The Smart21 Communities of 2010
|
 The 2010 Smart21 - listed below in alphabetical order - highlights communities from 13 nations and includes 10 that appeared on last year’s list. One community, Dundee, Scotland, returned to the list after a one-year absence. Dundee was named to the ICF’s Top Seven list in both 2007 and 2008. One American state, Virginia, contributed three communities to the list. There were one Chinese and two Australian communities on the list, as well as three from Canada, which has had more communities named by ICF than any other nation.
|
|
|
Community
|
|
Country
|
|
Population
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Arlington County, Virginia
The smallest self-governing county in the USA, Arlington has thrived in the shadow of Washington DC thanks to the “Arlington Way,” a tradition of community involvement and strong, collaborative leadership among government, businesses, institutions and citizens. Over 35 years ago, a planning commission created a “bulls-eye zoning system” that grouped business and residential development around stops on the Washington Metro system. Past investments in maintaining open space, bicycle and walking paths, public transit and strong education have been complimented by private and public-sector roll-out of broadband, e-government, distance education and programs that point students to careers in science, technology and entrepreneurship. The highly-educated residents come from 125 countries and speak 100 languages but the community maintains a unified vision using e-government communications programs and through the work of hundreds of citizen, business and community groups that have a direct voice in the evolution of the county. www.co.arlington.va.us |
|
United States of America |
|
210,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Ballarat
The third-largest city in the state of Victoria, Ballarat once prospered on minerals and agriculture, but its economy today is based on health, education, ICT, manufacturing, tourism and retailing. The transition was achieved through a series of strategic plans beginning in 1994 that focused on creating an ICT cluster, an entrepreneurial culture, and the skilled labor force needed to power innovation. Local universities lead consultation with all community stakeholders to identify where they stood now and what Ballarat’s future should be. By 2009, Ballarat was home to 100 ICT companies from multinationals to start-ups. Demand for broadband has produced high-quality infrastructure, soon to be upgraded to 10 Gbps through Australia’s national broadband initiative. An annual Innovation Festival celebrates entrepreneurship and focuses young talent on careers on the leading edge of gaming and other fast-growth businesses. Ballarat expects its population to grow by 40,000 through 2030, when 60% of citizens will be 65 years of age or older. The community is putting into place today the digital infrastructure and enterprising culture it will need to make that future prosperous. www.ballarat.vic.gov.au
|
|
Australia |
|
88,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Besançon
The City of Besançon was founded 2,000 years ago near what is now the Swiss border. A university town and regional capital, it grew wealthy from the manufacture of clocks and watches, metallurgy, textiles and food-processing – until global competition for timepieces in the 1970s sent the economy into severe decline. The community fought back by leveraging its universities and grands écoles, where 24,000 students are enrolled, and finding new outlets for its people’s skills in precision manufacturing. Strong leadership from the city’s Mayor, and active support from citizen, business and academic groups, enabled Besançon to build a technology park devoted to microtechnology, and to become in 1994 the first French city with a fiber network connecting all government and quasi-government facilities. Every school student beginning in third grade receives a “digital schoolbag,” consisting of laptop and access to an online collaboration platform, free of charge. While broadband is widely available, Besançon has also established free digital centers in every neighborhood to ensure access. Universities and technical schools continue the focus on ICT in order to produce qualified workers for the city’s growing technology cluster. Besançon has also extended its focus outward with a “Seneclic” project, in which residents with disabilities refurbish computers for shipment to schools in Senegal. www.besancon.fr
|
|
France |
|
122,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Bristol, Virginia
Bristol stands on the southern border of Virginia, sharing its main street with the twin city of Bristol, Tennessee. Located in a rural, low-income region whose traditional products – tobacco and coal – are in decline, Bristol (a 2009 Top Seven) has fought to build a diverse, innovative economy based on ICT. Starting in 1998, Bristol battled 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, where Bristol’s citizens find employment at new industrial and technology parks. With a 62% market share, OptiNet has saved its customers an estimated $10 million. It has also attracted more than $50 million in new private investment to the region, and become a central reason that major employers cite for keeping their operations in the area. The success of the network has also made the community a key partner of state and county agencies in a regional workforce and economic development program that is attracting talent, improving quality of life and generating growth in challenging times. www.bristolva.org |
|
United States of America |
|
17,500 |
|
|
|
|
|
Dakota County, Minnesota
