The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) named Stockholm, Sweden the Intelligent Community of the Year for 2009 at an awards ceremony this afternoon at Steiner Film Studios in Brooklyn, New York. The Scandanavian community, known for its prowess in innovative technologies and its quality of life, was represented by a delegation led by its Vice Mayor Ulf Kristersson, which included its Consul General, Ambassador Ulf Hjertonsson. ICF Co-Founder Louis Zacharilla presented the award to Stockholm, which succeeded the Gangnam District of Seoul (Korea), the 2008 recipient.
"This is a community that has methodically and substantially redefined the possibilities of urban living and sets an example of how technology can play a role to enhance economic and social development," said Zacharilla.
Also recognized were the recipients of the ICF's Visionary of the Year Award and its three annual Founders Awards. The annual awards are presented by the independent think tank as part of its annual conference, Building the Broadband Economy, produced in association with the Institute for Technology & Enterprise at New York University's Polytechnic school in New York (USA).
The goal of the awards is to increase awareness of the role that broadband and information communications technology (ICT) play in economic and social development at the community level worldwide. The mayors, CIOs and heads of technology companies from around the world were on hand to meet during the three day, invitation-only Summit and awards program.
Intelligent Community of the Year 2009: Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm, on Sweden's south-central east coast, has been Sweden´s political, cultural and economic center since the 1200s. One out of every eleven Swedes lives in Stockholm, and in the first decade of the new century, their city has continued to find ways to make "big" work better. The economy benefits enormously from Stockholm's status as the political and cultural capital. Most of the country's head offices and one in three foreign-owned companies are located there. Nearly one in three new Swedish companies is located in the county of which Stockholm is the capital. Education levels are high (51% of Stockholmers have studied at university levels compared with 35% nationwide) and average salaries are proportionally higher.During a national fiscal crisis in the early Nineties, the City of Stockholm decided to pursue an unusual model in telecommunications. The city-owned company Stokab started in 1994 to build a fiber-optic network throughout the municipality as a level playing field for all operators. Stokab dug up the streets once to install conduit and run fiber, closed them up, and began offering dark fiber capacity to carriers for less than it would cost them to install it themselves. Today, the 1.2 million kilometer (720,000-mile) network has more than 90 operators and 450 enterprises as primary customers and is now in the final year of a three-year project to bring fiber to 100% of public housing, which is expected to add 95,000 households to the network. Stockholm's Mayor has set a goal of connecting 90% of all households to fiber by 2012.
In 2007, the City of Stockholm published Vision 2030, identifying the key characteristics the city aimed to have by that year. In 2030, according to the plan, Stockholm would be a world-class metropolis offering a rich urban living experience, the center of an internationally competitive innovation region, and a place where citizens enjoyed a broad range of high-quality, cost-effective social services.
More information is available on the Intelligent Community Profiles pages of the ICF Web site: http://www.intelligentcommunity.org/index.php?src=news&refno=304&category=Community
Louis Zacharilla, ICF Co-founder, congratulated the
new Intelligent Community of the Year, saying, "Stockholm has expertly demonstrated how a culture of use has formed within the context of Stockholm's policy commitments, especially those to the environment, business and care for its citizens. Stockholm is an ambitious community and on the move. Stockholm serves as a case study for communities where national government has taken a more prominent role during the current economic downturn."
ICF also recognized the previously announced recipients of the Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year award and the Founders Awards during the awards ceremony:
Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year 2009: Issy-les-Moulineaux, France Mayor Andre Santini
Mayor Andre Santini, who also serves as French Minister of State for Civil Service, had a vision of rebuilding Issy's economy as far back as the 1980's. Early on he envisioned a time when information and communications technology would take the place of traditional industry as a generator of jobs. While the outlines of the broadband economy were far from clear in the early 1980s, Mayor Santini was determined to grow a small base of IT, telecommunications and R&D organizations that Issy had attracted. Issy became the first French city to install outdoor electronic information displays and was the first to deploy a cable TV network. In the first years of the 21st Century, Issy began offering services specifically designed to build a broadband "culture of use" among its people. In 2003, Issy became the first French city to introduce free public WiFi in locations ranging from government buildings to hospitals, hotels and convention centers. ICF selected Mr. Santini based on his nearly two decades of extraordinary performance and dedication to the transformation of Issy into one of the most prosperous, forward-thinking and impressive intelligent communities in the world.
ICF Chairman John Jung praised Mayor Santini's work, saying, "He was among the first to seek and implement many of the technological improvements that most of us today take for granted in our communities. Mayor Santini's foresight and determination appear to be the key reasons this community in the shadow of big neighbor Paris is able to compete and win. When more highly-trained, skilled workers travel every day into your community than are able to live there, you have it made."
