Winnipeg is in the running to be the world's most intelligent city and has already made the top seven, which includes contenders in Taiwan and Germany.

The Intelligent City Forum in New York has spent the last 15 years measuring "community intelligence" based on how information and communications technology are incorporated into local economies.

"We're interested in how cities adapt to a world in which the entire economy is increasingly driven by technology," said Robert Bell, the executive director and co-founder of the forum. "We look at about 400 cities and regions around the world every year."

He spent the last week in Winnipeg on a "site visit," creating a report that will go to an international jury to determine the winner of this year's contest.

"I've been to so many places where people will tell me, 'Oh you know, we're not that special. We're just an isolated community far away from everybody else, and we're really not that significant.' Well you are incredibly significant," said Bell.

Bell pointed to Sisler High School's cyber security programs and to the Composite Innovation Centre's work on the next generation of composites.

"You've got elective programs in cyber security that are so amazing post-secondary institutions are coming to learn from Sisler High School how to do that type of education," said Bell. "Teens from the Sisler High School have won, for three years in a row, a north American competition in cyber security that's put on by the United States air force."

Bell said the most interesting thing so far about his visit isn't a specific detail but instead, a pattern.

"The city … has worked out a very nice innovation system," he said, singling out local non-profit Assentworks. "You say, 'I just want to come in and make something,' and that leads you up through a set of organizations that can assist you."

After site reports are completed for the seven finalist cities and regions, the international jury will select the winner. Based on that work, the forum does workshops and creates publications on best practices and ideas for other cities.

"You've got global bragging rights with cities like Stockholm," said Bell.