The Smart21 Communities of 2009
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 The 2009 Smart21 - listed below in alphabetical order - includes communities from 12 nations on four continents. Population range from 17,000 to 2.5 million. Eight of the communities appeared previously among the 2008 Smart21 and three were named to the 2008 Top Seven. Ten of the 2009 Smart21 are North American communities, seven are from Europe, two from Asia, one from South America and one from Africa. In addition to individual cities and towns, the 2009 Smart21 includes two counties and two multi-city metropolitan areas.
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See the 2009 Smart21 announcement in South Korea
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Community
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Country
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Population
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Albany, New York
Albany is the capital of New York State but lies in its "upstate" region where the economy is stagnant and government is one of the top employers. As both a political and economic leader, Albany is seeking to jumpstart growth in the "Tech Valley" chain of 18 upstate counties that have a history of skilled manufacturing. The city has attracted a partnership to build the world's most powerful supercomputer at the University of Albany and helped fund a top-ranked College of NanoTech. Investments in ICT infrastructure have included the Albany FreeNet wireless network and Technology Roadmap, which connects citizens, businesses and governments to opportunities in Tech Valley. |
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United States of America |
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94,000 |
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Ashland, Oregon
Returning to the Smart21 for the third consecutive year, Ashland has diversified a tourism-based economy through Ashland Fiber Network (AFN). The city-owned electric utility deployed an open-access fiber-to-the-premises network that attracted multiple service providers offering up to 100 Mbps, and then added wireless connectivity for low-income residents and public use. The city has deployed applications such as automated meter reading and remote management to reduce costs and pollution. Broadband has spurred business start-up and growth in software, outsourced services, import/export and online retailing that would have been impossible before AFN.
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United States of America |
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22,000 |
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Bristol, Virginia
Bristol is located in a rural, low-income region whose traditional products – tobacco and coal – are in major decline. Starting in 1998, Bristol fought incumbent telcos in court and the state legislature to win the right to deploy a fiber network called OptiNet. It was conceived as a backbone serving government and schools but grew into a fiber-to-the-premises network for business and residents in Bristol and four neighboring counties. With a 62% market share, OptiNet has saved its customers an estimated $10 million. It has also attracted more than $50 million in private investment, including the region's first technology employers, and improved rural education and healthcare by connecting local providers to leading institutions. |
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United States of America |
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17,500 |
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Dublin, Ohio
Dublin's first telecom venture was a plan to install underground conduits to encourage fiber-optic deployment. This became DubLink, an institutional fiber network for government and schools. In partnership with the Ohio Supercomputer Center, DubLink has created the Central Ohio Research Network linking schools, universities and hospitals. An all-Dublin wireless network has extended coverage to provide cost-saving service automation to the city and a platform for service providers to reach customers. Dublin (a 2008 Smart21) also uses the availability of dark fiber to attract employers like OhioHealth and the Online Computer Library Center, and drives innovation in partnership with a nonprofit that has accelerated the growth of 19 local companies. |
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United States of America |
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40,000 |
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Edmonton, Alberta
The capital of Alberta, Edmonton is also the staging point for booming oilsand projects and diamond mining. Challenged to diversify an economy founded on resources and government, Edmonton (a 2008 Smart21) is partnering with its top universities, investing in wireless and fiber, and promoting knowledge transfer to power business growth. Its partnership with the University of Alberta has spun out more than 70 active companies, while a robust health industry has opened a state-of-the-art nursing school and cardiac institute. New provincial and national institutes are also making Edmonton a leader in nanotech research and manufacturing. |
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Canada |
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1,035,000 |
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Eindhoven
The Eindhoven metropolitan area (a 2008 Smart21) – including Eindhoven and Helmond – has long been the industrial heart of the Netherlands. Through a public-private collaboration called Brainport, the region is ramping up its knowledge economy to maintain and accelerate growth in a hyper-competitive global market, while at the same time coping with an aging population and shrinking workforce. Among more than 40 public-private projects are an award-winning coop that has brought FTTP and a broadband culture of use to the suburb of Neunen; the SKOOL outsourced IT management system for public schools; the remote home health care program Viedome; and the Technific campaign, which promotes technology and tech education. |
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Netherlands |
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297,000 |
