Arlington County in Virginia, USA, Dublin in Ohio, USA, Dundee in Scotland, Eindhoven in The Netherlands, Ottawa in Canada, Suwon in South Korea and Tallinn in Estonia are the world's most intelligent communities.
They were chosen by the Intelligent Community Forum, a New York-based think-tank that studies the economic and social development of the 21st century community, as part of the annual announcement for the prestigious Intelligent Community of the Year Award 2010. The choice was based on analysis of their nominations by a team of independent academic experts.
In the last two years Malta twice got to the semi-final stage, where it was picked up as one of the so-called Smart21, the 21 most intelligent communities in the world. It failed to make it to the final seven though.
"The top seven of 2010 have demonstrated ingenuity through innovative broadband applications and dedication to education," said ICF co-founder Louis Zacharilla who presented the top seven during a conference in Hawaii. "Each of these communities was affected by the recession, yet they pushed forward with their commitment to broadband, innovation and a knowledge-based economy through investments in research and development facilities, the creation and aggressive support of small business and 'clusters' of industries that continued to produce new jobs."
Europe is the most represented continent with three finalists. In Tallinn's case this was a staggering fourth top nomination, quite a feat for the capital of the former member of the Soviet Union that joined the European Union together with Malta in 2004.
The citation for Tallinn states: "In the first decade of the new century, Estonia became known as one of the 'Baltic Tigers' for its high rate of economic growth after decades of stagnation under Soviet rule. But when the great recession struck Tallinn in 2008, it threatened to undo the decade of advances. Tallinn's response was typical: to continue driving forward with its Tallinn Development Plan of 2009-2013, which focuses on talent development, international partnerships and innovative urban planning. To lessen the impact of recession, the city also put into place over 40 short-term programmes, including grants for job creation, rent relief for job-creating companies, start-up and training support for entrepreneurs and the introduction of entrepreneurship fairs."
Eindhoven was also present in last year's list. In the past 10 years it has gained more than 30,000 new jobs and been among the top three regions in Europe for new patents. The number of business starts per year has grown 275 per cent since 2000, and the region has become Holland's biggest export hub after Rotterdam, which is the largest seaport in Europe.
"At a time when so much manufacturing has moved to lower-cost locations, much of the credit for Eindhoven's success goes to Brainport, a public-private organisation that operates an open and flexible platform for innovation. Broadband and IT have been at the heart of this innovation engine from the beginning, and it is being used in creative ways to maintain a high quality of life," the judging panel said.
As for Dundee, the ICF said the city is known today for its clusters of life science, computer gaming, software and animation companies. It has also become the home of an annual "Dare to be Digital" competition that brings talented young developers to the city to showcase video game prototypes. The 3i group is investing £30 million in laying fibre-optic cable throughout the city sewer network. While the recession has trimmed overall employment two per cent from 2004 to 2009, employment in the knowledge economy grew five per cent over the period.
Arlington County is deeply integrated into the economy of the US capital Washington DC. It has two competitive broadband carriers delivering data, voice and video services, which also provide free fibre-based services to county facilities and all schools. E-government services running on this platform include e-book access, award-winning public-access television programming, web streaming, RSS feeds and online tax collection. A highly ranked school system sends more than 90 per cent of graduates to college or university.
The other US location, Dublin in the state of Ohio, calls itself "home to 3,000 businesses". These include Fortune 500 companies, yet the average Dublin business has only seven employees, so numerous are innovative small firms. Dublin estimates that all new jobs created each year require some ICT knowledge and skill. To meet that need, the community invests in continuing education and retraining, as well as basic IT skills classes.
According to ICF, "neighbouring" Ottawa has a resilient model that stems from clear strategy, robust broadband for all, multiple public-private partnerships, and a relentless focus on education and start-ups. A new Ottawa Innovation Strategy is being developed to fast-track job, business and investment creation. After public-private investments extended broadband to rural areas, 75 per cent of business owners there believe that connectivity has improved their sales and profitability. The partnerships and programmes, led by the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation, are almost too many to count. Universities offer entrepreneurship training to faculty members, and graduate and undergraduate programs in computer games, sustainable energy engineering, animation and IT.
Suwon in South Korea responded to the 1997 financial crisis that swept Asia with ambitious goals and sweeping plans to adapt its economy to prosper in the 21st century. Local government launched a major e-government effort to reduce costs, improve access to information and better serve citizens. Suwon's wired and wireless broadband network offers 10-100 Mbps speeds to 100 per cent of residents and organisations. The city has also poured resources and effort into lifelong education. With the largest municipal education budget in South Korea, Suwon renovated libraries and IT centres and hired large numbers of English-language teachers to equip students with the world's business language. Finally, Suwon focused economic development efforts on small-to-midsize companies through a series of industrial complexes and incubators focusing on nanotechnology, biotechnology, electronics, green tech and software.
One of these communities will succeed Stockholm as the most intelligent community in the world. The announcement will be made in May.