won the large municipality public safety award for enabling Neighborhood Services Department inspectors to use laptop computers to wirelessly access databases for code enforcement, according to FCW.

The city of Phoenix also took the large municipality telecommunications and Internet award, for an aviation data system that links information from three disparate flight terminals into one data stream, which is then filtered and displayed in parking lots and waiting areas where people can monitor the time it takes to pick up passengers, FCW reports.

Miami-Dade County, Fla., was named as the winner of the large municipality sustainability category, which includes IT developments related to the environment, for a system that enables the county’s water inspectors to collect and file information wirelessly from the field, FCW reports.

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