The ICF VIP Delegation at the Top7 Brightlands-Limburg Conference and Extended Site Visit to Eindhoven included 15 participants and leaders representing the USA, Canada, Taiwan, Spain, and the Netherlands.

(New York City – June 16, 2026) – The Intelligent Community Forum announced today the Full Certification of Yunlin County, a major supplier of agricultural and fisheries products to Taiwan. The announcement took place at “Circular Living,” the 2026 Top7 Intelligent Communities conference taking
place in the province of Limburg, Netherlands.

Yunlin County had previously qualified for Provisional Certification based on self-reported data. A two-day, onsite audit by an ICF representative validated this information and provided fresh insights into how the county works to to automate production, retain young talent, promote the creation of new companies and prevent the decline that affects so many agricultural regions around the world.

In this episode of the Intelligence Test, ICF Co-Founder Robert Bell has a conversation with Xie Shu-ya, Deputy Magistrate, Yunlin County, Taiwan.

On December 2 (local time), the Yunlin County Government delegation, led by Director Li Ming-Yue of the Department of Planning, traveled to Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to attend the 2025 Global Summit Forum organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Government, Becamex, and the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). The event gathered city representatives and industry pioneers from Vietnam, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, and Turkey. In addition to presentations by the Top7 cities of the year, the summit featured panel discussions for cross-sector, cross-city, and cross-border exchanges on public policy, urban economy, and community engagement.

(New York City – October 9, 2025) The Intelligent Community Forum today announced the renewal of New Taipei City’s Full Certification as an Intelligent Community, based on an audit of the programs, policies and achievements that make New Taipei City a highly desirable place to live, work and innovate in Taiwan. 

My audit of New Taipei City for its Intelligent Community Certification wrapped up with insight into how cities can get the most out of the digital transformation. We visited the Sanchong Education and Activity Center, one of four locations where people of all ages (but mostly seniors) come to learn how to use digital tech. My takeaway: if you are doing digital inclusion, cover the basics– but change things based on what’s popular. The popularity list at Sanchong starts with podcasting and live streaming, followed (of course) by AI. The Center updates its courses and workshops every year to stay current. That’s how they have trained hundreds of thousands of New Taipei citizens.

I just finished my first day of auditing New Taipei City in Taiwan for renewal of its Intelligent Community Certification. Along the way, we had lunch, as the picture shows. But in between the glasses of iced tea, I picked up noteworthy, new ways that local governments can help their existing and new companies succeed: 

#1 Improving the Odds of Startup Success with Crowdfunding

New Taipei selects startups each year – including indigenous and new residents – to benefit from crowdfunding campaigns. In six years, the city has helped nearly 80 startups each crowdsource an average of US$120,000. The money isn’t really the point. It is to help startups identify their value and road-test their messaging early in their development, based on feedback from the crowd. The city team provides a professional-grade crowdfunding campaign and supplements it with product and target market analysis, media exposure, industry and government connections and access to grants. It’s an imaginative way to support the early development of new companies.

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Jim Shea, Founder and CEO of Deepsig.

The Taiwanese government spares no effort to promote new tech trends in sports to help people live a longer and healthier life.

Taoyuan has kicked off an exciting initiative “She smart Taoyuan”, further in collaborating with gender perspective into city and policy design and celebrating what women have accomplished in this field.