Tallinn makes most intelligent city list

  • 2010-01-27
  • By Ella Karapetyan

TALLINN - The Intelligent Community Forum has announced its eagerly-awaited list of the Smart21 Communities of 2010. The Intelligent Community Forum’s evaluation committee have chosen, for the fourth year in a row, the City of Tallinn as the one of the seven most intelligent communities in the world. Tallinn is in the selection of the final seven, along with Arlington County, Virginia, USA, the town of Dublin, Ohio, USA, Dun in Scotland, Dee in the USA; Holland’s Eindhoven, Canada’s Ottawa and South Korean Suwon.

“The Top Seven of 2010 have demonstrated ingenuity through innovative broadband applications and dedication to education,” said ICF Co-founder Louis Zacharilla who presented the Top Seven during the annual PTC conference in Hawaii.
“Each of these communities was affected by the recession, yet they pushed forward with their commitment to broadband, innovation and a knowledge-based economy through investments in research and development facilities, the creation and aggressive support of small business and ‘clusters’ of industries that continued to produce new jobs,” he said.

The Intelligent Community Forum is a New York-based think tank that studies the economic and social development of the 21st Century community. Whether in industrial or developing nations, communities are challenged to create prosperity, stability and cultural meaning in a world where jobs, investment and progress increasingly depend on broadband communications. The Forum seeks to share best practices and offer research and insights into the success of the world’s ‘intelligent communities.’
ICF conducts research, hosts events, publishes reports and newsletters and produces an international awards program.  ICF has partnered with the Polytechnic Institute of New York University since 2005.  The Forum was founded by Robert A. Bell, John G. Jung and Louis A. Zacharilla.

The most intelligent city of the seven will be announced in New York City on May 21, 2010, during ICF’s annual Building the Broadband Economy Summit, where one of the Top Seven will succeed Stockholm as Intelligent Community of the Year 2010. The new list represents 13 nations and includes 10 communities that appeared on last year’s list.

ICF noted that several communities on the 2010 list reported serious challenges caused by the global Great Recession but that, as a whole, the commitment made to broadband, innovation and a knowledge-based economy was serving as a hedge. Most continue to invest in research and development facilities, the creation and aggressive support of small business and “clusters” of industries that continued to produce new jobs. Despite the slowdown in the financial and private sectors, ICF noted that the 21 reported continuous reinvestment in schools, educational programs linked to knowledge work and broadband-related networks and applications.

“We certainly saw the impact of the recession in the data and reports from these communities. The downturn is taking a toll, with a few exceptions. However these communities remain confidently on course, knowing that the work they are doing is an investment in the long-term and to the shaping of a community of the 21st Century,” said Zacharilla.
ICF noted that, while the number of repeats from previous years is surprising, it may represent the fact that these communities have been putting their Intelligent Community building blocks into place for a long time, and continue to make progress each year that ICF judges as substantive.

“Becoming an intelligent community is not an overnight activity,” said ICF Co-Founder and Chairman John G. Jung. “It really does take an enormous amount of commitment, human capital, political leadership, collaboration and an embrace of ideas and approaches that are new and I would say still a little scary to many communities. We are all proud of these communities and wish them well in our awards program.”

Actually, intelligence in terms of communities is measured on the basis of the city’s attitude towards information technology, which includes the approach to broadband communications and to the Internet.
Among the reasons listed for Tallinn’s success in 2009, as one of the most intelligent cities, were public WiFi areas in nearly 700 locations in Tallinn, the use of ID cards and the fact that in Tallinn, new technologies are not only something young people are involved in, but the elderly use the Internet as well. Ulemiste City, Tallinn’s technology park Tehnopol and the Cyber Defense Center were also mentioned. Last year the survey elected Tallinn from 400 candidates around the world.

Estonia has become known as one of the “Baltic Tigers” for its high rate of economic growth after decades of stagnation under Soviet rule. Its capital city of Tallinn was the epicenter of the transformation, which was based on sound financial and regulatory reform and devotion to making Estonia one of the most connected nations on earth. But when the Great Recession struck Tallinn in 2008, it threatened to undo the decade of advances.

Tallinn’s response was typical: to continue driving forward with its Tallinn Development Plan of 2009-2013, which focuses on talent development, international partnerships and innovative urban planning. To lessen the impact of recession, the city also put into place over 40 short-term programs including grants for job creation, rent relief for job-creating companies, start-up and training support for entrepreneurs and the introduction of entrepreneurship fairs.

Tallinn also redoubled the educational collaboration between government, institutions and business, which made it possible to renovate 85 percent of public schools and start youth entrepreneurship programs that connect talented young people with business mentors to help build the next generation of successful local companies.