Stretching from the Minneapolis-St. Paul border on the north to rural areas in the south, Dakota County built a diversified economy in manufacturing, information technology and food/energy/chemical companies and a robust housing market. When the financial crisis slammed the economy, the county responded by accelerating collaboration among its community colleges, businesses and government to significantly boost its share of knowledge-based businesses – particularly the entrepreneurial companies that power sustainable job growth – and to expand the skilled labor pool through education and retraining. Most of the county has been well served by commercial carriers and enjoys 74% residential broadband penetration and 95-100% penetration of business and education. The data centers of multinational companies also form the core of a growing ICT cluster, and medical devices and logistics are emerging areas. The public-private effort has already helped generate new ICT-dependent jobs equal to 8% of the total population, and a task force of citizens, businesses, institutions and government led by nonprofit Dakota Future is charting a path to faster, sustainable growth. www.dakotafuture.com
|
|
United States of America
|
|
398,500 |
|
|
|
|
|
Danville, Virginia
Forty years ago, Danville was the economic powerhouse of south-central Virginia. One by one, however, its leading industries waned, from textiles to tobacco, and by the start of the 21st Century, the community had a 15% unemployment rate. In response, the city launched the nDanville open-access fiber network to bring world-class connectivity to business and government. Danville developed the fiber infrastructure – now 125 miles in length – while leaving it to private-sector providers to deliver services. With all government and school facilities plus 150 businesses on the network, which is now self-sustaining, the next step is to deploy fiber to the homes already served by Danville’s government-owned electric company. The city partnered with county government to develop a business incubator and with Virginia Tech to build a new research institute. These projects have begun building an entrepreneurial base of new employers, while business attraction efforts have brought into Danville Ikea’s first North American manufacturing plant and a new data center housed in an old mill building. www.danville-va.gov |
|
United States of America
|
|
42,00 |
|
|
|
|
|
Dublin, Ohio
In Dublin, the average resident is between 35 and 45 years of age and eighty percent have a university degree. Home to Fortune 500 companies including Wendy’s, Ashland, and Cardinal Health, Dublin (a 2008 and 2009 Smart21) is determined to maintain its edge in a hyper-competitive global economy. A strategic planning exercise led Dublin to install underground conduits to encourage fiber-optic deployment. This became DubLink, a public-private fiber network for business, government and schools, which spurred aggressive roll-out of e-government services from digital filing of taxes to government video channels. In partnership with the Ohio Supercomputer Center, DubLink has created a research network linking regional 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 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 50 local companies. The surge of entrepreneurship has created an economy in which, despite a number of very large companies, the average Dublin business employs just seven people. www.dublin.oh.us
|
|
United States of America
|
|
40,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Dundee, Scotland
In the 19th and early 20th Centuries, Dundee (a 2007 and 2008 Top Seven) was a thriving center for trade, whaling, shipbuilding, textiles and publishing. Beginning in the 1970s, however, global competition drove its industries into decline, causing an out-migration of talent and a seemingly unstoppable downward spiral. But spin-outs from its university sector began generating net job growth in the Nineties. The city partnered with universities, businesses and institutions to accelerate the trend. Government invested in e-business training, pre-commercial research and technology parks, while universities launched research facilities and programs focused on gaming, computer-generated imaging, mobile computing and life sciences. Dundee also invested heavily in e-government, including networked bus stops and a Discovery smart card, which replaced 10 separate cards used for everything from bust service and parking to social services and university fees. As a knowledge-based economy began to grow, broadband was deployed to pass 100% of households, businesses and institutions at highly competitive prices. A new Fiber City project will bring 100 Mbps service to 40% of homes and businesses by 2010. Economic growth has attracted investment that is now transforming the waterfront and the universities. From 2004 to 2009, total employment declined 2% but the knowledge-economy sectors increased headcount by 5% and growth in earnings outpaced the national average. www.dundeecity.gov.uk
|
|
United Kingdom
|
|
142,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Eindhoven
Eindhoven is a metro area containing the cities of Eindhoven and Helmond, which has long been the industrial heart of the Netherlands. Recent decades have not been kind to manufacturing in developed nations, but Eindhoven (a 2009 Top Seven) has kept its edge through Brainport, a highly productive public-private collaboration. Executing a strategy approved by its member organizations, Brainport engages them in innovative projects that access new markets, transform business processes, sharpen competitiveness, improve the skills of the population and reinforce the benefits of living and working in the region. Among dozens of projects are an award-winning co-op 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; a revolutionary monitoring and e-learning system that keeps a major truck manufacturer’s vehicles on the road; and the Technific campaign, which promotes technology and tech education. This consistent effort has added 55,000 jobs to the economy in the past 10 years, lowered unemployment below the Dutch average, nearly quadrupled high-tech start-ups since 2000, and reduced Eindhoven’s sensitivity to the economic cycle – a particular benefit in recessionary times. www.brainport.nl
