Pull up your socks and look smart, Toronto. One of the judges of urban intellect — from the New York-based think tank Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) — is heading to Canada’s largest city next week and will be touring key sites here.

In June the ICF will be picking the world’s most intelligent community from a list of seven smart cities — which includes Stratford, Ont. (our only Canadian rival); Columbus, Ohio; Taichung City, Taiwan; Taoyuan County, Taiwan; Oulu, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia.

The top seven came from a whittling down of the top 21, announced last fall. A total of 400 international cities had entered the competition.

It’s obvious from the top seven list that the prestigious “Intelligent Community of the Year’’ award isn’t about a city’s fame or its wealth or the number of brainy people walking the streets. It’s about having the high-tech strategies and infrastructures and vision for a prosperous economy.

As the ICF website puts it, the top seven cities aren’t the most advanced technology centres, or the most wired. Nor do they have the fastest growing economies. But what they do have are “best practices in broadband deployment and use, workforce development, innovation, digital inclusion’’ and they’re charting “new paths’’ to lasting prosperity.

The cities can be in developing countries as well as industrialized countries.

Last year’s winner was Riverside, California, an inland city which made it its mission to revamp itself as a innovation centre to attract new high technology business, incubate start-up tech companies and create jobs and “provide computers and internet access to every citizen,’’ according to its website.

Waterfront Toronto has been the catalyst for the city’s current bid (Toronto last tried in 2005) for the smartest city designation which carries “tremendous economic development upswings’’ says Kristina Verner, director of Intelligent Communities for Waterfront Toronto, a public advocate and waterfront revitalization steward created by the federal, provincial and City of Toronto governments.

Toronto is an “amazing city to showcase,’’ said Verner, and has many strengths including vibrant, diverse post-secondary institutions, a major waterfront revitalization, economic diversifications, research and training centres and more.

Just getting into the top seven list (which is whittled down from a top 21) “is a big victory,’’ she said. Being named enhances the reputations of the cities and there can be economic spinoffs from investors attracted to designated “smart’’ cities.

ICF co-founder Robert Bell is the judge who will be in the city next week for several days visiting a number of sites considered key to the evaluation including MaRS Discovery District, Waterfront Toronto, University of Toronto School of Computer & Electrical Engineering, Evergreen Brickworks, Corus Quay, George Brown College Waterfront Campus, Ryerson Digital Media Zone, Sheridan College’s Screen Industries Research & Training Centre and more.

Bell’s site visit report will be passed on to an international jury of more than 200 former community winners, government officials, business leaders, academics and consultants, who will be assessing all the reports and making a decision in June.

Previous big city winners include Stockholm Sweden, Glasgow, New York City, Singapore and Calgary.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about: