Media release – 19 February 2015

Mayor congratulates Top7 communities

Mayor Annette Main and the Whanganui Digital Leaders Forum congratulate the seven communities who were named as a Top7 Intelligent Community, announced by the Intelligent Community Forum on January 23.

The communities are:
Arlington County, Virginia, USA
Columbus, Ohio, USA
Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Mitchell, South Dakota, USA
New Taipei City, Taiwan
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

Whanganui has been named in the Intelligent Community Forum’s Smart21 Intelligent Community list for three years in a row, but has yet to make it into the Top7 communities, which are selected from that list.

The Intelligent Community Forum is an international think-tank which helps communities adapt to the demands of the broadband economy and develop sustainable renewal and growth.

The Top7 were recognised for meeting the Intelligent Community Forum’s best practice indicators, which include broadband connectivity, a knowledge workforce, innovation, digital inclusion, marketing and advocacy and sustainability.

Mayor Annette Main said our district will continue to work toward the best practice indicators, especially around marketing and advocacy, innovation and developing the knowledge workforce.

“One of the challenges we have is to ensure the whole of New Zealand understands what Whanganui can offer through our ultrafast broadband capacity. The build is 90 per cent complete and will be finished later this year. This is a selling point in terms of getting people and organisations to relocate here, which will result in economic benefits for our entire community.”

She also encourages other communities around New Zealand to apply to be a Smart21 Community.

“I have heard from other communities around New Zealand which are interested in the strategies we have put in place to help us achieve the Smart21 Intelligent Community status for three years in a row. We have also heard from a research company in Denmark, asking us to look at an economic strategy for one of their municipalities from a digital point of view. The communities which have asked for our advice and experience are interested in how they can replicate what we have achieved for our community. I whole-heartedly encourage them to enter to showcase internationally what they have done to achieve digital connectivity for their people. Ultimately, we would like to see the whole of New Zealand become and Intelligent Community.”

“Being a Smart21 Intelligent Community isn’t about material wealth or about how much technology we have, as such, but about how well we use what we’ve got. Examples of this include the early roll out and adoption of ultrafast broadband, connecting rural communities to wireless broadband and adopting innovative technology to reduce costs and increase productivity at a local government level.”

Mayor Main says being a Smart21 or Top7 is not about the population size, either.

“This year Mitchell, in South Dakota, USA, was selected as a Top7 community. Mitchell has just over half the population of our district, but through developing a telecommunications, engineering and digital economy on top of its traditional agricultural one, it has addressed population decline.

“Mitchell also recruits talent from all over the USA and has developed its community into a regional hub for expertise and services. What they have achieved is excellent and our community is working towards a similar achievement.

“We undertook a detailed and challenging application process to demonstrate the work we are doing and why we deserved to be considered as a Top7 community. Our application also highlighted how community organisations are working together to ensure everyone has internet access.”

“We have been working toward the Intelligent Community Forum’s indicators since we first applied to be one of the Smart21 and we will continue to enter the Intelligent Community Forum awards programme with the hope of making the Top7 list or being selected as the Intelligent Community of the Year. Other communities have entered many times before being named in the Top7. The plans Mitchell, South Dakota put in place for their future started 30 years ago, for example.”

The theme of the Smart21and Top7 Intelligent Community awards for 2015 was ‘The Revolutionary Community’, which focussed on how urban and regional planning affects the way people live, work and create.

To select the Top7, an international team of academics scored the entries using a rigorous and analytic process. All communities which were awarded Smart21 status for 2015 could enter.

ENDS

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