New York, NY – June 23, 2014 - With the UN International Labour Organization recognizing a massive global jobs gap that opened at the height of the financial crisis and could widen from 62 million to 75 million by 2018, the Intelligent Community Forum has announced publication of a new book called Brain Gain: How Innovative Cities Create Job Growth in an Age of Disruption.

Authored by the co-founders of New York-based Intelligent Community Forum – Robert Bell, John G. Jung and Louis A. Zacharilla – in 12 chapters, Brain Gain offers advice to community leaders at all levels on how cities and regions can build economic prosperity while meeting social challenges in an age of fast-paced technological disruption. The third book in a series, Brain Gain offers the authors’ latest insights from more than a decade of research into the most Intelligent Communities on the planet. These cities have found ways to prosper from the relentless rise of Information Technology (IT) and connectivity that, in other places, is destroying jobs and making whole industries obsolete at an unprecedented rate.

Brain Gain explains how IT is driving global economic change and probes the big issues of work and well-being, the innovation economy, offshoring, immigration and the future of the urban-rural economic divide. The book explores these issues, not in theory or at the global level, but through the experiences of cities and regions that have faced challenging problems and found imaginative solutions. The disruptive forces of technology have an important role to play in overcoming the ill effects of such disruption, but the success of Intelligent Communities described in Brain Gain is the result of their citizens’ leadership, vision, and ambition.

“Producing and attracting talent with the right mix of skills for today, and doing what it takes to create local employment opportunities is not just necessary, it’s the whole game,” said Robert Bell, Brain Gain’s lead researcher. “Technology-based disruption has raised the difficulty to a whole new level. The places we call home are either experiencing brain gain or brain drain – and the difference defines the path of prosperity and the quality of life in a community.”

For example, Brain Gain looks at cities as diverse as Taichung, Taiwan, home to 2.6 million people, and Mitchell, South Dakota USA, home to 15,000. Taichung has used information and communications technology to gives its thousands of small-to-midsize manufacturers a global competitive advantage, while Mitchell has literally built a new communications engineering and consulting economy employing hundreds of well-paid specialists on top of its traditional agricultural one.

Other Intelligent community success stories detailed in Brain Gain include Birmingham, UK; Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Eindhoven, Netherlands; Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada; New York City; Oulu, Finland; Pirai, Brazil; Riverside, California, USA; Stratford, Ontario, Canada; Taipei, Taiwan; Tallinn, Estonia; Taoyuan County, Taiwan; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Mayor Andre Santini of the French high-tech hub of Issy-les-Moulineaux, and a former Visionary of the Year, said: “Brain Gain explores the most important issue facing cities today, whether they are technology centers or in the middle of agricultural lands. The issue is how to attract and retain the talented people who provide the energy of the modern economy. The lessons it offers, based on the experience of leading cities around the world, are of great value.”

Visit www.BrainGainBook.com for more information, reviews and video of the co-authors discussing the book.

About the Intelligent Community Forum
The Intelligent Community Forum studies and promotes the best practices of the world's Intelligent Communities as they adapt to the demands and seize the opportunities presented by information and communications technology (ICT). To help communities build prosperous economies, solve social problems and enrich local cultures, the Intelligent Community Forum conducts research, hosts events, publishes newsletters and books and produces its high-profile international awards program. Over more than a decade, the Intelligent Community Forum has become an international movement that attracts the attention of global leaders, thinkers, and media observers. The Intelligent Community Foundation consists of 126 cities and regions that have been designated as Intelligent Communities and which participate in an ongoing global dialogue to strengthen local economies. For more information, go to www.intelligentcommunity.org

About the Authors
Robert Bell is co-founder of the Intelligent Community Forum, where he heads its research, analysis and content development activities. He directs the multi-stage analysis of communities for the annual Intelligent Community Awards program and authors the in-depth profiles of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities each year.

Intelligent Community Forum co-founder John G. Jung originated the Intelligent Community concept and continues to serve as the Forum's leading visionary. Formerly President and CEO of the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance and Calgary Economic Development Authority, he is a registered professional urban planner, urban designer and economic developer.

Intelligent Community Forum co-founder Louis Zacharilla is the developer of the Top Seven and Intelligent Community of the Year Awards programs. He helps the New York-based think tank communicate the importance of developing viable and innovative communities and oversees Intelligent Community Forum Institutes around the world.

Intelligent Community Forum Contacts
Matthew Owen
Communications Manager
Intelligent Community Forum
Phone: +1 646-291-6166 (x105)
Email: [email protected]

Paul Brent
Senior Communications Specialist
market2world communications inc.
Phone: 613-256-3939
Email: [email protected]