The Intelligent Community Forum is an organization that looks at the social and economic growth of cities world-wide with the goal of identifying communities that stand as models for other communities looking to become Intelligent Communities. Indicators that are used may be read here.
Annually, the Forum identifies 21 of the best and creates a list called the Smart 21. Last October, that list was announced.
- Birmingham, UK
- Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
- Chongqing, China
- Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
- Dakota County, Minnesota, USA
- Danville, Virginia, USA
- Dublin, Ohio, USA
- Eindhoven, Netherlands
- Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
- Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
- Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
- Northeast Ohio, USA
- Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
- Riverside, California, USA
- Shanghai, China
- Sopron, Hungary
- Stratford, Ontario, Canada
- Taoyuan County, Taiwan
- Trikala, Greece
- Windsor-Essex, Ontario, Canada
- Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Details about each of the communities can be found here.
The next step in this process is to whittle this group to 7. In Hawaii yesterday, that list was announced.
- Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
- Dublin, Ohio, USA
- Eindhoven, Netherlands
- Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
- Riverside, California, USA
- Stratford, Ontario, Canada
- Windsor-Essex, Ontario, Canada
It bears a second read of the community summaries. The list includes cities that are not the largest – actually Windsor-Essex is the largest of the group – but based upon the community reacting to local circumstances and working towards an environment which will lead the community in to the future.
When you think about Stratford, what comes to mind? Of course, it’s the Festival.
When you think about Windsor-Essex, what comes to mind? The auto industry.
When you read the profiles of these communities, you can see good things happening in both of these communities as they expand the opportunities for their members. Both communities are big enough to be significant players, and yet, small enough to make innovation happen. Kudos go to both Stratford and Windsor-Essex for this recognition.
Hopefully, more communities will study what’s happening as these communities plan for the future and they use these plans as motivation for their own growth. For this moment in time, the lights are shining on these two communities. The next step in this Intelligent Forum is to identify one from this group of seven as the “Intelligent Community of the Year”.
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doug --- off the record 