Windsor Essex named to top 7 intelligent communities of 2011

Windsor Essex named to the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2011

Retire in Windsor Essex- Live the life you imagine! ICF named the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2011 at a 19 January ceremony during PTC'11, the annual conference of the Pacific Telecommunications Council in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. The following communities, drawn from the Smart21 of 2011, were named to the Top Seven based on analysis of their nominations by a team of independent academic analysts. Complete profiles of the communities will be available on ICF's Web site following publication of the white paper, Top Seven Intelligent Communities of 2011, in February. On Friday, October 16, 2009, Windsor and Essex County was recognized as one of the Top 21 most intelligent communities in the world by the Intelligent Community Forum. The Intelligent Community Forum is a think tank that studies the economic and social development of the 21st Century community, based in New York, New York. The ICF seeks to share the best practices of the world's Intelligent Communities in adapting to the demands of the Broadband Economy, in order to help communities everywhere find sustainable renewal and growth.

Each year, the Intelligent Community Forum presents an awards program for Intelligent Communities and the public-sector and private-sector partners who contribute to them. The awards program has two goals: to salute the accomplishments of communities in developing local prosperity and inclusion in the Broadband Economy, and to gather data for ICF's research programs.

"When the ICF selects a community to be one of the top intelligent communities of the year, it shines the international spotlight on the region, and demonstrates that we are a community that is thinking forward, and capable of collaborating to advance the well being of residents, businesses and organizations. By being selected one of the awarded communities, Windsor-Essex has the potential to become part of the ICF’s Immersion Lab, which would bring industry leaders from around the globe to our neighbourhood in an effort to promote economic diversification and development.

This year’s application theme was the Educational Last Mile, which examines how the community is preparing its youth to enter the workforce. A suite of programs from the Odette School of Business was the primary focus, including the innovative MBA program and the activities of the Centre for Business Advancement and Research.

This activity builds upon the previous successes of the Connecting Windsor-Essex™ Smart Community initiative, which is making our community one of the world’s most connected regions and uniting diverse organizations and individuals to champion the cause of connecting people “at the speed of life.”"