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Fredericton, New Brunswick
For most of its history, government and education were the economic mainstays of Fredericton, capital of New Brunswick Province and a 2008 Top Seven. The downsizing of government in the 1980s pushed public servants into the market, who unexpectedly formed a well-educated entrepreneurial class. When it could not get broadband from the private sector to meet their needs, Fredericton founded the e-Novations coop, which deployed a fiber ring that spurred competition, giving the city a 70% penetration rate at speeds of up to 18 Mbps. The next step was the Fred-eZone wireless network, which provides free WiFi service across 65% of the city. The combination of broadband, entrepreneurship and Fredericton's universities has powered the creation of over 12,000 jobs in science parks, research centers and incubators, and engendered a strong culture of use for broadband in daily life. |
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Canada |
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50,535 |
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Gold Coast City
Gold Coast (a 2008 Smart21) is a regional city, under a single Council, grouping beach towns along 60km of coastline. Once an agricultural economy, it became a tourist haven only to see visits fall following September 11, 2001. Since then, Gold Coast has executed against an ambitious development strategy. A Broadening Broadband project succeeded in extending ADSL service to 80% of the city while planning has begun to develop an open-access FTTP network. The Pacific Innovation Corridor program seeks to build globally competitive businesses throughout the city while the Gold Coast Innovation Center incubates technology start-ups. The Gold Coast Knowledge Precinct is being developed to create, attract and support knowledge-based businesses throughout a 200-hectare area surrounding Griffith University.. |
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Australia |
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509,000 |
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Issy-les-Moulineaux
Issy-les-Moulineax (a 2006 Top Seven) became the industrial zone of Paris in the 20th Century only to suffer de-industrialization in the post-war years. Beginning in 1980, a visionary mayor focused policy on creating an innovative, IT-based knowledge economy. Issy implemented e-government, outsourced its IT needs, and took advantage of liberalization to attract competitive fiber carriers deploying cost-effective broadband. Competition has since spurred further private investment in FTTP at up to 100 Mbps and free WiFi. Public-private innovation includes a cyber-kindergarten for children, cyber tearooms for older citizens, citizen e-participation in decision-making, a successful business incubator and ICT-based real estate projects. With 1,500 employers (nearly 60% in ICT and digital media) providing 70,000 jobs, Issy now has more jobs than residents. |
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France |
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61,000 |
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Kenora, Ontario
Kenora is in "cottage country," where seasonal residents double the population in the summer. But the decline of forestry decimated the non-tourism economy, causing Kenora's best and brightest young people to leave town. In response, Kenora launched a Web portal strategy to leverage its 80% penetration rate for wired and wireless broadband. The goals were to make Kenora even more attractive to part-timers and visitors by providing anytime-anywhere access to services, while also supporting local business and building a broadband culture of use. Through the portal, visitors and seasonal residents can reserve facility, apply for permits and learn what's going on in town. Businesses create their own Web sites with e-commerce capabilities and promote tourism through GIS-enabled interactive search. Community groups build Web sites, recruit volunteers, solicit donations and collaborate online. |
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Canada |
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17,000 |
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Malta
The smallest country in the European Union, Malta (a 2008 Smart21) has a rich history as a mid-Mediterranean trading port. Today, a national ICT strategy sets the goal of making Malta one of the world's top information societies and positions ICT as a means to reduce social inequality and improve quality of life. The country ranks 1st in an EU survey for ICT exports as a percentage of total exports, thanks to local and foreign ICT companies and regulations supporting online gaming and gambling. Malta is fifth in the EU for xDSL penetration among households and 4th among businesses, and expects by 2010 to bring FTTP to 20% of households. Already ranking 1st in e-government for businesses and 2nd for citizens, Malta also invests in broadband and PC subsidies, training to extend digital literacy to the excluded, credits for businesses adopting ICT, and financial incentives to attract students into ICT careers. |
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Malta
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405,000 |
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Manchester, England
Manchester became a 2007 Top Seven community for its Eastserve program, which brings computers and broadband to one of Britain's most deprived neighborhoods in a way that builds self-renewing capacity for digital inclusion. Its new ONE-Manchester public-private partnership is bringing "next-generation broadband" via FTTP to the city's next poorest neighborhood, surrounding the University of Manchester, as well as more affluent areas. Manchester also continues to innovate in digital inclusion with People's Voice Media, a nonprofit funded by government and the BBC, which trains low-income residents to become Community Reporters using Web 2.0 tools on a range of local Web sites. They generate content on their communities, ranging from news reports and blogs to rap videos, and gain digital skills and practical knowledge while strengthening community ties.
