“Never-Heard Of” Communities are Best Bets for Smart City/Intelligent Community Best Practices

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. Also look at this year’s Top7 list. They include names such as?Binh Duong, Vietnam;?New Taipei City, Taiwan;?Curitiba, Brazil;?Prospect, Australia;?Durham Region, Canada;?Sunshine Coast, Australia; and?Fredericton, Canada. Unless you are a close follower of the Intelligent Community Forum or from the country where these communities are from, I bet you've never heard of most of them before.

Most of these communities are not well known globally (perhaps outside of ICF insiders) - but should be. Do yourselves a favor and check them out. Better yet, they are all well worth a visit. You can virtually check them out via the website link provided here: https://www.intelligentcommunity.org/_never_heard_of_communities_are_best_bets_for_smart_city_intelligent_community_best_practices or join the Intelligent Community Forum when it showcases them during their next?Summit?from October 26-28, 2022. Or ask to be introduced by the Intelligent Community Forum to develop a virtual or physical on-site visit with a business or learning delegation. ICF would be pleased to help to curate this opportunity with any and all of its roster of global Intelligent Communities.