Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2011

The Intelligent Community Forum named its 2011 Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year. The ICF’ s Top Seven are communities that provide a model of economic and social development in the 21st Century using information and communications technology to power growth, address social challenges and preserve and promote culture.

The Top Seven announcement is the second stage of ICF’ s annual Intelligent Community of the Year awards cycle. The following communities, drawn from the Smart21 of 2011, were named to the Top Seven based on analysis of their nominations by a team of independent academic experts:

• Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. This former city of heavy industry is transforming itself through America’ s most advanced FTTP project, a major drive to improve public and higher education, and multiple business acceleration projects.
• Dublin, Ohio, USA. Fiber and wireless broadband have penetrated and transformed every aspect of economic life in this community, from education to business, sports to government, and helped to create a wave of entrepreneurial growth.
• Eindhoven, Netherlands. Long the industrial hub of the Netherlands, this region is maintaining its competitive edge through an open innovation platform that continuously boosts the knowledge content of its products.
• Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. A 30-year high-tech revolution has created an economy in which 60% of companies are in ICT and most citizens think the Internet has changed their lives for the better.
• Riverside, California, USA. An agricultural, university and transportation hub is building a tech-based economy that seizes the opportunities of the broadband revolution.
• Stratford, Ontario, Canada. At a crossroads of agriculture, industry and cultural tourism, this city is creating a digital media sector to provide a sustainable economic base for the future.
• Windsor-Essex, Ontario, Canada. Located across the river from Detroit, this Canadian automotive center is building an entrepreneurial, information-driven economy, leveraging its strengths in tourism, education and agriculture.

The Top Seven of 2011 have demonstrated perseverance and an innovative dedication to the future of their communities. That dedication is reflected in the number of communities returning to the list this year.

said ICF Co-founder Louis Zacharilla who presented the Top Seven at a luncheon in Honolulu, during PTC’ 11.

Each of these communities has also demonstrated ingenuity in improving the delivery of healthcare using information and communications technology. Most are also spurring the growth of local businesses in healthcare, which is expected to be one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy.

The awards cycle concludes in New York City in June during ICF’ s annual Building the Broadband Economy Summit, where one of the Top Seven will succeed Suwon, South Korea as Intelligent Community of the Year. Two of the last three Intelligent Communities of the Year have been from Asia.

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The Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2011