2015 Intelligent Community Forum Smart7 Candidates Announced

The Intelligent Community Forum announced the Top7 Intelligent Communities for 2015 today.

The Top7 list is dominated by the United States with three communities: Arlington County, Virginia; Columbus,Ohio; and Mitchell, South Dakota.

The others come from four nations: Ipswich, Australia; New Taipei City, Taiwan; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Surrey, Canada. Four of the cites are on the Top7 list for the first time: Mitchell, New Taipei City, Rio de Janeiro and Surrey.

“Each is ‘revolutionary’ in its own way, and each has planned its future in a way that is consistent with its cultural identity, while using universally available digital tools and broadband technology," said Intelligent Community co-founder Lou Zacharilla.

Disclaimer: I have been a juror for the ICF for several years. The ICF work is important because broadband, by itself, does not make a community "smart." Intelligent communities develop an integrated community and economic development strategy that makes broadband an infrastructure building block that supports a broader set of goals and objectives.