(New York City – November 3, 2026) – The Intelligent Community Forum today announced the Provisional Certification of Castro, in the state of Paraná, Brazil, as an Intelligent Community. Certification was issued based self-reported data submitted by the city describing its programs in connectivity and digital services, workforce development, support for business innovation and meaningful community engagement, digital inclusion and sustainability.
ICF’s Certification standard provides objective assessment of the factors that combine, in an economy dominated by technology change, to support the growth of innovative businesses, meet their talent needs and provide inclusive prosperity and a high quality of life for residents.
“Castro is the second city in Paraná to participate in the Certification program,” said ICF co-founder Robert Bell, “and became the first to gain a level of Certification without first being named a Smart21 community in ICF’s international award program. Intelligent Community Certification is increasingly becoming a standard to which communities large and small aspire.”
About Castro
Today, this city of 75,000 is known as the ‘National Capital of Milk’ for its role in the dairy industry of southern Brazil. Castro hosts the annual Agroleite exhibition, one of the country’s largest dairy shows, which welcomes 120,000 visitors each year to technical panels, machinery demonstrations and forums highlighting innovations in animal care and dairy production. It is a symbol of Castro’s ability to turn traditions into a foundation for progress.
Agricultural economies around the world struggle with retaining their youth, who find the lure of urban opportunity hard to resist. Castro has programs in operation and development to open the eyes of young people to appealing local careers. Rather than pursue a disjointed collection of projects, the city is establishing the legal and institutional framework for a comprehensive innovation ecosystem connecting government, industry and institutions. At its heart is a new Municipal Council for Science, Technology and Innovation that will allocate funding to buy technology, develop innovation centers and modernize public services.
The success of the Agroleite exhibition offers an opportunity for further development, and Castro is seizing it with a planned Agroleite Technology Park to rise next to the exhibition fairgrounds. An agreement signed between the city and Paraná state will bring together universities, companies and startups for applied and technology research to enhance agricultural productivity. An accompanying vocational training center will increase the pool of skilled labor available to the dairy industry.
Learn more about Castro at the ICF website: https://www.intelligentcommunity.org/castro
About Intelligent Community Certification
Intelligent Community Certification is an economic development credential based on ICF’s Community Accelerator Strategy and analytic methods developed over two decades of research and work with more than 200 communities around the world. It is provided in two stages. In the first stage, the municipality, county or region completes an online questionnaire with guidance from ICF. ICF applies its proven analytic methods to the data and produces both detailed and summary scoring. Communities whose summary score meets or exceeds the standard receive Provisional Certification based on this self-reported data, and the certification must be renewed yearly to remain in effect.
Full Certification requires an onsite audit by ICF. In a site visit, an ICF auditor validates the information provided by the community for its Provisional Certification and learns more about the programs and practices that make it an Intelligent Community. Following the audit, the auditor prepares a report detailing results and updates the scoring of the community based on the audit. Communities whose summary score meets or exceeds the standard receive Full Certification, which is good for three years.
Intelligent Community Certification is based on a set of standards described in detail on the ICF website.
About the Intelligent Community Forum
Starting in 2000 with a research project comparing cities in various nations, the Intelligent Community Forum (www.intelligentcommunity.org) created a unique, data-driven approach to development that puts citizens first while tapping the enormous economic and social potential of technology. In a world dominated by digital, ICF helps cities, counties and regions use technology – and adapt to the massive changes it brings – to create inclusive prosperity, strengthen social bonds and enrich local culture for their people. These are the three markers of success for the place people call home. We do it for communities large and small, in urban clusters and outlying suburbs and rural places through training, consulting, assessment, certification and award programs. ICF believes that digital connectivity and technology create the opportunity for almost every community to develop a dynamic local economy and the social and cultural strengths that go with it – giving them all a chance to be great places to live, work, learn, grow, raise a family and prepare a path for the next generation.
The Forum sponsors Institutes around the world dedicated to the study of the movement, and national organizations in Canada and Taiwan, both home to many Intelligent Communities. 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.”
For more details on the Intelligent Community Forum’s recent publications and programs, www.intelligentcommunity.org.
Contact:
Matthew Owen, Executive Director, Intelligent Community Forum
[email protected]
