Among the findings, ICF noted that there are four primary goals that motivate communities when implementing e-government projects:
- Making government more efficient in order to make tax dollars go farther
- Increasing the accountability and transparency of government
- Increasing citizen participation in governance
ICF also points out that it is important for decision makers to the see the bigger picture and to take into consideration ways to make the community a more attractive and productive place for employers to start and grow businesses that will prosper in the Broadband Economy. The paper examines how Intelligent Communities from around the world are meeting those goals.
Broadband has been shown to make a net contribution to economic growth at the community level. Investments by communities in deploying e-government projects that contribute to economic growth by utilizing or sponsoring broadband expansion have paid dividends.
The white paper uses examples from among the 66 communities that ICF has named as Intelligent Communities since its inception. It cites communities such as the French city of Issy-les-Moulineaux, a former Top Seven Intelligent Community of the Year which began working in 1994 to put its government online. The publication of a formal Local Information Plan in 1996 led Issy to become the first community in France to outsource its entire IT infrastructure to a for-profit company, Euriware. By 2006, local government's IT and communications infrastructure had undergone vast changes. Government, school, library, and health care buildings were fully wired with broadband, and there was one PC for every 11 students in the primary schools. The multimedia City Council room began broadcasting deliberations via cable TV and the Web and accepting citizen input in real time. A robust e-government portal provided online public procurement, online training, access to a "citizen relationship management" system called IRIS, and even online voting. And the outsourcing contract allowed Issy to substantially reduce costs. In a 2005 survey, the city ranked among the lowest (96th out of 110) French cities of more than 50,000 inhabitants for operating costs. The population has grown 35% since 1990, swelling tax revenues, without any increase in the government payroll.
The impact on economic development has been profound. Today, 60% of the companies based in Issy-les-Moulineaux are in information and communications technology, including Cisco Systems Europe, France Telecom, Hewlett-Packard, Orange Internet, Sybase, Canal+, Canal Satellite, Eurosport, France 5 and France 24. A partnership between the city and France Telecom's R&D facility has made Issy a test bed for new applications like fiber-to-the-home, which is currently deployed to a test group of 4,000 households. Business attraction and growth have been so robust that Issy-les-Moulineaux currently has more jobs than residents - a claim that few cities in the world can make.
"The Intelligent Community Forum has the unique advantage of having access to many communities around the world who are actively investing in broadband infrastructure, technology and innovative applications to improve their economic status and the lifestyle of their citizens," said Robert Bell, ICF co-founder and executive director, and author of the white paper. "E-government is about efficiency and better governance but, just as important, it's about economic competitiveness, education, partnerships and the creation of a broadband culture. The communities that have made our Smart21 and the Top Seven provide an impressive roster of best practices that communities around the world can learn from."
The white paper, which was funded in part by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and "Friends of ICF," can be downloaded from the ICF Web site or by requesting a hard copy from Randall Barney at rbarney@intelligentcommunity.org.
According to its literature, ICF (www.intelligentcommunity.org) is a nonprofit think tank that focuses on the creation of local prosperity and social inclusion in the "broadband economy" of the 21st Century. ICF conducts research, hosts events, offers tours of Intelligent Communities, publishes newsletters and presents awards to help communities understand the opportunities and challenges of the broadband economy, and to promote best practices in economic and social development.
From global networks connecting business centers to DSL, cable and satellites linking homes, broadband is revolutionizing business, government, education, work and lifestyles. Life in the broadband economy is robust. By opening markets, it creates new jobs and gives new focus and hope to communities in transition. By making possible the export of services and skills, it puts workers into wage and skill competition with people around the globe. For governments, it creates the opportunity for unprecedented transparency and responsiveness but also challenges policymakers to overcome the "digital divide" and use ICT to reduce social and economic exclusion.
