I just saw this on Cleveland.com. I guess this is good news, I just don't know how a city that graduates 50% of its high school students can be considered one of the smartest cities in the world.

 

Smarter than the average city

 

 

 

12:07 pm

 

Cleveland may be one of the nation's poorest cites, but it's also the most intelligent, according to a New York think tank.

 

The Intelligent Community Forum, which bases its rankings on broadband Internet deployment, has announced its annual list of finalists for its Intelligent Community of the Year award. Cleveland is the only U.S. city on the list of seven, which will be narrowed to a winner during a conference June 9. Also in the running:

 

Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea

Ichikawa, Japan

Manchester, United Kingdom

Taipei, Taiwan

Tianjin, China

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

 

I do not comprehend.

We're smart because we got Internet? Not because of the education level of its people, the quality of educational institutions, or its refined cultural institutions.

^ If that's commonplace, then I guess we'll have to give that ranking back!

 

Seriously though, such rankings are questionable at best. Nice to put in a PR sheet, but that's about the only value they have.

 

Here's what the group said about it:

 

http://www.intelligentcommunity.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=2

 

Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year

 

From the finalist communities that appear on the Smart 21 list in the autumn, ICF selects a smaller group of honorees to be its Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year. Each year's Top Seven is announced at the annual conference of the Pacific Telecommunications Council in Honolulu, Hawaii, which takes place in January. 

 

Like the Smart 21, this prestigious list may sound like a competitive ranking, but that is not its intent. The Top Seven are chosen, not because they excel in all areas of ICF's Intellligent Community Indicators, but because each demonstrates excellence in at least one. ICF salutes them as pioneers and role models for the development of vibrant Digital Age communities in the 21st Century.

 

Some of each year’s Top Seven appeared on the previous year’s list, though this is rare.  Just as appearing one year does not mean that a community surpasses all others, so being replaced on the list does not signify failure. ICF purposely introduces new examples each year in order to continually expand the scope of the Top Seven list, and the selection process must inevitably exclude some worthy and exciting examples.

 

Criteria for the ICF Awards Program

Award Categories

 

Top Seven Intelligent Communities and Intelligent Community of the Year

Awarded to a city, region or community with a documented strategy for creating a Digital Age economy that uses information and communications technology, with an emphasis on broadband over narrowband applications, to attract leading-edge businesses, stimulate job creation, generate economic growth, and improve the delivery of government services. The community must demonstrate that its strategy has produced measurable results in one or more of the following areas:

 

> Attracting new business to the community or stimulating their formation

 

> Creating training programs to equip citizens with knowledge-worker skills

 

> New job creation

 

> New technology infrastructure investment, whether of “hard” assets, services or software

 

> Improvements in the delivery of government and public services such as education, administration, law enforcement or citizen participation

 

> Innovation in government procedures and/or business processes

 

Intelligent Building of the Year

Awarded to a commercial building, building complex, hosting center or real estate-based teleport that has been occupied by tenants for at least six months and has used broadband and information systems technology to add demonstrable value to the property in the form of valuation, above-market rentals, and/or advanced services. The winning property must demonstrate that it offers tenants or customers broadband connectivity on a quick and convenient basis. In addition, it must demonstrate that has marketed this connectivity to potential tenants in a clear and compelling way, and that it is linked to an economic development strategy by the surrounding community.

 

Intelligent Community Visionary

Awarded to either an individual or an organization in the public sector, private sector, academia or nonprofit sector who has taken a leadership role in promoting broadband technology as an essential utility in the Digital Age. This individual or organization must have a proven track record in bringing about effective cooperation between the public and private sectors in economic development, and must be recognized by peers as a subject-matter expert in the field based on written works, speeches, project leadership or other documented activity.

 

Intelligent Community Technology

Awarded to a company or institution whose technology or creative application of technologies has enabled communities and their institutions to better serve their constituents in significant ways. The nominee must have already brought its technology to market, or must have completed at least one successful demonstration project and have plans to bring the technology to market within 12 months.

 

 

Cool!  :speech:

i think the PD is not phrasing this correctly. 

 

those six things listed are things that cleveland has recently been striving for, but also the whole giant free wifi network being implemented within the whole city.  this doesnt translate to "smartest city" though...

What a dumb ranking. The city with the most internet deployment is the smartest? Total junk.

I saw this article on a local news web site.  I was quite intrigued by the title; however, very disappointed when I realized what a nonsense ranking this is.

 

Oh, who am I kidding....  We're #1!!!! : :clap:

there was a skit on a chicago radio station today, sort of making fun of the ranking.  BUT, they explained it was becasue of the municipal broadband networks Cleveland "is the most technologially advanced city in this area"

 

There is no such thing as bad publicity (unless it is #1 poorest)

How useful is a fast broadband connection when Johnny can't read?

^ My guess is that the goal is to draw in more businesses, better jobs and more well-moneyed residents so that Jhonnee is no longer surrounded by uneducated people like him. So, Jhonnee is faced with at least two choices....

 

One, he could seek a better life for himself, by working two crappy jobs during the day, and spending nights getting the education he never got. He emerges from that hell that many of us have to endure so we can become a marketable person for the workforce of today.

 

Or, his lack of self-confidence gets the better of him and decides he can't afford to live in the neighborhood any more. All the higher-income residents and businesses have raised the property values and tax impacts. So he moves out so he can live with other uneducated, low-income people just like him and to artificially make Jhonnee feel better about himself again.

 

If you live in Cleveland, you send your children to the Cleveland Municipal School District because the law says you have to send your kid somewhere. But families in the city today, who want more for their children, have many more choices than that. The number of charter and paroachial schools in the city have increased to the point where there are substantial choices available. I realize the supply of these (and the vouchers to make them affordable) is still not enough. But there is progress and it appears to be continuing. Unfortunately, for those of us who still believe in public education, the Cleveland Municipal School District is at risk of becoming a place where neglected children go to start the end of their lives.

wow, that's pretty incredible!

amazing, this needs more press.

I have no problem living in the most affordable and smartest city in USA.  :wave:

These stupid lists dont mean anything

It's great to see the proliferation of this fiber optic network! This is the kind of image difference that business people across the country will respond to.

 

I just hope re-investment continues to happen in Cleveland's digital infrastructure. At the pace of technology, today's forward thinking city loses it's edge without perpetual re-investment.