(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.

Smart, forward-thinking and bursting with bold technological advancements and community-driven engagement have earned Durham Region recognition as one of the world’s Top 7 Intelligent Communities for the fourth consecutive year.

Joining Durham on the global list compiled by the Intelligent Communities Forum (ICF) was Fairfield/Jefferson County (Iowa, USA), Hilliard (Ohio, USA), Assai (Parana, Brazil), Bursa (Turkey), Las Rozas de Madrid (Spain) and Kingston, Ontario, which is making its first appearance in the top seven since 2014.

Cities in Brazil, Canada, Spain, Türkiye and the USA become finalists for Intelligent Community of the Year Award

(17 June 2025 – New York, NY, USA & Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain) – At a festive, sold-out Awards dinner tonight, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) named the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2025. The announcement was made at the conclusion of the Top7 Conference hosted by Las Rozas de Madrid – a two-time Smart21 Community in ICF’s Awards program – and its mayor, Jose de la Uz.

The seven cities become finalists in ICF’s annual Awards program. One will succeed 2024 Intelligent Community of the Year Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil in December at the ICF Global Summit (www.icfsummit.com) in Binh Duong Smart City, Vietnam. Curitiba was in attendance in Spain for the program.

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla has a conversation with:

• Savanna Myers, Director of Economic Development, Grey County, Ontario, Canada
• Wendy Dupley, Economic Development Advisor, Langley, BC, Canada
• Donna Gillespie, CEO, Kingston Economic Development Corporation, Kingston, Canada
• Simon Gill, Director of Economic Development & Tourism, Durham, Canada

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla has a conversation with:

• Savanna Myers, Director of Economic Development, Grey County, Ontario, Canada
• Wendy Dupley, Economic Development Advisor, Langley, BC, Canada
• Donna Gillespie, CEO, Kingston Economic Development Corporation, Kingston, Canada
• Simon Gill, Director of Economic Development & Tourism, Durham, Canada

Smart, we are in Durham Region. Kingston too. We know this because the global Intelligent Communities Forum had us tested.

For the fourth year in a row the Region of Durham has been recognized as one of the Smart 21 Communities in the world, an honour that speaks to the “innovation and partnership” happening in the region, which has embraced a ‘technology for all’ philosophy.

“I teach two things, suffering and the end of suffering.” Buddha

Over the years I have attempted to understand the “inner mysteries” of place. It has always been a core belief of mine that communities succeed or fail, as do sports teams, on what are called the “intangibles.” The unidentifiable or ineffable – call it “chemistry,” as they do in athletics – components. Hard to measure, impossible to see but felt like a breeze when things go along smoothly and like a sledgehammer on the chest cavity when they do not. To borrow a phrase from the American president’s inauguration speech in 2017, a sense of “carnage” seems palpable.

I prefer the word of the ancient wisdom traditions to describe these intangibles: the “soul” of a place.

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.

Kingston is a midsize city that is home to over 172,000 residents at the place where the Cataraqui and St. Lawrence Rivers flow into Lake Ontario. Europeans settled the area in the 1600s on First Nation lands named Katarokwi, calling it King’s Town in honor of Britain’s George III. Kingston, as it became known, went on to serve as Canada’s first capital – and that federal connection continues to this day. Kingston is home to Canadian Forces Base Kingston, Corrections Canada, the Royal Military College of Canada and various departments of the federal and provincial government.

The significant role of federal spending in the economy represents both a benefit and a risk to the city. After decades of excessive dependence on federal spending, Kingston has created innovative, diverse economy that delivers growth and hedges against policy change at the national level Kingston has planned and executed carefully to create an innovative, diverse economy that delivers growth and hedges against policy change at the national level. 

Data and Economic Development

The city-owned Utilities Kingston provides electric, water and sanitation to the city – and also operates a 1,000-kilometer dark-fiber network, supplemented by fixed wireless in hard-to-reach areas. Low cost of deployment has attracted multiple service providers to provision and manage business and residential services to customers. Business customers include global companies such as DuPont, INVISTA, Frulact, IDEXX, IPG Photonics and Umicore.

The city’s economic development strategy has centered on another of its strengths: a robust academic sector anchored by Queen's University, a top research institution, and St. Lawrence College, a leading applied-learning institution with schools of business, computer and engineering technology, health sciences, and skilled trades. Together with the Royal Military College of Canada, these institutions give Kingston the second largest talent pool in Eastern Ontario and one of the most highly educated populations in the nation.

Queen’s University serves 28,000 students, mostly undergraduate, and has Canada’s highest graduation rate at 89%, with 95% of students gaining employment within six months of graduation. Overall, the city has Canada’s highest per-capita percentage of Ph.D.s and over 42,000 students in post-secondary education. The challenge for the university and the city – which work in close partnership, guided by a formal strategy to which leaders of both organizations are committed – is to connect enough of those promising graduates to local career opportunity to benefit both them and the city.

Diversity in Innovation

To that end, Queen’s has an assistant vice president of economic development in its leadership team. It developed an Ingenuity Lab Research Institute stocked with robots and robotic components, which allow students to develop projects with commercial potential. The Queen’s Innovation Centre gives budding entrepreneurs training and support in business skills, while the Queen’s Translational Institute of Medicine (TIME) provides research, facilities, equipment and students to help small companies develop medical technologies.  TIME is currently building out a C$15 million facility for state-of-the-art research equipped with equipment that can track processes at the cellular level, deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier, and support development of personalized medicine.

