The Intelligent Community Forum Names its First Vietnamese City for Development Excellence

(October 26, 2023 – New York City, NY) – For the first time in its 24-year history, the Intelligent Community Forum honored a Vietnamese city with its top award today when it named Binh Duong as the 2023 Intelligent Community of the Year. Binh Duong, located in the southern part of the country, had been previously named a Smart21 Community five times and to the prestigious list of Top7 three times since 2019. Mai Hung Dung, Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee and Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee accepted the award for Binh Duong. The announcement was made during the annual Intelligent Community Awards Dinner in New York City, the culminating event of this year’s ICF Global Summit conference. (www.icfsummit.com)

“This year we witnessed an historic moment in the life of cities with Vietnam’s first Intelligent Community being named Intelligent Community of the Year,” said ICF Co-Founder Louis Zacharilla. “Binh Duong has methodically executed ICF’s Community Accelerator Strategy while participating in our annual awards. The city is a great example of the power of teamwork, focus on a clear and persistent strategy and a passionate dedication to creating a place that honors its people and is part of a nation preparing its citizens for the 21st Century. ICF’s Founders were also pleased to see Eindhoven, a former Intelligent Community of the Year, work with Binh Duong on adapting the Dutch city’s experience and best practices to Vietnam’s culture and transitioning economy. Binh Duong represents many things to other cities throughout the world, but mainly, it is physical, vibrant proof that ‘the middle of nowhere is no more!’”

The Estonian capital, Tallinn, succeeds Taoyuan in Taiwan as the “number one intelligent community”.

The “intelligent community” title is handed over annually by the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) – a global network of 180 cities, metro regions and counties, with a think tank at its heart. The think tank studies and promotes the best practices of the world’s “intelligent communities” as “they adapt to the new demands” and “seize the opportunities presented by broadband and digital technology”.

First Baltic Community Ever Named, Succeeds Taoyuan, Taiwan as Number One

(29 October 2020 – New York City) – For the first time in the twenty-one-year history of the award, the Intelligent Community Forum honored an Estonian city with its top award today when it named Tallinn, Estonia as its 2020 Intelligent Community of the Year. Tallinn has been engaged in the Intelligent Community Awards program for over a decade, having been previously named to the list of the ICF’s Top7 Communities six times since 2007.

“Last year we had a community on the other side of the world that had been working on the ICF Method for eleven years and finally was recognized as the Intelligent Community of the Year. This year we have another great city that worked even longer on the process, learned from places like Taoyuan and others and has blown people away with their thoroughness and dynamic qualities. Tallinn is, by anyone’s measure, a place that looks like our future needs to look,” said ICF Co-Founder Louis Zacharilla.

It was just Yesterday, or 25 years ago, as some people call it, that John, Robert and I produced an event in Toronto called “Smart95.” Most of you attending or downloading the video from this year’s ICF Summit were not there. But there were two features of that event that have withstood the test of time because their arrival was inevitable.

ICF produced the world’s first “smart” conference in the world in 1995 in Toronto. Above image of Toronto is used under Wikimedia Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

The event in Toronto (a city that went on to become the Intelligent Community of the Year in 2014) was the first event in history to use the word “Smart.” You can look it up. John Jung named it and a search revealed it was not in use anywhere. It gives us bragging rights for life, I guess. Most important, it triggered a movement and a way of thinking that has spread out far and wide, from East to West.