In the USA, asking that question is not a quick way to make friends. It suggests you’re concerned about the mental stability of the person you’re asking. But for the Intelligent Community Forum, it is the start of a serious inquiry.

In 2024, we began certifying cities, counties and regions as Intelligent Communities, which offers them a unique distinction with a very specific meaning.  This autumn, we will announce the Intelligent Community Certification of three new communities in Europe. 

It means that they have high-quality connectivity, effective workforce development and a well-structured business innovation ecosystem. It certifies that they have meaningful community engagement, digital inclusion and sustainability programs in place. This matrix of support enables them to grow innovative businesses, meet their talent needs and provide inclusive prosperity and a high quality of life to the people who that place their home. 

(New York City – June 16, 2026) – The Intelligent Community Forum announced today the Full Certification of Yunlin County, a major supplier of agricultural and fisheries products to Taiwan. The announcement took place at “Circular Living,” the 2026 Top7 Intelligent Communities conference taking
place in the province of Limburg, Netherlands.

Yunlin County had previously qualified for Provisional Certification based on self-reported data. A two-day, onsite audit by an ICF representative validated this information and provided fresh insights into how the county works to to automate production, retain young talent, promote the creation of new companies and prevent the decline that affects so many agricultural regions around the world.

(New York City – March 24, 2026) – The Intelligent Community Forum announced today the Full Certification of Assaí, a community of 15,000 people located in Paraná, Brazil.

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.

(New York City – November 18, 2025) The Intelligent Community Forum today announced the Full Certification of Kingston in Ontario, Canada as an Intelligent Community, effective November 1, 2025. Certification was issued based on an audit of the initiatives, programs and policies that make Kingston a highly desirable place to learn, live, work and set down roots in Canada.

Humans are the masters of Earth when it comes to energy. We reap it from fossil fuels, the sun, wind and waters, even from the atom. You are using it now to read these words. Yet we waste most of it in the form of heat, whether it’s the blazing temperatures inside the engine of your car or the heat pouring out of the smokestack of a factory. By most, I mean up to 70 percent. That’s ridiculously bad for both our wallets and our environment.

What if there was a technology that could harvest the waste heat from factories, power plants and data centers and turn it into electricity? Well, there is – and it is being born at a startup housed at a university in an underappreciated corner of Ontario Province called Durham.

The Intelligent Community Forum today announced the renewal of New Taipei City’s Full Certification as an Intelligent Community, based on an audit of the programs, policies and achievements that make New Taipei City a highly desirable place to live, work and innovate in Taiwan. 

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. 

(New York City – October 9, 2025) The Intelligent Community Forum today announced the renewal of New Taipei City’s Full Certification as an Intelligent Community, based on an audit of the programs, policies and achievements that make New Taipei City a highly desirable place to live, work and innovate in Taiwan. 

My audit of New Taipei City for its Intelligent Community Certification wrapped up with insight into how cities can get the most out of the digital transformation. We visited the Sanchong Education and Activity Center, one of four locations where people of all ages (but mostly seniors) come to learn how to use digital tech. My takeaway: if you are doing digital inclusion, cover the basics– but change things based on what’s popular. The popularity list at Sanchong starts with podcasting and live streaming, followed (of course) by AI. The Center updates its courses and workshops every year to stay current. That’s how they have trained hundreds of thousands of New Taipei citizens.

I just finished my first day of auditing New Taipei City in Taiwan for renewal of its Intelligent Community Certification. Along the way, we had lunch, as the picture shows. But in between the glasses of iced tea, I picked up noteworthy, new ways that local governments can help their existing and new companies succeed: 

#1 Improving the Odds of Startup Success with Crowdfunding

New Taipei selects startups each year – including indigenous and new residents – to benefit from crowdfunding campaigns. In six years, the city has helped nearly 80 startups each crowdsource an average of US$120,000. The money isn’t really the point. It is to help startups identify their value and road-test their messaging early in their development, based on feedback from the crowd. The city team provides a professional-grade crowdfunding campaign and supplements it with product and target market analysis, media exposure, industry and government connections and access to grants. It’s an imaginative way to support the early development of new companies.

(July 2, 2025 – New York City) – During the Top7 Conference & Announcement in Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain, the Intelligent Community Forum announced that Yunlin County, Taiwan, has achieved Provisional Certification as an Intelligent Community.

The Yunlin County, Taiwan delegation at the Top7 Conference & Announcement in Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain (June 16, 2025)