Each year, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) Awards Program offers a series of high-profile events to inspire and connect leaders from across the globe. Mark your calendars for these key conferences in the 2025 Awards cycle, each hosted in an Intelligent Community renowned for its forward-thinking initiatives and unique contributions to the global Intelligent Community movement.

Coquitlam is one of the world’s Smart21 communities for a third year.

Last month, at the end of the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) in Taiwan, the organization announced five Canadian municipalities, counties and regions had made the annual list as a digital leader:

Food is life – and as long as it is, Pingtung County will be important to the people of Taiwan. Agriculture, aquaculture and fishing dominate its economy today, with specialties in roses, mangos, lemons, coffee, cocoa and, a Taiwanese delicacy, lotus mist. Eight national and county parks, hot springs, Hakka and aboriginal villages and some of Taiwan’s most beautiful landscape make it a tourist destination as well. Its 800,000 people live in 33 townships scattered across 2,700 square kilometers.

Pingtung faces the challenges of all rural counties around the world: distance, an aging population, the out-migration of youth seeking opportunity and the need to diversify an economy dependent on the low-margin raising of food. Unlike so many such places, however, it is attacking the challenges creatively and persistently to generate prosperity while preserving its treasured ways of life.

Connectivity for Economy and Life

The county partners with national government and the private sector to create and expand the digital networks that support tourism, agriculture and quality of life. Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) has constructed a gigabit backbone network to connect and upgrade fixed and wireless local networks throughout the county. Special focus goes to 8 townships of indigenous peoples located in the mountains, for which the network provides free outdoor wireless broadband. The ambitious project has succeeded in bringing gigabit broadband service to 95% of the county.

Another partnership has focused on providing dedicated connectivity for local industry. Private 5G wireless is becoming a standard for factory automation, and MODA has introduced 5G networks and applications to support meat processing, remote inspection and monitoring of refrigeration for food safety to meet international standards. With 13,000 base stations in facilities across the county, the network is supporting 97 dedicated applications in transportation, manufacturing, food and healthcare.

Creating Opportunities for Youth

Pingtung also invests in retaining its youth while equipping them with STEM and technology skills to inject new digital talent into the economy. The county’s three universities provide higher education and teacher and vocational education. They are already graduating 800 students per year in STEM-related fields. Students and graduates can join the Pingtung Digital Youth Center, which serves as a bridge from school to work and entrepreneurship. The Youth Center offers professional enhancement courses that prepare students for work in local companies, and teams have launched new firms including a producer of light sculptures and a drone services company that remotely patrols and monitors farmland.

Faced with labor shortages in farming, the Pingtung AI Agri Hub has introduced a drone training system to promote development of a drone industry. Offering license training, operational skills training and job counseling, the Hub has attracted more than 20 startup teams focusing on drone spraying, agricultural product sales, agricultural tourism and coffee care.

Smarter Agriculture, Aging, Travel and Business

The county collaborates with national government on projects aiming to accelerate innovation in public and private spheres. The Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park has attracted more than 100 tenant companies bringing combined investment of US$473 million into the county. One has developed a dynamic Aquaculture Calendar application that significantly boosts the productivity of fish farming while improving visibility into operations. Another has created Aquadlink, a system for remote monitoring of key environmental conditions from temperature and dissolved oxygen to salinity and pH. These technologies have already led to a 20% increase in output and 30% reduction in electricity use in the county’s fish farms and are being exported to other southeast Asian countries.

A public-private partnership has produced digital tools that help farmers integrate the international GRI 13 Agricultural Sustainability Guidelines into their operations. The platform provides pest and disease predictions and alerts, recommends pest control application and forecasts climate impacts on crop growth. Compliance with the low-carbon Guidelines is expected to increase the brand value and selling price of Pingtung crops.

With tourism being a major industry, Pingtung worked with national government and private companies to deploy a mix of smart parking meters, license-plate readers and real time bus information via app to reduce traffic congestion in the most popular tourist destinations. The systems have reduced parking search time by 20%.

Inclusion and Engagement

To entice small-to-midsize (SME) businesses to adopt digital technology, the county adopted a MODA program called TCloud. After passing an online review of their digital readiness, SMEs receive digital points that provide a 50% discount on hardware and software. Over 550 SMEs have adopted mobile payment, e-commerce, point-of-sale, inventory management and online reservation systems that meet the growing demand for digital service.

