A city focused on environmental sustainability, one of six Factors in the ICF Method defining success for cities and regions in the 21st Century

(New York, USA and Tallinn, Estonia – April 6, 2021) – When Tallinn, Estonia was named the Intelligent Community of the Year in October 2020 by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), one factor in its selection was a commitment to environmental sustainability. In May of that year, Tallinn had been shortlisted by the European Commission as one of four finalists for the 2022 European Green Capital Award. The city followed up these achievements by launching a new brand as a Green Global City.

MONTREAL, Jan. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- GlobalStep, a leading global provider of Technology Services to the Games Industry, today announced its new Center of Excellence for testing, deployment and the complete lifecycle management of games, located in the heart of Montreal's Mile End neighborhood. The opening aligns with GlobalStep's commitment to additional rapid growth and expansion in the region.

The 17,000 sq. ft. facility has been custom designed and is home to GlobalStep's Center of Excellence for Games QA, Localization, and Localization QA lines of service, as well as AR/VR testing. Located at 5800 Saint Denis, the space lays the foundation for GlobalStep to build closer ties and provide greater global support to its growing customer base.

With the right investments in technology, rural communities could use this moment to remake their futures. One small town shows how.

Signs direct visitors to Mitchell, S.D., for hundreds of miles around. The town, which is a bit more than an hour west of Sioux Falls along Interstate 90, is home to the Corn Palace, a classic roadside attraction that in a non-pandemic year attracts about a half-million visitors. Enticed by the endless string of billboards, weary travelers pull off the interstate to take a look at the palace’s onion-shaped domes and corn-colored murals depicting bison, Mount Rushmore and George McGovern, the late senator and long-ago presidential candidate who was a native son of Mitchell.

Mitchell Technical College and Lake Area Technical College in Watertown are going to be beneficiaries of more than $4 billion of giving from philanthropist and novelist MacKenzie Scott, it was announced Wednesday.

The amount of the gift for the colleges was not stated in the announcement. Scott, who is deemed the richest woman in the world with a net worth of more than $60 billion, has committed $4.15 billion in philanthropy, much of it directed toward supporting those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While most people think of Silicon Valley as the leading tech hub in the world, Estonia is quickly becoming a top player on the world stage for entrepreneurship and technology. Famed for its innovation, Estonia boasts a vast community of over 1,000 startups – famously dubbed the #EstonianMafia on Twitter – including a varied mix of established names such as Skype, to newer innovators such as unicorns including Pipedrive, Transferwise, and Bolt.

With its disruptive startup ecosystem, progressive government policies, and digital nomad education initiatives, it is fast becoming a more attractive alternative to Silicon Valley’s crowded ecosystem.

FREDERICTON – Ray Harris, the owner of Data Wazo, is putting Fredericton businesses on the map with his Shop Local Fredericton web application. The project was created to act as a resource for people looking for local businesses to shop from during the holiday season and beyond.

“People think there’s a certain item they just can’t get in the city and because of that they immediately go online. If we can make that information a little more readily available, it might encourage people to spend their money in the city,” said Harris.

MONTRÉAL, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Ville de Montréal is pleased to unveil its Climate Plan 2020-2030 today. Consisting of 46 firm actions, the plan will allow Montréal to achieve the ambitious climate targets it has set for itself in the area of ecological transition, i.e., a reduction of 55 per cent of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the community between now and 2030 (compared with 1990), as well as carbon neutrality for its operations between now and 2040 and for the community in 2050.

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”.

Western Downs Green Power Hub, the largest solar farm in Australia, is now officially owned by Neoen, as the company completes financial close on the sale.

Western Downs, a 460MWp solar farm located near Chinchilla in South West Queensland, will deliver clean energy into Powerlink’s transmission network and is expected to bring significant economic benefits to the region.

The financing of Western Downs was completed five months after Neoen secured a 352MWp power purchase agreement with CleanCo Queensland, in one of Australia’s most substantial renewable contracts to date.

(The Center Square) – The rest of the country now knows what most people in Ohio already know, the Buckeye State offers some of the best small-town living in the country, according to a recent report.

Two Ohio towns are among the top 20 small cities in America, according to the personal finance website WalletHub, which Tuesday released its report on the best small cities in America.

Dublin, Ohio, ranked 12th in the nation, while Mason, Ohio, came in at No. 19.