(Hsinchu City, Taiwan and New York, NY, USA – March 20, 2018) – The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) and Chung Hua University (CHU) have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) to create ICF’s first Institute for the study of Smart Cities and Intelligent Communities in the Asian region, to be located at Chung Hua University. The signing ceremony took place in Taiwan at CHU in Hsinchu City between John G. Jung, ICF’s Co-Founder and Victor W. Liu, President of CHU. The ceremony was witnessed by CHU professors, students and staff as well as community leaders from several Taiwanese cities, including from Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County and Taoyuan County and several private sector leaders. The signing was followed by a keynote address by ICF’s Chairman entitled “The Intelligent Community Movement”. Mr. LC Chen was awarded with the appointment as Honored Dean of the ICF Institute in Taiwan. Following the ceremonial signing, ICF’s Co-Founder officially opened a new Anime Museum and participated in a banquet hosted by the Hsinchu County Magistrate Chiu.

Hsinchu City scored the highest this year on a happiness index ranking the cities and counties of Taiwan.

The city also improved the most of the 22 counties and cities, from 10th last year to first in this year's survey, the results of which were released Tuesday.

As the first hurricane-force storm sits just off from the Atlantic Ocean’s shores, the American Northeast Summer draws to a close. During its rapid course, I took some hours to look back on the ICF Summit in June, celebrate its highlights and to consider what it means as our movement goes forward into the next Awards cycle, with its conclusion this time on the big stage of New York.

In 1980, Taiwan’s National Science Council set up the nation’s first science park in Hsinchu City, as a means to create a domestic high-tech industry. Today, the 500 companies in Hsinchu Science Park employ 150,000 people and generate US$16.6 billion in total revenue. More than 10 percent of those companies are spin-outs from one of Hsinchu’s many universities and research institutes. The 2008-09 financial crisis hit the Park hard as demand slackened for the semiconductors its companies produced. Leading companies like TSMC, UMS, Acer and Chimei Innolux shifted investment into higher-value products and services; the integrated circuit design business grew 9 percent from 2008 to 2009. These steps led to employment growth of 11% and production growth of 25% from 2006 to 2011, leaving Hsinchu with a 2012 unemployment rate of just 4.2 percent.

The Challenge of Sustainability

Today, under Mayor Hsu Ming-Tsai, the city’s challenge is to translate economic success into civic success: to make Hsinchu City a sustainable Intelligent Community with a high quality of life, where innovation is a part of people’s daily lives. Government and business are pursuing the goal on multiple fronts. Global Mobile Corp, the dominant wireless provider, has extended 4G wireless to 97% of the city, while Chungwha Telecom has made 100 Mbps fiber service available to 64% of residents as part of the national M-Taiwan program. Digital education has gone mainstream. The city was the first in Taiwan to implement e-learning platforms – the e-Book Schoolbag and e-Book Reader – which now reach nearly 60 schools. A new cloud-based English teaching platform was launched in 2012 to help students learn the international language of business in school and at home. Hsinchu City government has put a smart card into the hands of 120,000 residents that lets them take the bus, pay parking fees, borrow library books, shop and receive discounts from more than 30 participating vendors. Data collected from users is helping the city adjust bus schedules and measure how efficiently services are delivered across Hsinchu. City government has also launched an Intelligent City Project Office, which is promoting initiatives like the smart card to involve citizens closely in the city’s continued transformation. In December 2013, the city squeezed past the capital of Taipei to take the top rank in a “Better Life Index” published by Kainan University based on economic, social educational and citizen participation measures.

Population: 420,000

Website: en.hccg.gov.tw

Smart21 2013 | 2014

Top7 2014

Taichung City, Taiwan & New York, New York – January 23, 2014 - The Intelligent Community Forum has announced the 2014 Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year. The Top7 list includes three from Canada, two from the United States, and two from Taiwan. "This year's Top7 group is unusual in that they represent only three nations. However, they collectively are a canvas that represents our movement. Each made it to the list by demonstrating how they have begun to fuse technology, culture and collaboration for economic sustainability. They have set a new course for other cities to follow. We look forward to welcoming them to New York in June for the selection of the Intelligent Community of the Year," said Lou Zacharilla, Intelligent Community Forum co-founder as he announced the Top7 at a conference hosted in Taichung City, Taiwan, the 2013 Intelligent Community of the Year.