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view . summer 2011
Windsor and Essex County’s ranking in the world’s
Top 7 Smart Communities is validation that the area
is “open for business,” says Kristina Verner.
Verner, an R&D officer for the Centre for Smart Community
Innovation based at UWindsor, spearheaded the local
application. She was on hand in
New York City on June 3, along
with a contingent from the area
including Windsor Mayor Eddie
Francis, Essex County Warden
Tom Bain and UWindsor
President Alan Wildeman, to
learn whether Windsor-Essex
would take top spot as the world’s most Intelligent Community.
Although Eindhoven, The Netherlands, was announced
as the official winner, Windsor and Essex County have a
great deal to be proud of, says Verner:
“Being part of the Top 7 says that we have successfully
diversified our economy and have a world-class infrastructure
to support future growth.”
In January 2011, the Intelligent Community Forum, a
think tank based in New York City, selected the area as one
of the Top 7 most intelligent communities in the world.
It vied with Chattanooga, Tenn.; Dublin, Ohio; Riverside,
Calif.; Issy-les-Moulineaux, France; and Eindhoven.
In April, one of the Forum’s co-founders, Robert Bell,
visited Windsor-Essex as part of the final evaluation. The
forum defines a smart community as one that has made a
conscious effort to use information technology to transform
life and work within its region in significant and fundamental
ways. The Forum’s goal is to prepare the community to
meet the challenges of a global knowledge economy.
In just two days, Bell visited a plethora of sites that met
the criteria for being named the top smart community,
including the satellite medical
school and the Centre for
Engineering Innovation on the
UWindsor campus.
In addition to UWindsor,
key organizations participating
in the Smart Communities
initiative included the City of
Windsor, the County of Essex, the Windsor-Essex Economic
Development Corporation, St. Clair College and 48 additional
community groups.
“I think it shows just how strong the support for this is
when all nine local mayors were at the kick-off breakfast
and more than 1,000 people attended the Celebration of
Innovation event,” says Verner.
The region’s turnaround efforts have been key to its
success in the Intelligent Community Forum competition,
said Ron Gaudet, CEO of the Windsor-Essex Economic
Development Corporation in an interview with
The Windsor
Star
.
“This isn’t really about whether we become No. 1 or if
we win. It’s about telling our story on a global basis.”
It has also turned the University into a global example.
“The National Institute of Higher Education, Research,
“THIS IS A TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY
TO PUT WINDSOR-ESSEX ON THE WORLD
STAGE BY DEMONSTRATING WHAT WE
HAVE TO OFFER AS A COMMUNITY,”
MINISTER SANDRA PUPATELLO
BY JENNIFER BARONE
Making a
GLOBAL
STATEMENT