With these assets at work, the city has established a track record of success for startups and scale-ups. Octane Medical Group, a biotech company, creates production technologies to rapidly scale medical treatments. IPG Photonics, a spin-out from Queens University, created a technology that can instantly assess the quality of welding, saving substantial time and money in manufacturing. The crossroads of the startup scene is 945 Princess Street, home to coworking spaces, offices, labs and Reaction Hub, an accelerator for specialty chemical businesses formed by company founders, universities and sector nonprofits.

Creative Industries

Talent is not just for technology. Kingston operates a Film Office to support local production companies in attracting location filming and staff the resulting productions with local talent. A new animation studio is also under construction. A Music Office works to leverage the Kingston origins and decades-long career of the Canadian rock band, The Tragically Hip. Supporting its development work is a Queen’s University BA program in music, and music business training from high schools and St. Laurence College. The proximity to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal is an advantage for local musicians because they offer a large market of music venues where musicians can perform.

Kingston complements its academic and research capacity with innovative workforce and talent initiatives. The city developed the NEST* Program, which helps relocating professionals and their families integrate into Kingston by supporting spousal employment, housing searches and community connections. The program also serves newcomers undergoing the immigration process, which has made it a vital tool for attracting and retaining global talent.

The city further supports talent attraction with its Possible Made Here and bilingual counterpart Tout Est Possible Ici platforms that provide interactive tools like job search engines, cost-of-living calculators and neighborhood quizzes. Meanwhile, the Queen’s Career Apprenticeship Program connects Arts and Science graduates with employers through subsidized, year-long apprenticeships, resulting in more than $2.7 million in new payroll and the program’s expansion into other Canadian communities and the U.S.

Fostering Community Engagement 

Kingston has made public engagement a central principle of its governance, seeking to embed transparency, trust and collaboration into its decision-making processes. The City’s Public Engagement Framework guides consistent outreach across neighborhoods and sectors, supported by digital tools that make participation more accessible. Get Involved Kingston, the city’s online hub for engagement, is among the highest-performing platforms in Canada. With more than 18,000 registered participants representing 14% of the population, it supports both local and citywide consultations, on topics ranging from park improvements to the official plan. In 2024, residents provided nearly 9,000 pieces of feedback, with participation doubling year-over-year. A 2025 consultation on a proposed sports stadium drew more than 10,000 visits and 1,450 contributions, one of the largest engagement efforts in Kingston’s history.

The city also fosters inclusion and cultural connection through targeted initiatives. The Welcome to Kingston app, developed with community partners, helps newcomers access essential services, cultural events and community organizations in 15 languages. Kingston has also prioritized reconciliation and Indigenous engagement, supporting initiatives like the Katarowki Indigenous Art and Food Market, Indigenous programming at festivals and the “Engage for Change” project to strengthen relationships with Indigenous Peoples. The Mayor records monthly city podcasts and regular video updates to provide context and more information on issues brought up at each City Council meeting. These tools and programs combine digital accessibility with cultural inclusivity, ensuring that residents are informed, connected and empowered to shape the city’s evolution.

Life, Health and Sustainability

Kingston has placed sustainability at the center of its development strategy, recognizing that long-term economic growth and community well-being depend on responsible stewardship of resources. The city was the first in Ontario to declare a climate emergency in 2019 and the first in Canada to adopt a protocol for sustainable energy procurement. Its Climate Leadership Plan sets an ambitious target of carbon neutrality by 2040 and integrates both mitigation and adaptation strategies. Planned actions span transportation, buildings and energy, waste, food systems and forestry, with initiatives including establishing LEED-certified facilities, expanding organic waste diversion, growing in local food production and planting thousands of new trees annually. Kingston is further supporting these efforts with investments in an electrified municipal fleet, including buses, Zambonis and a new electric ferry, alongside expanded EV charging stations on land and even for boats.

In 2010, the city began nine-year reconstruction of Princess Street, Kingston’s main commercial artery, to replace end-of-life utilities while separating sanitary and storm sewers to prevent overflows into Lake Ontario and flooding in downtown businesses. This complex project was phased to minimize disruption to the tourism economy, with winter construction allowing streets to reopen for summer visitors – an innovation rarely attempted in Ontario. Such work underscores Kingston’s ability to blend environmental priorities with economic and cultural vitality. Other initiatives include upgrades to wastewater treatment facilities, where waste methane fuels a generator that produces 370 kW of electricity, covering about a quarter of the plant’s needs while providing heat for buildings and digesters.

Kingston is also focusing heavily on community-driven action to advance sustainability. The Kingston Community Climate Action Fund, now in its fifth year, channels financial support and public awareness into local projects led by nonprofits and charities. In 2025, Extend-A-Family Kingston’s GrowAbility Hydroponic Greenhouse Project received support to scale two greenhouses capable of producing over 10,000 heads of lettuce annually using 90% less water than traditional farming. This initiative eliminates soil and transport emissions while strengthening local food resiliency.

Mclean’s magazine has recognized Kingston as one of the best places to live in Canada, with a thriving downtown, vibrant art and theater scene and high-class restaurant and bar district. Combining its strengths in connectivity, ongoing development of a high-skilled workforce and a well-established innovation ecosystem, Kingston is ready to adapt and prosper through the continuing waves of change crossing the world’s economy.

Population: 172,000

Labor Force: 90,000

Website: www.cityofkingston.ca, www.investkingston.ca

Kingston Tourism: http.visitkingston.ca.

Smart21 2009 | 2014 | 2025 | 2026

Top7 2014 | 2025

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.