Calgary can take its place among the world’s “smartest” cities after being named among the World’s Top Seven Intelligent Communities.
The recognition was announced by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) at a conference in the United States last week. Calgary was the only city on the list, which recognizes communities that work to create the information and telecommunications infrastructure needed to gain a competitive edge in the economy of the 21st century.
“We’re extremely pleased that Calgary is being recognized for its place in the global high-tech arena,” said John Masters, President and CEO of Calgary Technologies Inc., an ICF member.
“This distinction tells the world that Calgary is an attractive location for your high-tech enterprise.”
Other communities named to the Intelligent Community Forum 2002 Top Seven list include Seoul, Singapore and Bangalore. The Top Intelligent Community in the world will be named at the next Intelligent Community Forum conference in Moscow this fall.
The forum selected the communities based on excellence in at least one of the following areas:
* Significant deployment of broadband communications;
* Effective education, training and workforce development that builds a labor force able to perform “knowledge work”;
* Government and private-sector programs to overcome the “digital divide” and ensure that all sectors of society benefit from the broadband and information revolution;
* Local or regional access to risk capital that can fund the development of new businesses, which are the engine of economic growth;
* Effective economic development marketing that leverages the community’s broadband, labor and other assets to attract new employers.
Masters noted that Calgary has more kilometres of optical fibre than any city in Canada, with 99 per cent of homes having access to broadband.
As for bridging the so-called “digital divide,” the ConnectCalgary demonstration project in Calgary works to reduce barriers to the digital world for citizens in need by providing computer hardware, software and training at convenient access points.
“Most Calgarians have access to the Internet at home or in the office. ConnectCalgary reaches out to the city’s at-risk populations, putting the information that can substantially improve the quality of their lives at their fingertips,” says Masters.
The ICF is a special interest group within the World Teleport Association that focuses on the uses of broadband technology for economic development by communities large and small in both the developed and developing world.