Of the recognition, Mayor Santini said, "To keep the spirit of innovation is vital for the development of communities. My thoughts go to the inhabitants of Issy-les-Moulineaux, a city with more than fifteen years of experience in new technologies. Thanks to the efforts of its population, its companies and its elected officials, Issy not only managed to remain largely unscathed by the economic crisis of the seventies, but became one of the most dynamic cities in France. The founders of ICF are themselves visionaries. They, before anyone else in the world, understood the importance of sharing and exchanging best practices to accelerate development within our communities."
ICF Founders Awards
The ICF Founders Awards identify individuals, applications, organizations and innovations within Intelligent Communities that are transforming life in the broadband economy for the common good. The Founders Awards identify best practices, sustained programs or inspiring initiatives and give them global recognition through ICF's Intelligent Community of the Year awards program. The three awards are selected by ICF's founders based on their own study, observations or visits to Intelligent Communities around the world. The 2009 ICF Founders Awards recipients are:Dave Carter, Head, Manchester Digital Development Agency, Manchester, UK
In the 1980s, Manchester lost one million jobs in the 10-municipality metro region, equal to 25% of the employment base. In 1984, a newly elected Council asked the university to launch research in order to better understand the crisis and how to respond to it. They hired a young visionary named Dave Carter and tasked him with re-envisioning Manchester's economy for the next 10 years. He has donethis through a range of projects that increase social inclusion and combine welfare with private sector innovations, such as teaching e-trading and creating web-based small businesses. One example cited by ICF is the People's Voice Media project. This project supports communities by developing, marketing and distributing community stories, news, information, and views. It is a single point of contact for advertisers and provides training for the production of social media content. Mr. Carter has moved through a series of leadership positions and today heads the Manchester Digital Development Agency, part of the City Council that focuses on ICT systems, Web/new media applications, digital cities, intelligent energy, regeneration, citizen engagement, and innovation.
"I am very proud to have received this award and I strongly believe that it would not be possible w/o the strategic commitment given to digital technology and to our work by the Manchester City Council over the years," Dave Carter said of receiving the award.
Robert Bell, ICF Co-founder and Executive Director, congratulated Manchester: "This is the most comprehensive and sensible strategy we have seen to not only address digital inclusion, one of our major criteria, but to enable new skills to be learned in a way that is innovative."
Andrew Spano, County Executive, Westchester County, New York, USA
Under the direction of long-time County Executive Andrew J. Spano, the county north of New York City with a population of nearly one million residents has made its broadband and telecommunications strategy the foundation for continued innovation, growth and access. While often in the shadow of its neighbor to the south, Westchester County generates 10% of all patents in the United States. Of note to ICF is Mr. Spano's lifetime of innovation in re-engineering local government processes, which has saved tax dollars and created a local culture of use that has made the Internet a major form of communication between government and citizens at every level. The county, named one of the 10 leading "Digital Counties" in the United States recently, took the unprecedented step nearly 10 years ago of using its own need for telecomm voice and data to build one of the most robust telecom networks in the nation. Through the help of the company that built the network, Optimum Lightpath, over 800 miles of infrastructure connects 3,500 businesses and over half of Westchester's 43 highly diverse municipalities. The portal has become the "digital voice" of local government as it serves its people."It is a great honor to be chosen by ICF to receive a Founders Award," said County Executive Andy Spano. "In Westchester County, we've long recognized the importance of technology when it comes to attracting new business and jobs, as well as improving the overall quality of life. Westchester Telecom, our fiber optic network that now serves more than 3,500 businesses as well as schools and public buildings throughout the county, has given us a competitive edge and helped to attract business while opening a window on the world for school children. It's put the county on the global map.''
Taoyuan County, Taiwan
In the "Age of Obama," which is ushering in a new generation of tech savvy leaders, Taiwan's youngest magistrate (governor) Dr. Eric Li Luan Chu has led the nation's second largest prefecture for the past eight years. With a population of two million and an annual budget of US$1.5 billion, Taoyuan County has emerged as the leading industrialized region in Taiwan, yet still retains its unofficial title as "the Kingdom of Flowers" and county of 1,000 ponts. In the past six years, 20,000 businesses have been registered in this Intelligent Community, creating a ripple effect as 23 industrial parks continue to generate innovative processes and new wealth to stimulate a local "broadband economy." ICF particularly commended Taoyuan's public administration and Governor Chu for deciding to continue to invest significantly in infrastructure and services despite the global economic slowdown. It recognized its "U-Aerotropolis" project, which follows a three-phase strategy, successful to date, that uses broadband to integrate a comprehensive range of support services for a growing aviation industry, and expedites freight forwarding and customs clearances in free trade zones. ICF also noted that Taoyuan has implemented broadband coverage in 52 of its 61 remote communities."This Award is indeed a great honor as well as a strong spur for us at a time when we are moving forward to building Taoyuan Aerotropolis, the first gigantic project of its kind in Taiwan," said Governor Chu.
The Awards Luncheon is available for viewing at ICF's website at www.intelligentcommunity.org