Digital training for seniors has served nearly 200,000 elders, while investment in hardware and software in schools and Digital Opportunity Centers is delivering IT training on computers and mobile devices, with strong participation from women. The county also recruits college students to serve in remote elementary and middle schools, where they tutor disadvantaged students through video conferencing and online learning platforms.

As an island nation subject to typhoons and earthquakes, Taiwan focuses national and local efforts on sustainability and resilience. The county operates its own Renewable Energy Office, which has deployed Taiwan’s first floating solar panels and marine power projects. Green building regulations encourage also building owners to install solar panels. By August 2022, Pingtung became the first Taiwanese county to integrate 1 GW of renewable energy into the grid. Through these multi-faceted efforts, Pingtung County is raising the productivity of its industries and preparing its people to prosper in a digital future.

Population: 798,940

Website: www.pthg.gov.tw

Smart21 2024 | 2025

Yunlin County, comprised of 19 townships and the county seat of Douliu, occupies the fertile Chianan Plain on the western coast of Taiwan. Its rich farmland and many rivers have made the county an agrarian center, producing crops such as pomelo, tea leaves, suan cai, papaya and melon on 70 percent of the county’s land area. The coast is lined with fishing ports and home to aquaculture and fish processing companies. The third contributor to Yunlin’s economy is its natural beauty, which attracts tourists to its landscape as well as to prominent Mazu temples and the first temple theme park of Taiwan.

Agriculture, fisheries and tourism have great value – but they are not strong foundations for prosperity and growth in the digital century. The county faces a demographic challenge familiar to every farming economy: the out-migration of young talent seeking better opportunities while the existing farming and fishery workforce grows older. Yunlin’s response is a multi-level strategy focusing on workforce and business development to retain its youth and generate greater opportunity for all.

The country brings important assets to this effort. Yunlin is home to four universities, dozens of secondary and hundreds of primary schools and the National Yunlin Special Education School. They provide a path toward making Yunlin a place where innovation thrives, without sacrificing what its residents and visitors value.  

Smart Campuses Prepare Students for High-Tech Work

In recent years, Yunlin County has made significant strides in ensuring robust broadband access across its educational institutions. The county provides all its elementary and middle schools with 100% wireless coverage and has distributed over 30,000 tablets to students. All 187 elementary and middle schools have also introduced smart student ID cards, which allow parents to access the Smart Campus App to stay informed and involved with their children’s education.

Partnership plays a crucial role in the county’s development, from its universities to programs of national government. Yunlin County’s Smart Education Center, branded as the Starbase of Crescent Harbor, immerses students in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) technologies. Its specialized facilities cover artificial intelligence, the metaverse, 3D design and printing, smart agriculture and STEAM handicrafts. To reinforce these efforts, Yunlin has instituted an Information and Life Technology curriculum for 3rd to 6th graders, standardizing it across all schools beginning in the 2022 academic year. The county has simultaneously focused on more advanced digital training for teachers with a series of workshops, supported by the Office for Digital Learning Promotion, that teach digital learning methodologies. As of 2024, nearly 5,000 teachers across the county had completed one or more of these workshops.

The county government is also collaborating with the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology and National Formosa University to develop better courses for technical professionals and create more industrial-academic internships for students. From 2019 to 2022, local universities hosted corporate training courses for 22 companies with 1,757 attendees. Through internships, university students work with local industries to deploy technologies that improve the companies’ efficiency while bolstering the students’ tech skills.

Agricultural Innovation for a Sustainable Future

While working to develop the future workforce and encourage entrepreneurship, Yunlin is also driving a new vision for the future of its NT$89 billion (US$2.9bn) agricultural industry.  Through workshops with local industry leaders, farmer groups and community representatives, the county is developing a shared agricultural vision for the future that includes input from all parties.  