|
|
Netherlands |
|
297,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Gold Coast City
Gold Coast (a 2008 and 2009 Smart21) is a regional city, under a single Council, which groups beach towns along 60km of coastline near the state capital, Brisbane. Once an agricultural economy, it became a tourist haven that attracts over 10 million visitors per year. But tourism is hostage to the business cycle and Gold Coast City has moved to create a more sustainable path to prosperity. A “Bold Future” economic development strategy provides a blueprint for the city reaching out to 2037. The first of a series of projects, “Broadening Broadband” expanded wireless broadband coverage to more than 80% of the population, and will increase both speed and coverage through Australia’s national fiber deployment program. In 2006-2007, a business process improvement project called Seamless Borders reduced redundancy in business regulation and saved small business about A$6m in its first year. The Gold Coast Innovation Center incubator, developed in partnership with a university and state government, now houses five tech start-ups and offers mentoring to many more. The Gold Coast Knowledge Precinct is an on-campus technology park designed to transform the university into a generator of fast-growth companies. Focusing on talent, the city has also launched STEM education in its schools focusing specifically on the needs of local business. www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au
|
|
Australia |
|
509,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Moncton, New Brunswick
In the Eighties, the collapse of the rail industry in Moncton destroyed thousands of high-paying jobs across the bilingual (French and English) community. Responding to crisis, the city joined forces with neighboring municipalities and set a strategy to take the region into the 21st Century. The cities formed an economic development partnership and targeted call centers as their opportunity. With the help of the province and support of their local carrier, Moncton attracted call centers for dozens of international companies and deployed call center training programs for residents. In the Nineties, Moncton targeted knowledge-based businesses and worked with its universities and technical schools to foster entrepreneurship and “near-shore IT outsourcing” that exploited the community’s low costs. The city deployed a high-capacity wireless network to deliver WiFi to city buses, the downtown core and concert and sports facilities. A powerful mix of business attraction and startup businesses gave the community a 300% growth rate (1996-2006) in ICT employment and a 200% growth in customer service jobs. While the province suffered a net loss of nearly 4,000 people from 2001 to 2006, the county of which Moncton is the center gained nearly 7,000 people. www.moncton.org
|
|
Canada
|
|
65,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Ottawa, Ontario
Being the capital of Canada did not protect Ottawa from two waves of downsizing that destroyed 60,000 jobs between 1995 and 2002. The first wave took out 40,000 jobs with the national government. Many of these highly-educated workers found employment in Ottawa’s fast-growing technology sector. It was this sector, however, that experienced the second wave of losses in 2001-02 as the dot-com recession swept North America. The sector responded by moving from wired to wireless technologies as well as ICT services. The community adapted so well to change because of intensive collaboration among government, educational institutions and business coordinated by the Ottawa Center for Research and Innovation (OCRI), which serves as the city’s economic development engine. Based on a strategy called Ottawa 20/20, OCRI and its participating organizations have focused on promoting technology entrepreneurship through lifelong learning, digital literacy, business incubator and accelerator programs, small business mentoring projects, school-to-work initiatives and a global marketing campaign. Broadband access is universally available in both urban and rural areas, and 75% of business owners told OCRI that broadband access has improved both revenues and profitability. www.ottawa.ca
|
|
Canada |
|
812,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the capital city of an agrarian state. The community was a success story in heavy industry until rising costs in the Seventies drove industry to relocate to surrounding "satellite cities." To fill the employment gap, the community has focused on building a high-skilled service sector and “clean” industry clusters in IT and life sciences. It has been a “Greenfield” effort, in which government has labored to build digital infrastructure, create the skills and demand for it, and use it to develop a knowledge workforce. A 350km fiber network called Infovia now connects 190 government buildings. It has generated direct savings on telecom costs for the city and serves as the backbone for a wireless network reaching 93 schools and 100 healthcare facilities. It has also gained its first corporate customers in an industrial park, where broadband helped attract 12 new tenants in 2 years. Porto Alegre has provided over 3,000 low-income residents with free digital skills training, with special accommodations for the elderly and disabled. Using the network, clinics in low-income areas offer remote ultrasound examinations of pregnant women. It has reduced the waiting time for an exam from 4 months to 34 days, and women are now four times less likely to miss a scheduled appointment, because it takes place close to home. www.portoalegre.rs.gov.br
