It’s one thing to modernize operations with digital tools, data systems, communications, scheduling and procedures in various pockets of a city’s operations, businesses, institutions and civic life. That’s smart. And a community can do a lot of things smart. An Intelligent Community integrates those smart people, facilities, equipment, data and policies into a united and common direction.

Advocacy is that unifying element – gathering and aligning local initiatives in Broadband, Knowledge Workforce, Digital Equity, Innovation and Sustainability into a broadly shared and understood narrative. Momentum with intention.

Successful engagement coalesces a community’s character and conveys a public identity to the world. It energizes economic development, investment attraction and business formation because the community has built a unique vision of its culture and its future. In this report, ICF shares dynamics, strategies and successful examples of engagement in action.

Report Contents:

1.  Introduction  

2.  In This Report

3.  How Engagement Works

4.  Our Communities

• Arlington County, Virginia, USA
• Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• Moscow, Russia
• Whanganui, New Zealand

5.  Creating Engagement

• Community Engagement in Whanganui
• Changing the Engagement Model in Hamilton
• Reforming Culture, Embracing Data in Moscow
• The Arlington Way

6.  Institutional Advocates

• Social Engagement Through Education in Hamilton
• The Whanganui e-Learning Trust

7.  Engagement Across the ICF Method

• Connect
• Include
• Work
• Innovate
• Sustain

8.  Questions and Conversation Starters

The success of Intelligent Communities in building a digitally-powered innovation economy contains a sharp risk: that more of our citizens will be left behind, shut out of opportunity and civic life by the onrush of technology. To lessen that risk, Intelligent Communities pursue digital inclusion: the chance for every citizen to participate in the digital economy and society, regardless of income, age, education or disability. The more equal we can make our citizens in the digital world, the more capable and productive they will be. And that reduces the costs and problems caused by those who are left on the margins of society.

In this report, ICF shares dynamics, definitions and successful examples of digital inclusion in action. These are where municipal governments, not-for-profits and individuals have taken creative and generous steps to invest in bringing along as many of their neighbors and fellow residents as possible. There are patterns, roles and models to glean and principles to apply, whatever your local resources and culture.

Report Contents:

1.  Help One, Help All

2.  A Path to Inclusion

3.  Communities that Embrace Inclusion

• Riverside, California, USA
• New Taipei City, Taiwan
• Taoyuan, Taiwan
• Tainan City, Taiwan
• Manchester, UK
• Whittlesea, Victoria, Australia

4.  Equipping and Connecting

• Distributing PCs in Manchester
• New Taipei City Computers
• Riverside Digital Inclusion Center

5.  Public Access, Usage and Training in Taiwan

• i-Taoyuan Free Wi-Fi Project
• Comprehensive Program in New Taipei City
• Rural Focus in Tainan

6.  Community Engagement and Champions

• Manchester Eastserve and People’s Voice Media
• Whittlesea ICT Scorecard for Small Business

7.  Takeaways: What Does Inclusion Look Like?

Every successful business, every private sector employer, begins as a startup company where an idea became a viable product that birthed a new business which gained traction in the open market and now gives back to the community. The question for local policymakers is whether to passively wait for a spontaneous occurrence – for a lightning bolt of inspiration to strike or a startup unicorn to wander into town – or be proactive and cultivate an environment for innovation where the flow of people, ideas, applications, commercialization and reinvestment aligns into a sustainable, virtuous cycle.

In this report, you’ll see how two Intelligent Communities foster a local ecosystem of private-sector innovation by facilitating startup culture.

Report Contents:

1.  Building the Innovation Ecosystem in Your Community

Two Intelligent Communities that Embraced Innovation

2.  Taiwan: Manufacturing + Innovation

• Mainly Manufacturing, with a Side of Innovation
• Investment and Exits
• Community Innovation, Inclusion and Education
• Adding Economic Layers

3.  Stockholm’s Kista Science City

• Triple-Helix Technology District
• Kista’s Startup Edge
• Grassroots and Give-back
• Technology-Plus

4.  Takeaways: Working with Your Scale