Yunlin County established the Climate Change Response Office in 2021 to spearhead these initiatives and align with Taiwan's goal of net zero emissions by 2050. In 2022, the county signed an MOU with Nahua University to provide devices to measure the carbon output of its farms and offer third-party verification and recommendations for local agricultural businesses. The following year, Yunlin partnered with YunTech to establish the Yunlin Zero Waste Transformation Integrated Services Hub, which provides a one-stop platform for businesses to access sustainability assistance and guidance. The platform allows businesses to apply for government subsidies. In 2023 alone, Yunlin County held training sessions for 33 local businesses and helped secure approximately NT$47 million in government subsidies to help them establish greener practices.

On the technology side, Yunlin County has launched a series of projects to help farmers adopt digital management technologies and adapt to a smaller agricultural workforce. As of 2024, the county had completed eight smart automation agricultural projects, including developing Smart Greenhouses outfitted with environmental sensors monitoring temperature, humidity and soil conductivity. Another project established Smart Poultry Houses with two local companies, where IoT platforms monitor conditions for the animals and provide cleaning services, allowing four people to manage up to 50,000 livestock.

Engaging Youth in the Future of Yunlin

Community participation is at the heart of Yunlin County's development philosophy. The Local Revitalization Office, established in 2019, has been instrumental in organizing over 400 consensus meetings with civil society, fostering a collaborative approach to shaping Yunlin's future. The county has focused particularly on increasing youth participation in the community. Yunlin County established the Central Youth Hub in April 2023, which serves as an event venue with public facilities and classrooms for rent. Public- and private-sector partnerships have funded co-working spaces in the Hub to give young entrepreneurs a place to gather and work on their ideas.

The Central Youth Hub hosts many local talent development activities, including Master Trend Lectures, 14 Lessons for Young People, Local Culture Exploration and Investigation and Exchange Life Experience, all of which are aimed at promoting awareness of local issues and taking initiative in the younger generations. The Hub also collaborates with experts from various fields to provide vocational counseling services via phone or in person.

To further facilitate interest in starting businesses in Yunlin County, the government commissioned YunTech to create a Yunlin Youth Entrepreneurship Subsidy and Cultivation project. It provides funding to residents age 20-40 who are starting businesses in the county, which has empowered 22 young individuals to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations across diverse fields and thrive in their hometowns.

In our digital century, it can seem that all the rewards of innovation go to big cities. Yunlin County provides a prime example of how rural regions can innovate across education, technology and community engagement to meet their challenges and chart a course to a prosperous and sustainable future.

Population: 664,963

Website: www.yunlin.gov.tw

Smart21 2024 | 2026

Top7 2024 | 2026

In Roman times, when it was called Miacum, the city may once have been the original center of the Spanish capital. In the second half of the 20th Century, it was largely a bedroom community for the modern Madrid, prospering from that city’s prosperity. Today, Las Rozas de Madrid is home to nearly 15,000 companies and self-employed workers. It is a mecca for shoppers from around the world and boasts one of the highest per capita incomes in the Madrid region. Yet its average office prices are half that of Madrid, which is one factor in its success in attracting foreign companies to locate there. Nearly one quarter of the 500 largest companies in Las Rozas are foreign owned.

Innovation Engine

Another success factor has been Las Rozas Inova, the Municipal Company for Innovation, Technological Development, Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship. Through programs, facilities and grants, it identifies private and public-sector opportunities and marshals the resources to seize them. Among its programs are ones that will be familiar to most Intelligent Communities: hackathons, innovation challenges, technology pilots, business incubation, support for the digital transformation of existing businesses and participation in national and EU innovation projects. They deliberately cross over between private and public, from entrepreneurial co-working spaces and startup funding to automation of city waste collection and remote management of the municipal irrigation network.

Multi-Level Workforce Development

Such a strong business community requires a skilled workforce. The municipal government has taken care to spread workforce development across the generations and from schools to employers. A Pact for Skills creates and maintains training partnership among schools, research institutes, companies and nonprofits. Its Emprende program serves adults with previous professional experience who look to reboot their careers, as well as university and vocational students and the leaders of local businesses. It offers training in innovation practices, digital skills and business planning and development, as well as competitions to develop solutions for business problems. Its municipal bootcamp program provides 300 hours of training in programming and advanced digital competencies, concluding with a demo day where participants showcase their skills to established companies and startups. Of the first 25 participants – of whom more than half were women – six gained employment after the demo day, while others continued receiving coaching, technical resources and job opportunities.

