In June 2020, ICF will hold its annual Summit in the city of Dublin.  No, not the one in Ireland – nor the ones in the US states of California or Georgia, for that matter. I’m talking about Dublin in the midwestern state of Ohio. 

Why is ICF bringing the world to Dublin in June?  Because we all need to learn what Dublin can teach us about growing an economy, society and culture in a time when those things are under siege around the world.  About being, in other words, a model Intelligent Community.

You go to a conference and a speaker talks about the vital importance of innovation.  Your city, county or town needs to be more innovative.  It needs to become smarter.  It needs to be agile.  It needs to juggle flaming torches while keeping a hula hoop in motion. 

Actually, none of that is why innovation is important.  The guy who first uncovered the truth was Stanford University professor Moses Abramovitz. 

Robert Bell, Co-Founder of the Intelligent Community Forum, explains which midsize and small U.S. cities are the next best places to invest. Hosts: Carol Massar and Vincent Cignarella. Producer: Paul Brennan

Listen to the episode below:

I’m waiting at a stoplight. It turns green but the car ahead of mine sits still. Time passes. I gently tootle the horn. After another moment’s pause, the car ahead of me shoots guiltily ahead through the intersection. And I know exactly why.

Put down the phone.

It has gotten to the point in my little suburban town where the police have a digital sign running downtown. It says, “Get your head out of your apps.” Okay, it’s a little crude but this is New Jersey. Whaddaya want?

Really, put down the phone.

Danielle is CIO and Commissioner of the City of Chicago's Department of Innovation and Technology, where she is working to improve how residents interact with government by creating more responsive and accessible digital services.

Rob McCann is the founder of Clearcable Networks and the President of the Hamilton Technology Centre. He has been working with advanced broadband service deployments in mid-market and rural cable and telephone systems since 1998. He is responsible for building and maintaining technical, network, and application intelligence. Rob works closely with several carriers, cable systems, municipalities, and network service providers in Canada, the US, and the Caribbean providing them with the technology, integration, and business practices required to effectively operate voice, video, and data services in the changing broadband service provider industry.

According to an outfit called Grand View Research, the global market for Smart City solutions will grow by 18.4% per year through 2025, reaching US$2.57 trillion in annual sales. 

If you lead a city or county, those words should make you uneasy – because they mean that the beating heart of your community is somebody’s else’s low-hanging fruit. 

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder speaks with Harout Chitilian, who served as a city councillor of Montreal when the city won the Intelligent Community of the Year Award in 2016.

The FutureScapes project is the brainchild of Rohit Talwar – a global futurist and founder of Fast Future Research.

You are in a race. A really big, important race. What are you hoping for? To win, of course. Second and third place are all very well, but there is no substitute for coming out on top. That is the mood in the room every year when the Intelligent Community Forum names its Intelligent Community of the Year. In that room are representatives of seven cities and counties, the Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year: mayors, members of council, city managers, economic development, and IT leaders. They all want to win. In fact, they are already winners, having reached the Top7. But one of them has slightly outscored the others in our year-long evaluation. The moment comes when we reveal who that is – and it leaves in its wake one happy place and six very disappointed ones.