(New York City – September 22, 2026) The Intelligent Community Forum has awarded Full Certification as an Intelligent Community to Málaga, Spain, based on data analysis and an in-person audit of the programs, policies and achievements of the city.
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. In an age of massive economic change driven by technology advances, Intelligent Communities help their people, businesses and institutions to continuously adapt to change and become a place where people choose to live and companies choose to invest.
Málaga is the first city in Spain to apply for Intelligent Community Certification without previously nominating itself for the annual Intelligent Community Awards, which will name the Intelligent Community of the Year in October.
In his report on the audit, ICF co-founder and auditor John Jung wrote, “Málaga is a model of transformation from a “smart city” with technological savvy into a true Intelligent Community. It promotes digital inclusion and equality through a strategy combining infrastructure access, skills development, and socially targeted innovation programs to ensure that the benefits of its digital transformation are broadly shared. Together, these efforts create a multi-dimensional inclusion framework where connectivity, education, and civic participation reinforce each other, helping position Málaga’s innovation agenda as both technologically advanced and socially equitable.
“Malaga points the way, not just for major cities but for cities, counties and regions of all sizes,” said ICF co-founder Robert Bell, who leads the Certification program. “We have learned from cities of a few thousand, from rural counties and entire provinces, that the principles and practices of Intelligent Communities are scalable. All communities face both opportunity and challenge from the accelerating digital revolution, and all can benefit from their example.”
About Málaga
It is one of the oldest cities in Western Europe, continuously inhabited for nearly 3,000 years, in no small part because of its desirable location on the Costa del Sol of the Mediterranean. To the nearly four million tourists who visit every year, it offers sun-soaked beaches, a vibrant arts scene, world-class museums and Moorish fortresses. 
But there is another Málaga that tourists may never know. It is a city training up a workforce ready to succeed in the digital economy. A city of IoT networks and intelligent digital platforms, of business incubators and a thriving technology district. A city that works hard to involve its 600,000 citizens in their collective governance, and that deploys technology to ensure them a prosperous and sustainable future. Learn more about Málaga from its full profile on the ICF website.
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 work with more than 200 communities around the world. The evaluation is based in part on written information submitted by the community on connectivity, workforce development, public and private-sector innovation, digital inclusion, public engagement and sustainability and resilience. To validate this information, ICF conducts a 2-day onsite audit that also explores how well the community integrates its programs in these areas to multiply their impact and increase their value. Following the audit, the auditor prepares a report detailing results and finalizes the scoring on which Certification is based. Once issued, the Certification remains effective for three years and must be renewed through updating of written information and another audit.
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
[email protected]