Wireless Connection and Mobility

Las Rozas is already served by more than 10 ISPs offering a full range of services, with both availability and adoption approaching 100%. With no serious broadband gaps to manage, the city has focused connectivity innovation on its important retail sector. That sector was hard-hit by the pandemic and the city responded by planning and deploying a high-density Wi-Fi network across more than a dozen retail and commercial districts,. On this wireless broadband foundation, the city is creating a digital platform that provides real-time mapping of subscriber locations and audience segmentation by behavior, gender and age group, together with the ability to promote products, services and events subscribers.

The city has also focused digital inclusion on its commercial sector. Las Rozas Inova engaged consultants experienced in digitization of small business as Digital Sherpas to provide free counseling to business owners. Recognizing that technology is easy while changing cultural attitudes is hard, Las Rozas Inova started with a pilot program for 8 percent of the city’s businesses. Positive feedback from users led to full launch with a goal of engaging 30% of local businesses.

The economic strength of Las Rozas brings with it rising traffic congestion that harms air quality, economic opportunity and quality of life. The city funded a discount rideshare program operated by a private-sector company in 2022 that attracted 1,000 participants, whose more than 7,000 shared rides avoided 36,000 kg of carbon emissions over its 6-month startup. It was part of a larger mobility action plan developed through surveys of 2,000 residents and visitors that established the baselines for programs like ridesharing to be evaluated.

Sustainability Imperative

Environmental sustainability is a priority for Las Rozas. Recent projects include installation of an air-quality sensor network to provide real-time monitoring of conditions, and solar energy installation on municipal buildings. Municipal waste collection has been automated to improve service and reduce unnecessary collection trips, while remote management of irrigation for the city’s many green areas has reduced water use by more than 100,000 cubic meters, saving 40% of the water supply budget the first year.

A FarmBot at La Talaverona in Las Rozas. June 2024

Las Rozas has benefited handsomely from its location in the Madrid capital region, which leads the nation in GDP. It is a community intent on leading rather than following, however, through innovation, education, connectivity and digital services that build inclusive growth, a high quality of life and a sustainable future for its people.

Population: 98,621

Website: www.lasrozas.es

Smart21 2024 | 2025 | 2026

Top7 2025 | 2026

The city of Izmir, known in classical antiquity as Smyma, has more than 3,000 years of recorded history and has been a human settlement since the Neolithic period. It has played a key role in the region's economy for centuries as a major trade port city and population center and is currently home to over 3 million citizens. Izmir is also home to many remarkable landmarks, including the Agora Open Air Museum of Izmir, the Kemeralti bazaar originally established by the Ottomans and the Izmir Bird Paradise sanctuary, which contains 205 recorded species of birds. Cultural events such as the Izmir International Festival, the Izmir European Jazz Festival and the International Izmir Short Film Festival draw visitors from around the world each year.

But Izmir’s story is one of dire challenges as well as flourishing tourism and trade. The Greco-Turkish War of the early 20th century devastated the city, which was then gradually rebuild under the Turkish Republic beginning in 1923. Nearly a century later, Izmir was struck by the Aegean Sea earthquake and tsunami. The city has treated these disasters and its recovery as opportunities to modernize itself and provide new opportunities for its economy and populace to grow.

Free Public Broadband Access

In 2015, Izmir launched the Wizmirnet project, an ambitious initiative that aimed to provide citizens with wireless, high-speed, free and unlimited internet access across the city. Currently, free internet service is offered at 550 locations, including 85 parks and squares, and extends services to public transportation options such as 20 ferries, 60 buses and 17 metro stations, along with rural areas encompassing 79 villages. This extensive network ensures uninterrupted communication for all citizens, enhancing digital connectivity in both urban and rural settings.

Training through the Vocational Factory

Izmir places significant emphasis on equipping its citizens with applicable skills through its Vocational Factory, which evolved from IZMEB Centers established in 2006. Offering free courses across approximately 215 branches in 33 centers, the Vocational Factory provides training aimed at creating a qualified workforce aligned with labor market needs. These programs are designed to counter unemployment and drive sustainable economic growth in the region. Since 2017, the Employment Development and Support Unit has bolstered this effort, focusing on accommodating the demands of the labor market. Since their establishment, these initiatives have contributed to a steady increase in employment rates.

