12.03.2012
The Intelligent Community Forum named the TOP 7 Intelligent Communities of the Year in Honolulu, USA on the 18th of January 2012. The ICF’s TOP 7 communities were selected based on the fact that they provide a model of economic and social development in the 21st Century. This model is achieved by using ICT to power growth, address social challenges as well as preserve and endorse culture.
This announcement of the TOP 7 is the second stage of the ICF’s annual Intelligent Community of the Year awards cycle.
This is what the Forum had to say about our city of Oulu:
“Oulu, Finland. Over the past 200 years, Oulu has seen industries come and go, from tar and wood in the age of sail to leather goods, fishing and heavy equipment manufacturing. When heavy industry went into steep decline, the Nokia Research Center and small-to-midsize enterprises (SMEs) became Oulu's biggest employers. But city leaders remained alert to "the Nokia threat"—employment concentrated in a single large company—and founded the Oulu Technology Park to incubate more SMEs. Despite the financial crisis that hit in 2007, Oulu has managed to create 18,000 jobs in high technology, thanks to risk-taking in education and strong public-private collaboration. The government of Oulu has also created an intensive culture of use for information and communications technologies.”
(Source: http://www.intelligentcommunity.org/, Partner News / 18.01.2012)