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Thomas Mueller1. March 20185 min read

bee smart city and Intelligent Community Forum announce partnership

bee smart city, Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), and ICF Canada have signed a partnership agreement to accelerate the global development of smart cities and intelligent communities. With the new partnership, the three organizations join forces to facilitate the creation of prosperous and livable smart cities and intelligent communities around the world.

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The partners share the view that the successful city, metro area or county of the 21st Century will develop on a foundation of information and communications technology (ICT) but will take a community-based, collaborative approach to turning this foundation into inclusive prosperity, innovation solutions to social problems, and a richer and stronger local culture.  Human-centric municipal and economic development using ICT will be a key success factor in the future-proofing of the place called home.

“A smart city is not about technology. It rather is an ecosystem of intelligent solutions – tech- and no-tech – that makes a city smart. At bee smart city we believe that being smart it is about ‘doing the right things right’ to serve all stakeholders through a human-centric approach to increase inclusion, livability and prosperity”, states Bart Gorynski, Managing Partner at bee smart city. “Collaboration and active adaptation of existing intelligent solutions are important drivers of success for municipalities. There is no need to re-invent the wheel if another city has implemented a proven solution that you can adapt or replicate. Cities need to look beyond their own borders and learn from the best. Together with the ICF and ICF Canada, we will leverage solutions globally to support communities that want to become smarter”

“Smart cities tend to focus on making cities better with monitoring and automation,” said ICF co-founder John Jung.  “Intelligent Communities are about making better cities, as well as metro areas and rural regions, and equipping citizens, businesses and institutions with the technology tools, skills and ambition and skills to do it.”

With the global Smart City Network & Community , bee smart city provides free access to a huge database of smart city solutions that have been implemented in leading smart cities around the globe. Sharing best practices and proven solutions has never been easier for all stakeholders. Most challenges and problems that cities and communities face are similar – regardless of size, urban or rural setting.

The Intelligent Community Forum brings to the partnership more than 15 years of research into the best practices of communities large and small, urban and rural, around the world.  Its Intelligent Community Awards are the public face of this research, and the lessons it generates have been shared with cities and regions through books and reports, webinars, conferences local Institutes and ICF Nations, and the Community Accelerator education and mentoring program.  The partnership with bee smart city provides a valuable new channel with a distinctly European focus.”   

ICF’s work is based on the ICF Method, a framework for understanding and taking action on the critical success factors in economic and community development today.  They include broadband connectivity and technologies, the capacity to develop a knowledge-based workforce, innovation in the public and private sectors, digital equality, sustainability and advocacy, in which a community’s citizens and organizations become its leading advocates for a program of positive change. 

ICF Canada is a national organization within the ICF network.  It focuses on economic development and investment attraction for the 37 Canadian cities and regions identified by ICF as Intelligent Communities. 

About bee smart city

bee smart city is a digital startup established by experienced professionals and smart city experts to accelerate the development of prosperous and livable smart cities and communities around the globe. The smart city market is currently neither transparent nor digitalized. bee smart city provides an efficient toolset for smart city analysis and for facilitating collaboration and the successful implementation of the best smart city solutions available. bee smart city greatly increases transparency and the visibility of cities, companies and other smart city actors. Learn more and visit the global Smart City Network & Community platform.


Contact:

Dr. Alexander Gelsin, Managing Director, bee smart city GmbH
Tel. +49 (0) 208 62801331
Email: press@beesmart.city
Twitter: @beesmartcity

 

About Intelligent Community Forum (ICF)

The Intelligent Community Forum is a global network with a think tank at its center. It connects hundreds of cities and regions on five continents for collaboration on economic development and for exchange of expertise and information that drives progress. Through this network, ICF researches how Intelligent Communities use information and communications technology to build inclusive prosperity, solve social problems and enrich their quality of life in our connected century. ICF is headquartered in New York City, is a worldwide organization that is renowned for its efforts recognizing Intelligent Community excellence through its annual awards programs, workshops, conferences and other support. Today there are nearly 170 Intelligent Communities around the world, and growing annually, with Intelligent Community representatives on every continent. The Intelligent Community Forum Foundation (ICFF) is the association of these Intelligent Communities, aimed at working together to share information and develop more Intelligent Communities throughout the world. As ICF’s principles are sought after around the world, there is an opportunity for each country to focus its ICF-related efforts within their region. For more information, visit the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) website.


Contact:

Matthew Owen, Director of Operations, Intelligent Community Forum
Tel. +1 646-291-6166 (x105)
Email: mowen@intelligentcommunity.org
Twitter: @Newcommunities

 

About ICF Canada

ICF Canada is the pre-eminent non-profit organization in Canada that encourages towns, cities and regional communities of all sizes, locations and different cultures from across the country to become better, resilient and economically successful smart cities and “Intelligent Communities”. Its chief goal is to advance the mission of the Intelligent Community Forum, promote the ICF brand in Canada and to support ICF-qualified Intelligent Communities in Canada to leverage their ICF-qualified brand and unique value proposition to attract and retain foreign and domestic investment, talent and jobs in their communities. For more information, visit ICF Canada.


Contact:

John G. Jung, Intelligent Community Forum Canada
Email: jjung@intelligentcommunity.org   
Twitter: @icfcanada

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Thomas Mueller

Thomas Müller is Managing Partner at bee smart city. With more than 15 years of public sector experience, he is an expert on smart city strategy and projects.

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