Establishing an Entrepreneurship Center

A keystone of Izmir’s growth is its vibrant Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. The Entrepreneurship Center Izmir, inaugurated in 2021 in partnership with TÜSİAD and supported by local universities, serves as the nucleus for nurturing local entrepreneurs. By offering resources, mentorship, and networking opportunities, the center supports startups and fosters innovation across various sectors including agriculture, sustainable transport and information technologies. Participants receive online and face-to-face training sessions and participate in meetings with industry leaders and investors, as well as gaining access to facilities like the Fabrication Laboratory Izmir for research and development. The Entrepreneurship Center’s program cycle includes determining a new theme, accepting applications, evaluation, training and acceleration, followed at the conclusion by sharing investment-ready projects with the public.

Each year, the center focuses on a new theme reflecting strategic priorities. In 2021, the spotlight was on Agricultural Entrepreneurship, followed by Smart and Sustainable Transportation in 2022 and Information Technologies in 2023. These programs encompass several stages – from basic training to mentoring and acceleration – culminating in events like Demo Day where entrepreneurial projects are presented to investors.

Improving Public Services and Ensuring Access

Izmir created its Metropolitan Municipality E-Transaction Center in 2008, which allows citizens to perform municipal transactions and access local services online. This initiative not only enhances service delivery but also promotes transparency, accountability and efficiency within the administration. Additionally, the city developed a corporate WhatsApp application supported by AI in 2021 to offer instant information on municipal services. Services accessed through this platform include complaint submission, tracking inquiries and accessing information on transportation, events and IZSU transactions. The artificial intelligence component ensures optimized responses and swift resolutions. The WhatsApp application is currently used by approximately 20% of Izmir’s population and the city aims to improve those numbers in future years.

Making use of the internet availability provided by Wizmirnet, the LoRaWAN project uses low-power sensors and wireless communication to monitor and gather data on a range of urban factors, including weather conditions and natural disasters. The data collected via 20 radio towers integrated with meteorological and temperature modules covers 80% of the city. This initiative assists authorities in effectively managing urban risks. Izmir has further digitized the process of reporting and handling disasters as well via the Acil Izmir (Emergency Izmir) Mobile Application, which allows a citizen to report their current condition to fire brigades and other disaster relief workers instantly.

Using AI to Improve Quality of Life

Harnessing the power of AI, Izmir has developed several initiatives aimed at improving urban living conditions. The Carbon Map project uses AI to calculate air quality and carbon emissions at district and neighborhood levels, guiding reforestation efforts to enhance air quality. Additionally, the Smart Notification System leverages AI to detect forest fires before they spread, considerably enhancing emergency response times.

The city’s Dynamic Detection System employs AI and image processing to monitor city conditions in real-time, focusing on areas such as waste management and emergency situations. Izmir has currently completed its modeling and training phases for the Dynamic Detection System and is in the process of integrating the System through database connections.

Izmir is a compelling example of a modern city that intricately weaves technology, innovation and sustainability into the fabric of urban development. The city stands as a model for smart and sustainable urban planning and aims ever to improve as its projects expand and provide new opportunities for growth.

Population: 3,088,000

Website: www.izmir.gov.tr

Smart21 2024

Among the nearly 36,000 municipalities in the US, only one is named Warner Robins. Its origin is nearly as unique. In 1942, what was then called the US War Department established a base for aircraft on 12.6 km of land from a small Georgia farming community called Wellston. The base needed a name, and the first commander of the base wanted to name it for his mentor, Augustine Warner Robins. Regulations required, however, that it be named for the nearest city or town. So, the commander persuaded the leaders of Wellston to rename the town, and the Warner Robins Army Air Depot was officially christened in October of that year. Now called the Robins Air Force Base, it is one of Georgia’s largest employers, which contributes more than 25,000 military, civilian and contractor jobs to the local economy and provides Warner Robins with admirable economic stability.

That stability, however, can be a trap. Local economies that come to rely exclusively on a nearby military base have sometimes found themselves shattered by decisions to shrink or close these facilities. Under Mayor LaRhonda Patrick, elected in 2022, the city has launched a program of transformation to build a more diverse economic base for a resilient future.