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United Kingdom |
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2,500,000 |
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Moncton, New Brunswick
Twenty years ago, the Moncton region was a former railroad and industrial hub facing a doubtful future. Strong leadership in the municipalities of Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview focused on information and communications technology as key to the future. Since then, this bilingual community has become a major Canadian customer contact and back office center, and built a "near-shore" IT outsourcing industry. Private-sector carriers have collaborated in the city's growth as a telecom-centric economy, and helped power the addition of 20,000 new jobs since the early 1990s, largely in management, finance, health services, technology and education. Moncton is now leveraging this success with a Vision 2010 plan. It calls for partnership with regional universities to deepen the region's knowledge economy, diversifying its IT economy into new sectors, and actively promoting tech-based entrepreneurship.
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Canada |
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125,000 |
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Nelson Mandela Bay
The Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) metro area includes Port Elizabeth and surrounding coastal cities. The automotive sector is its top employer, but NMB aims to develop an ICT-based sector in call centers, IT outsourcing and related businesses, and to use ICT to reduce huge disparities in education and income. NMB has a detailed plan for deploying wireless and FTTP broadband, introducing e-government and bridging the digital divide. As of November 2007, the community had completed a 100 Mb wireless network connecting government facilities, which is generating immediate savings. Next on the list is using the network to improve control of traffic, a first for South Africa, as a public demonstration of ICT. NMB's approach is worthy of imitation, because it creates a bold strategy and high-quality plan but sets realistic expectations for achieving it within the community's means.
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South Africa |
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1,200,000 |
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Porto Alegre
The capital city of an agrarian state, Porto Alegre has a strong service sector supporting heavy industry in surrounding "satellite cities." Adoption of ICT has failed to keep pace, however, and government sees an opportunity to build a technology sector that will boost the number of high-paying jobs, while also combating high rates of poverty in many neighborhoods. A 350km network called Infovia connects public administration buildings. A money-saver for government, Infovia is also the backbone for a wireless network reaching schools and healthcare facilities, and has gained its first corporate customers in an industrial park, where broadband helped attract 12 new tenants in 2 years. Free classes train adults and at-risk youngsters in computers, software and maintenance, and telehealth services bring the expertise of doctors in downtown hospitals to remote clinics.
