(June 8, 2017 – New York City) – The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) today named Melbourne, Victoria, Australia the 2017 Intelligent Community of the Year at a dinner ceremony in the prestigious Landmark on the Park venue in Manhattan. The awards ceremony was the conclusion of the Intelligent Community Forum’s annual Summit.

“Melbourne is famously ‘the world’s most livable city,’ but the question was ‘Are they an Intelligent Community?’” said ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla. “They answered that question this year. They are redefining the concept of technology, work, and the workspace. They have created a city that functions like an artist’s canvas. They have built an entire system where creativity flourishes, education is harnessed to the workforce, and quality of life has become the city’s greatest competitive advantage. It is a dynamic combination and one the Intelligent Community Forum honors.”

Melbourne was selected as the 2017 Intelligent Community of the Year after a year-long evaluation that included a quantitative analysis of extensive data, site inspections by the Intelligent Community Forum, and votes from an international jury made up of experts from around the world. Communities in the Awards program are evaluated based on six Intelligent Community Indicators, along with a seventh criteria, ICF’s annual theme, The Internet of Cities.

Issues resolution for consideration by city and county councils around the world

New York City, June 6, 2017 – The Board of the Intelligent Community Forum approved a resolution today calling on cities and counties to declare high-speed, high-capacity, affordable broadband a utility: an essential infrastructure service provided principally for public benefit, which enables economic growth and greater quality of life when it achieves ubiquitous coverage. ICF encourages city and county Councils to download a copy of the resolution at www.intelligentcommunity.org/broadband_utility_resolution and submit it for consideration and formal approval.

Dr. Viet-Long Nguyen

Joost Helms

(May 30, 2017 – New York City) On June 7 at the ICF Summit, representatives from Binh Duong New City in Vietnam and Eindhoven, The Netherlands, will jointly deliver this year’s Revolutionary Community keynote address. The keynote presentation will be given by Dr. Viet-Long Nguyen, Director IR & Strategy of the Becamex Group, a state-owned agency in Vietnam. The project is an historic attempt by Vietnam to develop its first Intelligent Community. The Binh Duong initiative will literally develop a city for one million citizens that is brand new. The project will rely on ICF’s six core Indicators.

Serial entrepreneur and founder of successful fiber connectivity cooperative to promote the advancement of the Intelligent Community movement in Europe

May 17, 2017 - New York City – The Intelligent Community Form today named Kees Rovers, founder and CEO of Close the Gap BV in Eindhoven, Netherlands, as a Senior Fellow. Senior Fellows are individuals appointed to represent the Forum in a specific area – whether geographic, demographic, social or political – based on their experience, expertise and personal interest. Kees will focus on issues concerning broadband connectivity in European rural regions and on introducing European cities and regions to the Intelligent Community movement.

(New York, NY and Taipei, Taiwan – 9 February, 2017) – At the conclusion of “The Internet of Cities Forum” in Taipei, Taiwan today, the Intelligent Community Forum announced its list of the Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year to an audience of national and municipal leaders from Taiwan, Canada, Estonia, the Netherlands and Vietnam.  The 15^th annual Top7 list includes communities from four nations, with Australia, Canada and Taiwan each contributing two, and Russia contributing a seventh community in a first-time achievement for that nation. 

(26 JANUARY 2017 – NEW YORK CITY) – Thought leaders from cities as diverse as New Westminster in British Columbia, Canada, Tallinn in Estonia and Binh Duong in Vietnam will be in Taipei, Taiwan on 9 February to hear who makes the list of the Intelligent Community Forum’s annual Top7 Intelligent Communities. The international awards program, now in its 18th year, begins with 400 candidates each year. Through the work of a team of international analysts, the list goes to 21 and then 7. In June, one of the Top7 will be named the world’s Intelligent Community of the Year in New York at the ICF Summit (June 6-8, www.icfsummit.com). Montreal, Quebec, Canada is the reigning Intelligent Community of the Year.

December 21, 2016 (Toronto) - The Intelligent Community Forum Canada (ICF Canada)’s position paper called “Broadband: The Essential Utility” supports the CRTC’s announcement today declaring broadband Internet access a basic service for all Canadians. 

ICF Canada has been working through its Technical Committee, headed by ICF Canada member, Campbell Patterson, on a position paper which supports the CRTC’s establishment of a universal service objective that all Canadians, whether in rural and remote areas as well as in urban centres, should have access to voice services and broadband Internet access services on fixed and mobile wireless networks including new broadband speed targets and new funding for broadband projects in areas that don’t meet these targets. ICF Canada agrees with the CRTC’s directions which will fundamentally shift its regulations related to basic services from voice-related to broadband-related. 

New report focuses on building the workforce for the 21^st Century economy

(15 December 2016 – New York City) – The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) today released a new research report, Ladders of Opportunity: Growing and Retaining Tomorrow’s Talent. It details how Intelligent Communities create a system and structure that prepares their children and youth for the high demands and entrepreneurial opportunities of tomorrow’s workforce.  The principles of workforce development are illustrated in depth by the strategies and experiences of four Intelligent Communities in North America, Europe and Asia.  

(19 October 2016 – New York City & Niagara Falls, ON, Canada) - The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) today named the world’s Smart21 Communities of 2017.  This select group of communities, which emerged from a group of nearly 400, will now move on and remain in contention for the prestigious designation of an Intelligent Community Top7, to be named in Taipei, Taiwan in February 2017.  One of the seven will then be named Intelligent Community of the Year at the Intelligent Community Summit and Awards Dinner in New York on June 8, 2017.   www.intelligentcommunity.org/summit

“Internet of Cities” the theme of the New York think-tank’s annual Global Awards Program