Intelligent Community Forum Names Riverside, California, USA as its Intelligent Community of the Year 2012 !!!

[Jay McPhail]

A   successful effort by a High Tech Task force, persistent local government and   a commitment to close the digital divide earn Riverside global award in New   York

Published Friday, June 8, 2012

 

(New York, New York, 8 June 2012) – The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) today named Riverside, California, USA as the world’s Intelligent Community of the Year 2012 during its annual awards ceremony at Steiner Film Studios in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Riverside, which has appeared among the Top Seven Intelligent Communities for two years in a row, was represented by a delegation led by Mayor Ron Loveridge, as well as the city’s CIO Steve Reneker, Assistant City Manager Deanna Lorson and Riverside Unified School District’s Jay McPhail. The co-founders of ICF – Louis A. Zacharilla, John G. Jung and Robert A. Bell – presented the award to Riverside, which succeeds Eindhoven, Netherlands, the 2011 recipient.

ICF also honored Riverside Unified School District’s Digital Learning Revolution as the “Coolest Broadband App”   

The awards are presented by the independent think tank as part of its annual Summit. The annual invitation-only conference was attended by nearly 300 thought leaders from around the world, including the world’s Top Seven Intelligent Communities (This year’s finalists are Austin, Texas, Oulu, Finland, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, Stafford, Ontario, Canada, Taichung City, Taiwan and Riverside Ca) . The event is produced in association with the Institute for Technology & Enterprise at New York University’s Polytechnic Institute. The goal of the awards is to honor communities that have overcome challenges to set a global standard for the use of information and communications technology in building sustainable local prosperity and social inclusion in the 21st Century. Mayors, city managers, CIOs, and executives of leading technology companies from around the world, as well as academics and urban planners, are part of the Intelligent Community movement and were on hand throughout the three-day program (www.icfsummit.com).

 

One of the main reasons that Riverside was selected was because of the many collaborations and communications between various institutions throughout the city.  One great example of that is the partnership between SmartRiverside and RUSD providing training and computers to families in need.  RUSD’s Digital Learning Revolution and its use of instructional technology and virtual learning were also contributing factors.  Congratulations to all in Riverside who collaborated in making this idea a reality and lets keep it up J