Economic developers from municipalities and counties discuss the changing nature of investment attraction, business stimulation and support, and the collaboration with other agencies and sectors needed to develop the economy of an Intelligent Community in a world being restructured by digital technologies. Moderated by John Jung, Co-Founder, ICF.

In this freewheeling conversation, municipal CIOs and IT experts discuss the challenges of deploying reliable and secure information technology systems to support operations, deliver services and improve decision-making – within the limits of municipal budgets.  They explore the opportunities to expand capabilities and reduce costs provided by the latest technology developments.

There are three ways a community enters the 21st Century and becomes an Intelligent Community. The first two are like choosing root canal. The third is the option to floss and brush.

Amirzai Sangin, the former Minister of Communications & IT for the Republic of Afghanistan makes an exclusive appearance at the ICF Summit on Thursday. Mr. Sangin was ICF’s Visionary of the Year in 2006 and has written a new book about his experiences in Afghanistan.

One: A region, community or an entire nation can swerve with near fatal consequences and smack into its moment of truth. It there meets the realities and requirements of the digital age. It is dragged out and hopefully recovers enough to be dragged in to the right lane. This collision often is the result of a total economic or social collapse caused by a tsunami. History does not always signal when it changes lanes. So the local industry begins to fade into the dusty pages of economic history without much warning. More often than not a company or a cluster of them, those upon which prosperity had been built, chases after some hot little trophy city in the Sunbelt. Or sails off to a country in Asia where the workers are still climbing toward the middle class and willing to work for unthinkably low wages. In this case, the community is in desperate shape and reaches out like a man caught swimming in a riptide. The good news is that if you do not panic and go laterally for a while, you can get out of a riptide.

ICF’s Global Summit will take place October 21-23 in Dublin, Ohio, USA, with the Intelligent Community of the Year announcement on October 22

(New York, NY, USA and Dublin, OH, USA – April 2, 2020) – In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ICF and its host city of Dublin, Ohio, USA have rescheduled the Global Summit from its original June dates to October 21-23, 2020.

Rescheduling the Summit will also push back the awarding of the Intelligent Community of the Year to October 22. ICF is taking this opportunity to revamp its future awards program schedule as well. The deadline for nominations for the 2021 cycle will move to January 7, 2021, with the Smart21 (semi-finalist) announcement scheduled for February.

Nominations are being accepted now for 2021, and communities are invited to download the questionnaire from www.intelligentcommunity.org/index_questionnaire. By submitting it, they will receive a free Snapshot report comparing their readiness and performance to ICF’s global data set.

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, Lou Zacharilla speaks with Hunter Newby of Newby Ventures and Chris Moon, Managing Director, Technology and Telecom Banking, for ING about  financing a Smart City Neutral Network.

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.

Lambton County didn’t win the top honour at Thursday’s Intelligent Community Forum awards in New York City, but Warden Bill Weber says officials are happy to be in the Top7.

The county, which includes the City of Sarnia, has been involved in the international program for several years, earning a place in its Smart 21 list since 2016 before moving recently into the Top7.

Weber joined a delegation from the Intelligent Sarnia-Lambton group this week at the forum’s Global Summit where Taoyuan, Taiwan, was named its 2019 Intelligent Community of the Year.

The Sunshine Coast made history today, putting the spotlight on our innovative, healthy, smart and creative region on the world stage in New York.

Mayor Mark Jamieson joined representatives from around the globe on stage as one of the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2019, as rated by the global Intelligent Community Forum (ICF).

(June 13, 2019 – New York City) – For the first time in six years, the Intelligent Community Forum honored a Taiwanese city with its top award tonight when it named Taoyuan, Taiwan as its 2019 Intelligent Community of the Year. Taoyuan is a well-known veteran of the Intelligent Community Awards program, having been previously named a ten-time Smart21 Community and a four-time Top7 Community since first entering the program in 2009.

“Taoyuan has been one of the highest overall achievers among smart and Intelligent Communities for the past decade,” said ICF co-founder Louis Zacharilla. “They have stayed with it and while most people may not recognize the name Taoyuan City, it is at the same level as Stockholm, Toronto and Melbourne. It is a place where quality of life, job creation and the digital environment’s ability to unleash innovation meet in perfect unison.”

Taoyuan was selected as the 2019 Intelligent Community of the Year after a year-long evaluation that included a quantitative analysis of extensive data, site inspections by an Intelligent Community Forum co-founder and votes from an international jury made up of experts from around the world. Communities in the Awards program are evaluated based on the six Intelligent Community Indictors that make up the ICF Method and in the context of ICF’s annual theme, When Tech Giants Come to Town.

	The Zacharilla collection from previous Intelligent Communities of the Year. Many of these cities will have representatives on the stage on June 13 to honor Espoo’s successor.

I am looking at Espoo, Finland Mayor Jukka Mäkelä in this video and wondering two things about the outgoing Intelligent Community of the Year.

First, I am wondering which of the seven communities now on their way to New York as I write this will succeed his city, which was an improbable and unexpected choice for the award in London last June? Which of them will celebrate their ranking among the Top7 but then walk to the stage alone, surrounded by Espoo and other former Intelligent Communities of the Year, to accept the trophy as Intelligent Community of the Year?

It is a question in the minds of hundreds of people in these seven communities, as well as throughout our worldwide network, site selectors, the media and, most importantly, cities considering using the ICF Method.

Second is a more parochial conceit. I am wondering if I will get a nice blue tie just like Mayor Mäkelä’s.