New York, NY – July 10, 2014 - The Intelligent Community Forum announces the opening of nominations for the 2015 Intelligent Community of the Year Awards Program. The 2015 Awards Program run by the New York-based think tank will name the 17th Intelligent Community of the Year, a community that is a global leader in creating wealth and jobs by seizing the opportunities of information and communications technology (ICT). The 2014 recipient was Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Communities large and small, urban and rural, in developing and industrialized nations are all invited to apply. Nominations are accepted from local governments, institutions, companies, non-profit organizations, national government agencies and consular offices. There is no cost to submit a nomination. On average, the Intelligent Community Forum tracks the progress of 400 communities each year through its own research as well as nominations submitted by communities.

The nominations form is posted at www.intelligentcommunity.org/nominations. There is also a community self-test to determine if a community could be a contender for an award. Nominations will close on Monday, Sept. 22, 2014.

The 2015 Theme: The Revolutionary Community

In 2015, the Intelligent Community Forum will focus on the study of urban and regional planning and how it is impacting the way people live, work and create in their cities and towns. The work of creating an Intelligent Community often begins in crisis. It may be a severe economic downturn after major employers relocate. It may be accelerating brain drain as the community’s most talented people leave in search of opportunity. Or it may be more subtle – a dawning awareness that the community faces profound risks to its future.

In response to crisis, Intelligent Communities hold public consultations, launch programs and build infrastructure that they hope will create a new foundation for prosperity and wellbeing.

But once the crisis is past, how do Intelligent Communities maintain their momentum and avoid being caught unprepared by the next wave of change? They engage in urban and regional planning – a deliberate, strategic and collaborative effort to design a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable future for their people.

But this is planning with a difference. They know that today’s disruptions in technology, the economy and the environment will only grow more intense. They understand the profound impact that the “Broadband Economy” will have on their physical form, the delivery of services and their competitive advantages. So they approach the planning of land-use and infrastructure, sustainability and community development in revolutionary ways. Creativity is added to the mix in ways never before imagined. In the process, they reinvent what it means to plan. More information will become available in a white paper, The Revolutionary Community, to be published on the Nominations page at www.intelligentcommunity.org/nominations.

“Urban planning has to adapt to the same forces that are transforming cities, towns and regions,” said Intelligent Community Forum co-founder John G. Jung, an urban design expert. “The risk for planners today is that, if they only pay attention to the physical form of the city or region without taking its virtual form into account, they will increasingly be out of step with the needs of the places for which they are planning.”

Criteria for Becoming an Intelligent Community

Evaluation of nominations is based on the ICF's five Intelligent Community Indicators, which provide the conceptual framework for understanding all of the factors that determine a community's competitiveness and point to its success in the broadband economy. This year, the Intelligent Community Forum is piloting the addition of a sixth Indicator focusing on environmental sustainability.

In addition to the Community Indicators, this year’s Intelligent Community Awards are guided by the 2015 theme.

Stages of the Program

The Awards program is a 12-month, three-stage process:

• First Stage: The Smart21 – After review of nominations received from cities and regions worldwide by an international academic team, the Intelligent Community Forum will announce the Smart21 Communities of the Year on Oct. 21, 2014. The announcement will be made at Walsh University in Ohio, USA, home to the Institute for the Study of the Intelligent Community.
• Second Stage: The Top7 –The Intelligent Community Forum invites the Smart21 to complete a detailed questionnaire, which is evaluated by an independent research firm. The seven highest-scoring cities or regions are then named as the Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year. The Top7 will be announced on Jan. 22, 2015 in Taichung City, Taiwan, the 2013 Intelligent Community of the Year. The Top7 become the focus of intense interest around the world among governments, institutions, technology companies, the international media and the citizens of each of the seven communities.
• Third Stage: The Intelligent Community of the Year – The Intelligent Community Forum co-founders make two-day site visits to each of the Top7 communities and write reports, which are reviewed by an international jury of thought leaders. Their votes are combined with the analysis of the independent research company to select the Intelligent Community of the Year. Finally, during Intelligent Community Forum’s annual Summit in June 2015 in New York City one of the Top7 will be named the Intelligent Community of the Year.

About the Intelligent Community Forum
The Intelligent Community Forum studies and promotes the best practices of the world's Intelligent Communities as they adapt to the demands and seize the opportunities presented by information and communications technology (ICT). To help communities build prosperous economies, solve social problems and enrich local cultures, the Intelligent Community Forum conducts research, hosts events, publishes and produces its high-profile international awards program. Over more than a decade, the Intelligent Community Forum has become an international movement that attracts the attention of global leaders, thinkers, and media observers. The Intelligent Community Foundation consists of 126 cities and regions that have been designated as Intelligent Communities and which participate in an ongoing global dialogue to strengthen local economies. The Intelligent Community Forum recently announced publication of its third book, Brain Gain. For more information, go to www.intelligentcommunity.org

Intelligent Community Forum Contacts
Louis Zacharilla
Co-Founder Intelligent Community Forum
Phone: 1-212-249-0624
Email: [email protected]

Matthew Owen
Communications Director
Intelligent Community Forum
Phone: 1-646-291-6166 (x105)
Email: [email protected]

Paul Brent
Senior Communications Specialist
market2world communications inc.
Phone: 1-613-256-3939
Email: [email protected]