Waterloo named one of the Top 7 Intelligent Communities of 2006 by ICF
From ICF web site at http://intelligentcommunity.org/
Intelligent Communities Forum (ICF) Names Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2006
On January 17, ICF announced its list of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2006 at the annual conference of the Pacific Telecommunications Council in Honolulu, Hawaii, January 15-18. This announcement followed the selection of the Smart 21 Communities on November 18, which were finalists for the prestigious Top Seven list. One of the Top Seven will be selected on June 9 as Intelligent Community of the Year by ICF's research team and jury of experts.
The Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2006 are:
- Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea
- Ichikawa, Japan
- Manchester, United Kingdom
- Taipei, Taiwan
- Tianjin, China
- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
From http://ctv.ca news site ....
The communities were announced by the Intelligent Community Forum, a think-tank that focuses on job creation and economic development in the broadband economy.
John Jung, the chairman of the ICF, said Waterloo met all of the organization's criteria for an intelligent community.
"The city of Waterloo and the region of Waterloo are well-known worldwide not only for its excellence in education through the University of Waterloo," Jung said.
"But also because of the many entrepreneurs that are located there. Of course you know RIM and the BlackBerry."
The Waterloo-based Research in Motion is a global leader in wireless messaging, thanks to the BlackBerry, the most popular of all such devices.
The collaboration between Waterloo's academia, businesses and the government was also an important factor.
"We're also talking about a huge community of collaborators," Jung said.
"We're talking about people who are leaders, and we're talking about a community that understands and utilizes technology and broadband capabilities for the betterment of its community."
The ICF believes the broadband economy is changing communities throughout the world.
The top intelligent community was Cleveland, Ohio. The city was chosen because it used to be a poor community that built a broadband network to boost its economy. It also uses the network to deliver many government services.
Communities apply to be an intelligent community in the annual awards. The ICF then evaluates the applications.
"We look at things like leadership, collaboration and the synergy of the community," Jung said.
Criteria used to select the communities:
- significant use of broadband communication to businesses, governments and homes
- effective education, training and workplace development that can create a labour force for a knowledge economy
- government and private-sector programs that promote a digital economy
- innovative public and private sectors
- effective economic development marketing that can use the community's broadband to attract new employers