Communities from nine nations over five continents named as semi-finalists in ICF’s annual Intelligent Community of the Year Awards Program

(March 6, 2025 – New York, NY, USA & Hamilton, ON, Canada) – At the conclusion of a conference hosted by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), Artefact Social and the Hamilton Technology Centre, ICF today named the world’s Smart21 Communities of 2025. The announcement was made at a special evening event after the Communities in Transition conference in the host city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

The selection of the Smart21 Communities of the Year begins the semi-finalist phase in ICF’s annual Awards Program. In June, ICF will announce the Top7 Intelligent Communities as finalists in the Awards program at the Top7 Conference & Announcement in Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain. The program will conclude when ICF names the 2025 Intelligent Community of the Year at the ICF Global Summit in Binh Duong, Vietnam in October. One of these twenty-one communities named today will succeed Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, the 2024 Intelligent Community of the Year.

The Smart21 Communities of 2025:

• Alcobendas, Spain
• Assaí, Paraná, Brazil
• Bilbao, Spain
• Brightlands-Limburg, The Netherlands
• Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, Türkiye
• Chiayi County, Taiwan
• Coral Gables, Florida, USA
• Durham Region, Ontario, Canada
• Fairfield/Jefferson County, Iowa, USA
• Grey County, Ontario, Canada
• Hilliard, Ohio, USA
• Kingston, Ontario, Canada
• Konya Metropolitan Municipality, Türkiye
• Langley City, British Columbia, Canada
• Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain
• Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
• Pingtung County, Taiwan
• Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil
• Reykjavík, Iceland
• Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Spain
• Warner Robins, Georgia, USA

The Smart21 Communities of 2025 include cities and counties from nine countries spread over five continents and nine first-time honorees in the Intelligent Community Awards. This year’s first-time honorees are Alcobendas, Bilbao, Brightlands-Limburg, Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, Chiayi County, Konya Metropolitan Municipality, Langley City, Parramatta and Sant Feliu de Llobregat. The announcement video may be viewed below. The video is also available by request as a high-resolution download.

“The emergence of Intelligent Communities in Europe, and especially Spain, the site of last year’s ICF Summit, demonstrates the global appeal and universality of our message that any place a person calls ‘home’ can become a livable, sustainable and joyful place. But it does take effort and each of these communities around the world have put in the work,” said ICF Co-Founder and host of The Intelligent Community podcast Louis Zacharilla.

Next Steps in the Award Program
Following this announcement, the Smart21 will provide more information on their challenges and successes. From this data, ICF Analysts will select seven to be named the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2025. The Top7 will then be the focus of the 2025 ICF Global Summit in October, where one will be named the Intelligent Community of the Year.

The Smart21 are selected by ICF based on quantitative and qualitative data related to the six factors of the Community Accelerator Strategy. The Community Accelerator Strategy provides the conceptual framework for understanding the factors that determine a community’s competitiveness in economic, social and cultural terms. Click here to learn more.

The announcement concluded the Communities in Transition conference, held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, which featured speakers from communities in Canada, the US, Spain and The Netherlands. The summit harnessed the collective expertise of domestic and international stakeholders, including smart city advocates and solution providers, to explore topics ranging from solving the housing crisis to public-private partnerships and the emerging role of AI in infrastructure, healthcare and more. The full program can be found here.

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 and growing economies, inclusive societies and affirming cultures open to the world. 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 in North America 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 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, Executive Director, Intelligent Community Forum
Tel. +1 646-291-6166 (x105)
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @Newcommunities

Victoria Krisman, Communications Manager, Intelligent Community Forum
Email: [email protected]