|
|
Brazil |
|
1,400,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Riverside, California
Located 60 miles from both Los Angeles and Palm Springs, Riverside is a bedroom community and university town, home to four colleges and universities. It is also an agricultural community specializing in citrus and a warehousing and transportation hub. But none of these industries has provided Riverside with sustainable growth. Today, Riverside is fighting with increasing success to build a tech-based economy that seizes the opportunities of the broadband revolution. A Smart Riverside nonprofit chaired by the mayor focuses on technology initiatives, and a CEO Forum of local tech companies has produced a plan for tech-based transformation. Under a city manager hired in 2005, the community has partnered with its universities to develop tech parks, incubators, business accelerators and mentoring programs. Carriers have deployed fiber and wireless networks reaching 80% of the city. The city serves as the anchor tenant, but the network offers low-speed WiFi access free to residents as well as paid tiers. Any family that completes a training class can receive a free PC refurbished by reformed gang members, which has made Smart Riverside the largest collector of “e-waste” in the region. The city has added more than 4.5 million square feet of industrial, commercial and retail space in recent years. www.riversideca.gov
|
|
United States of America
|
|
291,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Suwon City
Founded 200 years ago as Korea’s first planned city, Suwon was hit hard by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which caused its leading businesses to relocate or shut down operations. City government responded with an aggressive development strategy targeting IT, biotechnology and nanotechnology as industries of the future. Breaking with tradition, Suwon aimed not to attract big companies but to build an innovative group of small-to-midsize enterprises (SMEs). It deployed all the resources of a large city to build new industrial parks and business incubators, provide low-interest capital and introduce export promotion missions and online marketing. Leveraging South Korea’s world-class broadband, Suwon invested heavily in e-government under the name “U-Happy,” signifying the goal of ubiquitous, one-stop access to government services online, whether at home or at the many kiosks it set up throughout the community. Suwon also began heavy investment in upgrading education. It introduced scholarship, vocational training and academic competition programs, created foreign language schools and built libraries and media centers. The foreign language schools not only prepare Suwon’s young people for a global economy, they offer the children of foreign nationals working in Suwon a quality education in their native languages. http://eng.suwon.ne.kr
|
|
South Korea
|
|
1,097,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Tallinn
Three-time Top Seven community Tallinn rose 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 built numerous high-tech parks and incubators. Rated #2 worldwide for economic potential by the Financial Times, Tallinn became home to half of Estonia's companies, which receive 77% of the country's foreign direct investment. The Great Recession, however, has hit Tallinn and Estonia hard. Economic output shrank 15% and unemployment grew fivefold from only 1.5% to 7.2%, putting huge stress on government budgets. The city has taken the same aggressive approach to repairing the damage as it took to earlier challenges. It offers grants to companies that fund the creation of “social assistance” jobs and financial help with high rental and heating costs. It is temporarily adding unemployed workers to its own payroll to improve public transportation, traffic control and maintenance. And it is focusing on bridging the last mile from school to work by upgrading schools and connecting young people with entrepreneurs at fairs and social events. www.tallinn.info
|
|
Estonia |
|
400,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Taoyuan County
Taoyuan County is home to the international airport serving Taipei, the nation’s capital. Driven by proximity to an airport that handles 60% of all Taiwan’s air transport, Taoyuan has built a strong economy based on manufacturing and distribution. But it faces powerful competition from Taipei and is very sensitive to the business cycle. A recession in early 2000 closed more than 2,000 factories and drove unemployment to 5.3%. The current recession is having a greater impact, with forecasts of an 8% decline in the nation’s economic output. Led by an activist governor, however, Taoyuan in engaged in a major exercise, called Aerotropolis, to make its economy more robust and improve its quality of living through ICT. An E-Taoyuan program launched in 2001 brought the efficiencies of e-government to the county, as well as introducing ICT into classrooms, public transport and public safety. The M-Taoyuan program begun in 2007 is taking e-government mobile in a WiMAX corridor covering the core of the metro area, with real-time traffic analysis, remote monitoring, mobile distribution of information to the public and access to resources for government workers on the go. The next step will be U-Taoyuan, part of a national Intelligent Taiwan project, that will focus on ubiquitous digital services for aviation, shipping and other businesses, as well as on weaving digital services seamlessly into the lives of all residents. www.tycg.gov.tw/eng