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Brazil
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1,400,000 |
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Riverside, California
Riverside is a university town, a bedroom community for Los Angeles and a retail warehouse and logistics hub. Until recently, however, strong population growth was not matched by income growth, leaving a city with too few services and too little opportunity for young people. A new leadership team set the goal of making Riverside a high-tech city with a high quality of life. AT&T deployed a citywide wireless network, on which Riverside is an anchor tenant and AT&T provides free low-speed access. The city also built a fiber network to slash its costs and enhance systems management. Fiber runs to a tech park, a JV with the local university, where a new incubator houses life sciences and software firms. While a local college matches angel investors with Riverside entrepreneurs, ten community centers provide free digital skills training to broaden Riverside's broadband culture of use. |
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United States of America |
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291,000 |
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Stockholm
Stockholm is the economic and political capital of Sweden. With 45,000 employees, its government is the country's largest employer, so its decisions have a big impact. In the mid-90s, Stockholm established a company called Stokab to build an open-access fiber network. Today, the 4,500km network connects more than 90 competing service providers to government and business customers. Though the city already has a 98% broadband penetration rate, Stokab will also provide FTTP access to over 95,000 households in low-income public housing by 2009. Stockholm also manages KISTA Science City, housing more than 1,400 companies, plus a support program for start-up and early-stage companies. The city's latest focus is to become northern Europe's quality-of-life leader by enlisting all 45,000 employees in a 3-year effort to improving housing, traffic, and the delivery of an already impressive list of online services. |
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Sweden |
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795,000 |
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Tallinn
Two-time Top Seven community Tallinn has risen from post-Soviet economic ruin to become an economic tiger largely on the strength of ICT. Making creative use of people and funding, Tallinn computerized its schools and deployed widespread WiFi as well as nearly 700 public access kiosks. The city also developed a large-scale digital skills training program, extensive e-government, and an award-winning smart ID card. Through partnerships, it developed high-tech parks including Ulemiste City, Tallinn Technology Park and Cooperative Cyber Defence Center. Rated #2 worldwide for economic potential by the Financial Times, Tallinn is home to half of Estonia's companies, which receive 77% of the country's foreign direct investment. Tallinn's leaders are now focusing on attracting and fostering talent, building partnerships, internationalization and even faster innovation.
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Estonia |
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400,000 |
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Taoyuan County
A recession in early 2000 forced more than 2,000 factories to close in Taoyuan County, where unemployment reached 5.3%. A new mayor set out to reverse course with a three-pronged strategy to create E-Taoyuan, M-Taoyuan and U-Taoyuan. E-Taoyuan expanded broadband to reach 74% of premises and introduced a vast array of e-government services, eliminating paper-based transactions and improving information access for civil servants and citizens. Nearly 100% of schools received 100 Mb connections, and training programs brought teachers up to speed on computer usage. For M-Taoyuan, the county obtained a grant to build 50 WiMax nodes and make mobile broadband a reality in areas beyond the reach of fiber or WiFi. U-Taoyuan is a plan to tightly integrate support services for the county's aviation and logistics industry. These and other programs have helped Taoyuan gain 20,000 new businesses and reduced unemployment to 4%. |
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Taiwan |
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1,950,000 |
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Trikala
In 2004, Greece's Ministry of Economics named Trikala the nation's first digital city. Three years later, Trikala lit a fiber network linking 40 buildings and formed, with eight neighboring communities, a cooperative named e-Trikala to operate it and introduce a broadband culture of use. By 2008, e-Trikala had installed twelve WiFi nodes and quickly gained 10,000 users, such was the demand for broadband. Access is free to residents and visitors after they register at one of the many e-Trikala offices, where staff can explain the technology and assess user's skill level. To build usage, e-Trikala has launched online services including public policy forums, telehealth and a Web portal connecting customers to Trikala businesses. The wireless network also controls information displays for the bus network, improving service and increasing ridership. In future, e-Trikala will expand the wireless network and begin deployment of FTTH for businesses and household.
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Greece |
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52,000 |
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Westchester County, New York
North of New York City, 2008 Top Seven community Westchester County is a complex mix of 43 different cities and towns with every level of income. When carriers refused to introduce broadband beyond the business corridor, the county government worked with local governments, library systems, schools and hospitals to aggregate demand and use to finance construction of a fiber network. Today it serves 3,500 businesses and is saving government and public-service agencies large amounts of money. The county credits the network with attracting substantial new investment (including other broadband carriers), improving educational achievement, adding jobs and enhancing quality of life, which is the county's biggest competitive advantage. The Web has also become the county's most valuable platform for delivering services, coordinating with local governments, and marketing Westchester to the world.
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United States of America |
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950,000 |
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