(26 JANUARY 2017 – NEW YORK CITY) – Thought leaders from cities as diverse as New Westminster in British Columbia, Canada, Tallinn in Estonia and Binh Duong in Vietnam will be in Taipei, Taiwan on 9 February to hear who makes the list of the Intelligent Community Forum’s annual Top7 Intelligent Communities. The international awards program, now in its 18th year, begins with 400 candidates each year. Through the work of a team of international analysts, the list goes to 21 and then 7. In June, one of the Top7 will be named the world’s Intelligent Community of the Year in New York at the ICF Summit (June 6-8, www.icfsummit.com). Montreal, Quebec, Canada is the reigning Intelligent Community of the Year.

ICF founders John Jung and Lou Zacharilla will be present at the announcement, which follows a one-day conference on the topic of “The Internet of Cities” at the Shangi-La Hotel in Taipei. Each will deliver a keynote address and will be interviewed on panels. The ICF co-founders will be joined by several of Taiwan’s 13 intelligent communities, along with delegates from the United States, Canada, Netherlands, Estonia and Vietnam. Other featured speakers at the event include Lin Chuan, Premier of the Executive Yuan (Invited); Charles Lin, Deputy Mayor of Taipei City; Chang Cheng-Yuan, Deputy Mayor of Tainan City; Cheng Wen-Tsan, Mayor of Taoyuan City (Invited); Twu Shing-Jer, Mayor of Chiayi City; Terence Wong, Director of GSMA; Christian Jansen, CTO of Gaius; and Rob McCann, President of Clearcable Networks. Taiwan’s nationwide Smart City advocate, the Committee of Accelerating Mobile Broadband Service and Industry Development, Ministry of Economic Affairs, is hosting the conference.

The new Top7 Announcement video will be posted to ICF’s website at the same time the announcement is made in Taipei. www.intelligentcommunity.org

“The naming of a new Top7 is a chance for every community in the world to take a snapshot of themselves and measure it against their current progress,” said Lou Zacharilla. “We are always surprised by the list, but always discover why these seven are the ones invited to be the ‘stars’ of our Summit in June.”

“The conference and the announcement that follow are great opportunities for our global communities to gather and to continue the dialogue about how we plan for a future that will be more vibrant, safe and prosperous,” said John Jung. “The new Top7 will be models for others to become inspired by throughout 2017.”

About the Intelligent Community Awards Program
Each year, the Intelligent Community Forum presents an awards program for Intelligent Communities and the public-sector and private-sector partners who contribute to them. The awards program has two goals: to salute the accomplishments of communities in developing inclusive prosperity on a foundation of information and communications technology, and to gather data for ICF's research programs and publications, including books such as the most recently-published Brain Gain.

The process begins with communities filling out the ICF Awards Program Nominations Form. In the autumn, ICF's team of analysts reviews the forms submitted, evaluating communities based on the Intelligent Community Indicators, and announces its Smart21 Communities of the Year. These Smart21 are the initial group of honorees that are semi-finalists for the Intelligent Community of the Year.

The Smart21 then fill out a more extensive questionnaire detailing their opportunities, challenges, and results. ICF's analysts review the questionnaires and, in February, ICF names the Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year. The Top7 receive media coverage both locally and internationally, and become the finalists for ICF's Intelligent Community of the Year award.

Each of the Top7 Intelligent Communities are then examined further, both through deeper inspection of the questionnaires and a visit from an ICF co-founder. An international team of jurors then cast their votes and, on the closing date of ICF's annual Summit, one of the Top7 is named as the Intelligent Community of the Year.

ICF also names, each year, the Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year. This award is presented to an individual or an organization that has taken a leadership role in promoting broadband technology and applications as an essential utility in the Digital Age. The winner is honored along with the Intelligent Community of the Year at the Intelligent Community Awards Dinner during the ICF Summit.

About the ICF Summit, 6-8 June, New York City
The annual ICF Summit is unlike any municipal, urban planning or economic development conference you attend. Attendees will take away value that translates into direct benefit to the citizens, businesses and institutions they serve:

• Economic development leads. Identify site location and investment opportunities, as well as “soft landing” targets for local business, at our economic development matchmaking session.
• Ideas you can put to use. Meet officials from cities, counties and metro areas who face similar challenges and have created strategies and programs to deal with them. Many may have developed solutions that apply to your community. Peer mentoring starts at the Summit and continues long after through the relationships you forge.
• Inspiration to act. Too often, efforts to build a better community wind up in an endless loop of meetings, analysis, workshops and more analysis. The inspiring examples you encounter at the Summit show you how to take the first essential steps on the journey.
• International reach. McKinsey & Company estimates that 80% of the world’s trade will cross international borders by 2027. Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Solow has proven that 80% of economic growth comes from technology innovation. The Summit is your most direct route to international opportunity in the innovation economy.

Key Events at the Annual ICF Summit include:

• Urban and Rural Master Classes teaching development strategies based on information and communications technology
• Economic Development Matchmaking for public and private-sector organizations seeking new opportunities.
• Top7 Intelligent Communities Reception, honoring the finalists for the Intelligent Community Awards
• Top7 Conversations with the mayors and administrative leaders of our finalists
• Intelligent Community Awards Dinner, where one of the Top7 is named Intelligent Community of the Year

The 2017 ICF Summit takes place on June 6-8 in New York City. Click here for more information.

About The Internet of Cities
The Internet of Cities, the topic of the conference and the theme of ICF’s 2017 Awards Program, is an up-close and provocative look at how information and communications technology (ICT) challenges every city, region and town to outperform its past. In the broadband economy – the worldwide marketplace created by the Internet – local economic success depends on the global economy in ways we never before imagined. That gives a powerful advantage to places that are used to competing on the world stage, but also calls on them to redefine what has made them successful for a new era. For places that are not used to global competition, meanwhile, the broadband economy presents enormous challenge and unprecedented opportunity. The future of the place called home literally depends on the choices that mayors, city managers, IT professionals and economic developers make today. Click here to read more about The Internet of Cities.

About the Intelligent Community Forum
The Intelligent Community Forum (www.intelligentcommunity.org), headquartered in New York, is a global movement of nearly 150 cities, metro regions and counties with a think tank at its heart. ICF studies and promotes the best practices of the world's Intelligent Communities as they adapt to the new demands and seize the opportunities presented by information and communications technology (ICT). To help cities and regions build prosperous economies, solve social problems and enrich local cultures, the Intelligent Community Forum conducts research, hosts global events, publishes books, and produces its high-profile annual international awards program. The Forum has two Institutes in North America dedicated to the study of the movement, with more institutes planned. Global leaders, thinkers, and media observers follow and participate in the ongoing global dialogue initiated by the Intelligent Community Forum. In 2012 ICF was invited to participate at the Nobel Peace Prize conference in Oslo and in 2014, its model and work was recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which, according to the American government, was "aimed at creating a more flexible and responsive system of workforce development to meet the needs of employers looking to fill 21st century jobs.” The Forum’s membership is made up of 145 designated Intelligent Communities worldwide, which is represented by mayors and key civic leaders. For more information, go to www.intelligentcommunity.org/icf_membership. For more details on the Intelligent Community Forum’s recent publications and programs, www.intelligentcommunity.org.

Intelligent Community Forum Contacts
Matthew Owen
Director of Operations
Intelligent Community Forum
Phone: +1 646-291-6166 (x105)
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @Newcommunities