A non-profit organization based in New York has named Kelowna one of the 21 most intelligent communities in the world.
Intelligent Community Forum comes up with its Smart21 list by using a city's self-reported broadband availability, innovation, development of a knowledge workforce, digital equality, sustainability and advocacy.
“20 or 30 years ago a very famous management consultant Peter Drucker predicted that within 30 years you would not be able to work with your hands for a living and live in the middle class,” says Co-founder, Robert Bell “And we’ve seen that come true. And a place like Kelowna has got people with the kind of education they need to succeed.”
Bell says Kelowna is strong in all of the categories, including broadband availability.
“It’s spread pretty widely in the community,” he says “You also have a high adoption rate, you got a lot of users there, and that scores well for us. Broadband is the new digital road, where the money comes in, right and it’s where so many services delivered so that’s’ an important thing to have.”
More than half of the cities on the list are in Canada, which Bell attributes to investments made in innovation. Other cities are in France, Finland, Taiwan and Australia.
“Being named a Smart 21 Community is global recognition that the City, its citizens and businesses are all playing a part in moving Kelowna forward as an innovation-based community,” says Mayor Colin Basran. “We look forward to the next phase of the awards program and will use the Smart 21 to continue to market the opportunities that exist in the region for innovators.”
One of the cities will be named the Intelligent Community of the Year in June.