Operation ReAwaken

The centerpiece is Operation ReAwaken, which aims to give Warner Robins a vibrant downtown district in a historic area known as the Commercial Circle. The city has acquired 80% of the 14-acre brownfield site and secured a US$1 million grant from the Federal government to remediate its environmental problems. On the renovated site, it will create a walkable live-work-play district that provides Warner Robins with its first real downtown to strengthen the city’s role as the retail center of its region.

Development is not restricted to one project. The Robins International Industrial Park is a partnership with the county launched in 2016. It is currently home to companies in cold storage and wholesale distribution, greenhouse operations, manufacturing, paper recycling, utility services and waste removal. They join Warner Robins employers including Perdue Farms, Frito Lay and Kroger in leveraging the city’s mid-Georgia location and good transportation access.

Upskilling Residents

A partnership with a nonprofit called EdFarm and Apple is establishing a Community Innovation Lab, which offers free STEM education to children and the general public. Learning stations offer individuals and groups training in coding, fabrication, audio and video production, drone technology and gaming tech. The city also partners with a technical college on development of skilled labor, with the help of state grants for education related to Georgia industries. With a total of five post-secondary institutions, Warner Robins has the potential for many more such partnerships.

It took a step in that direction with a 2024 Startup WR Week, which brought together community partners to celebrate entrepreneurship, innovation and collaboration. More than 100 new and small businesses benefited from workshops, a pitch competition and networking with each other, service providers and government officials.

Digital Twin

To meet business and residential demand for connectivity, Warner Robins has qualified for Georgia’s Broadband Ready Designation. It identifies municipalities that have a department devoted to working with carriers and a streamlined permitting process for new network builds. This public-private collaboration has provided the city with 100% availability of affordable broadband service from multiple ISPs and high adoption rates.

One project making use of this connectivity is a digital twin of the city focused on public safety. A Georgia nonprofit, the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, selected Warner Robins to work with the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech, to build an digital model of the city that maps locations where crimes took place. Based on historical data, the AI system predicts where crimes will occur in future and makes recommendations for the deployment of police officers and image recognition technology. The 20 Flock cameras and system software recognizes license plate numbers and other distinguishing characteristics of cars to help identify and track suspects.

Community engagement has been vital to the project’s’ success. Ethical guidelines were put in place to govern decision-making, and the AI was trained with techniques designed to mitigate bias. Even more important was involving community stakeholders in development and deployment to build trust and address potential worries about predictive policing. In the first three months following deployment, Warner Robins recorded a 20% decrease in overall crime and measurable improvement in the rate at which crimes lead to arrest and arraignment.

The Housing Priority

The city is home to military service members who move between bases every few years. Its housing has adapted: investment in multi-family and single-family rental properties is projected to grow nearly 50% in 2025. Beyond availability is the question of affordability, which is shared by so many communities in industrial nations. Mayor Patrick has made housing a priority for her administration, saying “There is a drastic need for our teachers, nurses, military personnel, city employees, police and firefighters to be able to live, work and play within our city limits.”

Mayor Patrick took office in 2022 and most of the city’s Intelligent Community programs began their rollout in 2024. Economic and community development is a long game requiring patient and persistent effort. In the early stages of its Intelligent Community Journey, Warner Robins is making all the right moves.

Population: 80,308

Website: www.wrga.gov

Smart21 2024 | 2025

The city of Woodstock in Cherokee County, Georgia is both one of the county’s oldest towns and its fastest growing since 2014. The city was founded over 100 years ago as a stop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. With access to multiple rivers and streams, the area easily supported wood carving, yarn spinning and other industries reliant on water power and was also rich in minerals, including gold, mica and kaolin. By the 1890s, Woodstock was said to be shipping 2,000 bales of cotton annually. Today, Woodstock continues to be a hub with Interstate 575 and State Highway 92 running directly through its heart, providing ease of transportation. The city has also focused closely on walking and cycling access, with a master plan to create a more-than-60-mile trail and open space network throughout Woodstock and the surrounding areas.