|
|
Taiwan |
|
1,950,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Tel Aviv
The second largest city in Israel, Tel Aviv is also its richest, home to the nation’s stock exchange. Newsweek magazine called it one of the ten most technologically influential cities in the world, because of its concentration of venture capital, research institutes and technology firms. Other industries include chemical processing, textiles and food. By the end of 2000, the city contained 86% of Israel’s high-tech companies but is also a center for the creative industries and home to Tel Aviv University, the country’s largest academic institution. Fixed broadband passes 99% of homes and penetration is well above 60%. The Great Recession has hit Tel Aviv’s tech sector hard, particularly venture capitalists used to a 25% annual return, but pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and solar technologies continue to grow. www.tel-aviv.gov.il/english
|
|
Israel |
|
384,400 |
|
|
|
|
|
Tianjin Binhai New Area
Founded in 1404, Tianjin is the biggest seaport in northern China, which functions as neighboring Beijing's gateway to the sea. With a strong industrial base, the city saw GDP growth of nearly 16% from 2003 to 2004, when its total output was worth US$36.3 billion. Now Tianjin and the national government have combined the port, industrial and free trade zones into the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA), with the goal of creating one of the world’s most advanced urban centers at an estimated cost of US$146bn. The core strategy relies on overlaying ICT on the government, business and residential life of TBNA, which is already home to 27% of China’s scientific and technology talent. A fiber backbone network extends 32,000 km and broadband now reaches 300,000 households or 50% of all Internet users. Large-scale investments have gone into e-government, electronic port logistics, public safety systems and ICT automation for business. But it is in connecting young people to careers that TBNA may have set an example for the world. A multi-level program equips students with an Employment Services Card, which records their participation in career guidance and internships. It qualifies them for entrepreneurship training, in which more than 1,000 business people train 3,000 students per year, as well as subsidies and loans for start-ups. The government even pays 60% of minimum wage for up to 12 months to subsidize the hiring of young people by local companies. http://en.investteda.org
|
|
China |
|
2,020,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Trikala
The birthplace of Aesculapius, the father of Western medicine, Trikala is the center of an agricultural region in central Greece. In 2004, Greece's Ministry of Economics named it the nation's first digital city. It was a bold statement in a nation where, even in 2009, broadband penetration averages below 16%. But in 2007, Trikala lit a fiber network linking 40 buildings and formed, with neighboring communities, a cooperative called e-Trikala to operate it. By 2009, e-Trikala had installed 15 wireless nodes to create a network covering most of the city. E-Trikala focuses on introducing ICT to businesses and citizens, and it has emphasized e-government services that affect people’s lives. Edialogos is an online exchange for ideas and opinions on issues posed by city government. A telehealth platform uses broadband and mobile systems to monitor and support the elderly, disabled and chronically ill. Wireless and GPS combine to provide location information on buses and e-ticketing. With no institutions of higher learning, Trikala cannot leverage universities to create new companies. But it has connected with universities throughout Greece to encourage graduate research into the digital city program. The city has also reached agreement with Technopolis SA to found an incubator in Trikala. With its unemployment rate barely affected by recession, Trikala is preparing to advance from a city of “knowledge citizens” to one of knowledge workers. www.e-trikala.gr
|
|
Greece |
|
52,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Windsor-Essex, Ontario
Located directly across the river from Detroit, Michigan, Windsor shares its pain. Automobile assembly, research and technology contribute C$30bn to the local economy but are in structural decline greatly accelerated by the current recession. Working in partnership with Essex County government, however, Windsor is crafting a new, more robust economy to take its place. Assets include strong tourism and agriculture industries (which sometimes overlap, as in the case of the area’s many wineries), the presence of the University of Windsor and national and provincial government support. The university is using funding from the province to build an innovation center for engineering research as well as a virtual incubator serving the region. The Odette School of Business has restructured its many programs to deliver MBA-level education faster and mentor small manufacturers. Government has partnered with business to create a software technology alliance to attract entrepreneurs, mentor existing businesses and share resources for growth. Educational, research and government facilities are connected by national and provincial fiber networks, and Windsor is partnering with Essex County and other communities to extend broadband to people in underserved rural areas. A public-private business mentoring group is working to pool the resources of angel investors in order to increase the amount of seed capital available to start-ups. www.citywindsor.ca www.countyofessex.on.ca
|
|
Canada |
|
393,400 |
|
|
|
