Hilliard, Ohio, USA Receives Full Certification as an Intelligent Community

(New York City - October 22, 2024) – The Intelligent Community Forum announced today the Full Certification of Hilliard, Ohio, USA, providing objective validation of policies, programs and accomplishments that create inclusive prosperity, a vibrant society and rich local culture. These combine to make this growing suburban city, located in the Columbus metropolitan region, a highly desirable location for innovative businesses, institutions and people.

Hilliard is the first city in the United States to be Certified as an Intelligent Community. It is also a two-time Top7 Intelligent Community and currently a finalist in the 2024 Intelligent Community Awards.

“I had the privilege of auditing Hilliard for the Certification program,” said ICF co-founder Robert Bell. “What I found was more than an assembly of great projects driving economic growth and community engagement. It was the careful network of connections among those projects that gives them the power to accelerate the community forward.”

Meeting ICF’s Certification standard provides objective validation that a community has high-quality connectivity, effective workforce development, a business innovation ecosystem and meaningful community engagement, digital inclusion and sustainability programs in place. These qualities combine to support the growth of innovative businesses, meet their talent needs and provide inclusive prosperity and a high quality of life.


About Hilliard, Ohio

Hilliard is a small and growing city of 38,000 located in the metropolitan region of Columbus, the Ohio state capital and 2015 Intelligent Community of the Year. It is an affluent place, with a majority white-collar workforce and household income three times the US national average. Its proximity to Columbus lets residents benefit from that city’s urban attractions and economic energy – but with 1,200 businesses, Hilliard is a model of small-city innovation and growth on a technology foundation.

Hilliard is building strong foundations for a tech-driven economy that creates high-quality employment while sustaining its vibrant society and rich local culture. A dark-fiber project is driving high-speed broadband into every corner of the city, while a City Lab incubator generates startup companies, internship and career opportunities for local students and innovation solutions to public-sector challenges. Already home to Amazon Web Services, Foresee Power and Advanced Drainage Systems, Hilliard is boosting its attractiveness with a $105 million Wellness & Recreation Center funded by its citizens. More from the ICF profile of Hilliard.


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. It reports on connectivity, workforce development, public and private-sector innovation, digital inclusion, public engagement and sustainability and resilience. ICF applies its proven analytic methods to the data provided in the completed questionnaire 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’s mission is to help communities create innovative, sustainable and growing economies, inclusive societies and affirming cultures open to the world. We do it for communities large and small – in urban clusters, 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 sustainable path for the next generation.

The Forum sponsors Institutes in North America and Taiwan 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 were 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 programs and publications, go to www.intelligentcommunity.org.


Contacts
Matthew Owen, Executive Director, Intelligent Community Forum
Tel. +1 646-291-6166 (x105)
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @Newcommunities

Chase Evans, MPAL, Community Relations Specialist, City of Hilliard, Ohio
Email: [email protected]

Matthew Owen
Director of Operations, Intelligent Community Forum
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