The Sunshine Coast, a sprawling municipality in eastern Australia, was once known principally for sunshine, scenery and a climate that made it a destination for tourists and retirees. Not content with this fragile economic base, local leaders led development of a 20-year growth strategy focusing on high-value, knowledge-based industries including professional services, advanced manufacturing and high tech.

This ambitious transition was based on strong and effective leadership from business and continuing collaboration with employers, nonprofits and educators. Economic development focused on supporting existing businesses with an innovation edge and attracting new ones. Education was revamped to target local career opportunities for an increasingly skilled workforce.

The city successfully lobbied for broadband investment from Australia's NBN Network and invested in an international submarine cable landing at a new greenfield city center. Step by step, leveraging local investment and the talents of its people, the city built an innovation ecosystem from scratch, became a high-tech destination without losing the attractions that support tourism and quality of life.

How did Sunshine Coast do it? Find out.

How can other communities teach me?

Communities accelerate by starting an Intelligent Community Journey. Each is different, but all follow similar paths. Start yours.
 
 

Learn from Sunshine Coast’s economic development leader and many others in the Community Accelerator Spotlight course: Turning Digital Bits Into Real Coin. Thirty minutes of your time will pay big dividends in your work.
 
 

Communities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, the United States and Vietnam become finalists for Intelligent Community of the Year to be named at the ICF Summit in October

(New York, NY, USA & Durham Region, ON, Canada – June 20, 2023) – In an announcement today at the conclusion of a two-day hybrid live and online conference, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) named the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2023. The 21st annual Top7 list includes cities and counties from Australia, Brazil, Canada, the United States and Vietnam. One of these seven finalists in the think tank’s annual awards program will be named the Intelligent Community of the Year at the ICF Summit in October. (www.icfsummit.com)

In alphabetical order, the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2023 are:

• Binh Duong Smart City, Vietnam
• Coral Gables, Florida, USA
• Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
• Durham Region, Ontario, Canada
• Greater Geelong, Victoria, Australia
• Hilliard, Ohio, USA
• Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

(June 1, 2023 – New York City, NY, USA) – The Intelligent Community Forum announced today the certification of two cities half a world apart as Intelligent Communities: Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia and Winnipeg, the capital of the province of Manitoba in Canada.

Meeting ICF’s Certification standard provides objective validation that a community has high-quality connectivity, effective workforce development, a business innovation ecosystem and meaningful community engagement, digital inclusion and sustainability programs in place. These qualities combine to support the growth of innovative businesses, meet their talent needs and provide inclusive prosperity and a high quality of life.

Can global “No-Name” cities act as some of the world's best models as smart and Intelligent communities? You bet! Look at the current list of the SMART21 cities and the TOP7 Intelligent Communities this year to get a clue.

Among the world’s smartest examples include cities you may never have heard of before such as Whanganui, New Zealand; Townsville, Queensland, Australia; Elefsina, Attica, Greece; and Markham, Ontario, Canada. Each one of these cities offers initiatives, programs and governance examples that exhibit best practices that communities around the world can learn from or be inspired to emulate. From the 2022 ICF Smart21 list, you probably have only heard of four cities before: Adelaide, Belfast, Philadelphia, and Rochester. Some of you may have heard of two or three more on that list. But I bet most of you have never heard of the rest. But you should. They may have solutions, ideas and pathways leading to your next innovation staring you in the face.

ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with thought leaders from intelligent communities around the world.

Communities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Taiwan and Vietnam become finalists for Intelligent Community of the Year to be named at the ICF Summit in October

(New York, USA & Binh Duong, Vietnam – June 21, 2022) – In an announcement today at the conclusion of a hybrid live and online conference, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) named the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2022. The 20th annual Top7 list includes cities and counties from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Taiwan and Vietnam. One of these seven finalists in the think tank’s annual awards program will be named the Intelligent Community of the Year at the ICF Summit in October. (www.icfsummit.com)

On the Sunshine Coast, we are nestled in nature and green at heart.

We care about our environment, from the sparkling coastline to the ancient peaks of the Glass House Mountains and verdant green rainforests.

And more importantly, we care about preserving it for years to come.

I wrote my last post, “Why Are We Falling Apart?” in response to a heartfelt editorial by David Brooks of The New York Times. Confronting today’s epidemic of inhumane behavior in America – reckless driving, unrest in schools, fights on airliners, hate crimes and murders – he asked, “What the hell is going on?” His plaintive and honest answer was “I don’t know.”

In my post, I explained why I thought we have been falling apart – not just recently but gradually for the past 40 years, and not just in the United States but in fellow industrialized nations around the world.

But understanding reasons is only gets us so far. What matters is what we can do about it.

Western Downs Green Power Hub, the largest solar farm in Australia, is now officially owned by Neoen, as the company completes financial close on the sale.

Western Downs, a 460MWp solar farm located near Chinchilla in South West Queensland, will deliver clean energy into Powerlink’s transmission network and is expected to bring significant economic benefits to the region.

The financing of Western Downs was completed five months after Neoen secured a 352MWp power purchase agreement with CleanCo Queensland, in one of Australia’s most substantial renewable contracts to date.

Maroochydore, Wednesday 22 July 2020: A better connected South-East Queensland (SEQ) has arrived.

OneQode, Australia’s first carrier to deploy equipment and commence operations out of the Sunshine Coast Cable Landing Station (CLS), is now ready to launch its digital services from the Sunshine Coast direct to its Brisbane CBD Points of Presence (Equinix BR1 & NextDC B2). With the lowest latency path to East Asia from Brisbane, this network is set to provide unparalleled speed to all Queenslanders – ushering in a new era of internet connectivity.