Scott Rourke, president, OneCleveland vividly recalls the
morning of January 17 when he opened his Inbox, and saw the e-mail
he had been waiting for. It had Congratulations in the subject
line, but this time it wasn't spam!
It simply stated that Cleveland, Ohio was named one of seven
intelligent global communities by the Intelligent Community Forum
(ICF), a New York-based think tank.
OneCleveland is a not-for-profit organization with the mission
of setting up ultra-broadband network in Cleveland metropolitan
area.
While Rourke received the good news by e-mail, a delegation from
Waterloo, Ont. heard about their city's nomination "first hand" in
Hawaii b the venue of this year's ICF conference.
Each year ICF holds a similar conference where it names seven
communities around the world that it considers digital age role
models.
In addition to Waterloo and Cleveland, this yearb s finalists are
the Gangnam district in Seoul, South Korea; Ichikawa, Japan;
Manchester, United Kingdom; Taipei, Taiwan; and Tianjin, China.
These were chosen from a list of around 500 nominations.
The world's most intelligent community will be selected in New
York in June.
Rourke recalls how thrilled he was on reading the news that
Cleveland made it into the "select seven" list. He said Cleveland
has long sought to become and be recognized as a vibrant tech
community and its selection is a big step towards the fulfillment
of a long cherished dream.
Cleveland and Waterloo are the only two North American cities in
the ICF list.
But the similarity ends there. While Waterloo has a fairly long
tradition of tech innovation, for Cleveland it has been an uphill
struggle.
Two decades ago Cleveland was beset with financial woes, and
couldn't pay its creditors.
And yet by 2005, a city once written off as a "mistake by the
lake" by the national U.S. press was being cited as a model of
urban renaissance.
Cleveland started making tech waves with its pervasive broadband
connectivity. But setting up this connectivity was not an easy
process.
It took OneCleveland two years to build consensus, collaboration
and partnerships between private, public and research centres. "The
technology was the easier part," said Rourke. What took more time
was getting a broad consensus on what we wanted to achieve."
With Waterloo, however, the alliances between various sectors b
research institutes, industry, government b came more easily.
Waterloo boasts some impressive credentials. It is home to 334
technology companies, and thrown up entrepreneurs who have founded
such heavy-weight companies as Research in Motion (RIM), Sybase and
Open Text.
Waterloo also has long established links between academia and
hi-tech b with the University of Waterloo serving as the focal
point. Former university alumni have launched numerous tech start
ups.
Local government and business in Waterloo have been working
together to set up research institutes for theoretical physics,
wireless communications and information technology.
In both Cleveland and Waterloo, technology innovation has
triggered economic growth. For example, two IT companies b one from
Israel and the other from Greece b will be moving to Cleveland this
month. "They were drawn by a large (potential) customer base and
massive fibre network," said Rourke.
And while many find this hard to believe, tech growth has had a
favourable impact on art, culture and music.
For example, the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the
University of Waterloo (UW) holds lectures on a range of topics
from physics to arts to music. The Institute was set-up through a
financial grant from RIM founder Mike Lazaridis.
"So here you have a physics institute backed by a technology
company encouraging excellence in other fields," Said Simon
Farbrother, chairman of the city's Intelligent Community Committee
(ICC).
ICC's mandate is to help Waterloo develop as an intelligent
community by fostering cooperation between the public, private and
research sectors.
What then are some distinguishing features of an "intelligent"
community?
ICF has a clearly defined response. An intelligent community has
at least one of the following traits in good measure:
b " Widespread use of broadband communication;
b " A computer literate workforce;
b " A government that promotes technology;
b " A society that strives to eradicate the digital divide;
b " A community that harnesses its technology infrastructure to
attract new employers Broadband infrastructure is the most
important factor, according to Louis Zacharilla, director of
development, ICF. His reasoning: "You canb t bring the train in town
or load it up with goods, or have people working on the railroad if
you donb t have the tracks."
However, some representatives of the shortlisted cities have a
slightly different take. Rourke believes collaborative effort is
the sine qua non of an intelligent community. "Technology is a
tool, but it is collaboration that makes it happen. The most
beautiful thing about broadband is you can be as inclusive as
possible."
OneCleveland has been running a program Computer Learning in My
Backyard that provides PCs and Internet access to low-income
residents at subsidized rates. The funding for this program came
from government as well as businesses.
Allen George, a professor of computer engineering at UW said the
most important ingredient is proximity to a major university. "We
have three exceptionally good institutes in Waterloo, including the
Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier universities, and Conestoga
college.
All of them offer an empowering environment for producing highly
skilled human resources. That is what builds intelligent
communities." RIM founder Mike Lazaridis was a UW graduate when he
started his company in 1984.
George said while UW fosters innovation it doesn't make any
intellectual property (IP) claims over the inventions of its
alumni.
"UW follows the 'inventor owns' policy as far as IP is
concerned. The university does not insist on partial ownership of
IP. This encourages faculty members and students to keep an eye out
for research inventions that could be commercialized."
There are no easy steps for building an intelligent community.
ICF's Zacharilla has this message for all wannabe communities who
did not make to this yearb s list: "Donb t ever think you can't. No
matter how far back you are, there is always a chance for
innovation. That is the best part about technology."
icon.