Jumpstarting Careers in Cherokee County

The Cherokee Career Expo is an annual event, established as part of the Cherokee Office of Economic Development’s “Forget the Commute” campaign, which seeks to reduce out-commuting by helping residents find local jobs. The Expo showcases a range of local industries and includes features such as on-site interviews and resume building assistance. The event is free to attend and regularly hosts many of Cherokee County’s top employers eager to network with residents and local job seekers. In conjunction with the Expo, Goodwill of North Georgia hosts a series of virtual bootcamps on building critical skills for local industries.

Fostering Entrepreneurialism

The Fresh Start Cherokee Initiative, designed by the Cherokee Office of Economic Development, aims to cultivate a robust startup ecosystem in downtown Woodstock by providing educational programming and support for startups. One of the key programs of the initiative is Fresh Start Mornings, which are monthly networking events in which entrepreneurs present their business ideas to local community volunteers, providing them with the opportunity to find local support and refine their pitches for investors. Another major initiative program is the North Atlanta Venture Mentoring Service, which connects entrepreneurs with expert mentors to help take their projects to the next level.

The Circuit in Woodstock, the home of the First Start Cherokee Initiative, is Cherokee County’s first co-working space, created through a partnership between the Cherokee Office of Economic Development, Chattahoochee Technical College and the Woodstock Office of Economic Development. At 3,000 square feet, it provides an environment for students from Chattahoochee Technical College, entrepreneurs and remote workers to collaborate, network and work on projects. The Circuit is located in downtown Woodstock within convenient walking distance of local restaurants, bars, shops, outdoor entertainment and hiking trails, further supporting the local economy.

Cherokee County has also developed the LaunchPad Bootcamp series for emerging entrepreneurs. The free, four-week program guides participants through business ideation, market research, problem validation, product refinement and launch strategies. Participants in the LaunchPad Bootcamp have a chance to win up to $5,000 to further their business ideas.

A Green Community

Woodstock has been recognized as a Green Community by the Atlanta Regional Commission since 2010 and rose to Platinum in the Green Communities program in 2022 for its robust energy saving measures and innovative Sustainable Parking Ordinance. Adopted in 2015, Woodstock’s Sustainable Parking Ordinance sets a parking spot maximum for commercial developments with the option to exceed that maximum through sustainability measures, including providing electric vehicle charging stations, pervious pavement for stormwater mitigation or adding solar panels to their infrastructure. The ordinance aims to reduce wasteful land usage, as most parking lots in the U.S. have nearly eight times the parking spaces needed for the number of cars.

In an effort to make Woodstock a more walkable city and a greener place to live, the Mayor and City Council created a park and trail master plan in 2007. Over the course of ten months, a steering committee made up of residents, business owners and other interested parties met and developed the Greenprints Project master plan. The plan calls for a 60+ mile trail and open space network throughout the city and surrounding areas. The Mayor and City Council adopted the Greenprints Master project as part of the Comprehensive Town Plan 2030 in 2008. In that same year, the project was awarded the “Outstanding Greenspace Plan” by the Georgia Urban Forest Council.

Population: 36,198

Website: www.woodstockga.gov

Smart21 2024

Communities from seven nations over five continents named as semi-finalists in ICF’s annual Intelligent Community of the Year Awards Program

(March 20, 2024 – New York, NY, USA & Taipei, Taiwan) – At the conclusion of a conference hosted by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), the ICF Taiwan organization and the ICF Institute in Taiwan, ICF today named the world’s Smart21 Communities of 2024. The announcement was made at the conclusion of the Smart Cities and Intelligent Communities conference, conducted as part of the Taiwan Smart City Summit & Expo in Taipei.

The selection of the annual Smart21 Communities of the Year marks the semi-finalist phase in ICF’s annual Awards Program. The program will conclude when ICF names the 2024 Intelligent Community of the Year at the ICF Summit in November. One of these 21 communities named today will succeed Binh Duong, Vietnam, the 2023 Intelligent Community of the Year.

The Smart City Summit and Expo (SCSE) in Taipei is one of the largest conferences and expositions for smart city technology and trends in the world, taking place in a nation that produces 60% of the world’s semiconductors. From March 19 through 22, SCSE will host 150,000 visitors at convention centers in Taipei and Kaohsiung. Joining them will be an ICF delegation from cities, technology companies, universities and public-private accelerators organized in partnership with the ICF Institute in Taiwan and the national organization ICF Taiwan.