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Smart communities initiatives

Article · January 2004

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Smart communities initiatives

Helena Lindskog
University of Linköping, Sweden
[email protected]

Abstract

Information Communication Technology (ICT) is literally changing every aspect of our

life as citizens, employees, employers, parents, friends and as members of any type of
community. We are changing the patterns of our professional and social lives. It is not
surprising that a great emphasis is put on the possibilities that this new technological
development can offer for local communities, governments and their citizens in order to
increase quality of life, education, job opportunities and general prosperity.

The concept Smart Community was first used in 1993 in Silicon Valley, California, when
the area experienced a recession that was deeper than the national economic downturn,
and predicted to last longer. Silicon Valley business leaders, community members,
government officials and educators decided together to help jump-start the region.

Today the concept of Smart Community is widely used. The Smart Communities
phenomenon is global in the sense that it exists all over the world as well as local since it
is often based on local initiatives.

In the Smart Communities Guidebook, developed by the State University of San Diego
(1997), Smart community is described as a geographical area ranging in size from
neighborhood to a multi-county region whose residents, organizations, and governing
institutions are using information technology to transform their region in significant
ways. Co-operation among government, industry, educators, and the citizenry, instead of
individual groups acting in isolation, is preferred. The technological enhancements
undertaken as part of this effort should result in fundamental, rather than incremental,
changes.

This article compares different approaches towards the phenomenon of Smart

Communities, similarities and differences, how the co-operation between countries,
regions and Smart Communities function and if there are any lessons learned.

Keywords: Smart Communities, ICT, government and business co-operation

1. Background

Information and Communication Technology influences all aspects of life, relationships

and development. The 1980’s and 90’s were the transition decades. Now it is obvious
and clear for everybody that ICT has fundamentally changed and still is changing the
 2

conditions of living, communicating and working as well as for producing and

distributing knowledge.

Communities around the world are responding to the needs of their citizens by
discovering new ways of using information and communication technologies for
economic, social and cultural development. Companies and governments that take
advantage of these new technologies will create jobs and economic growth as well as
improve the overall quality of life within the communities in which they take part.

At the Innovation Festival in Perth (May, 2003) Hon. Dr. Mal Bryce pointed out that our
primary economic and social challenge for this first decade of the new millennium is to
harness the new economy and create the new community…one that is an exciting place in
which to live and work. The new economy is the Global Knowledge Economy and the new
community is the Smart Community.
The process of innovation is about creating this new future. Bryce M (2003)

2. Definitions

The term Smart Community is generic and gives direct associations towards optimal,
positive and sustainable development of a town, city or region.

There are several ways to define what the Smart Community concept means. Some
examples follow here:

In Smart Communities Guidebook, developed by California Institute for Smart

Communities (1997) at San Diego State University the concept of Smart Community is
presented as:
A “smart community” is simply that: a community in which government, business, and
residents understand the potential of information technology, and make a conscious
decision to use that technology to transform life and work in their region in significant
and positive ways.

And in the Implementation Guide (1997), developed by the same Institute:

A “smart community” is a community in which members of local government, business,
education, healthcare institutions and the general public understand the potential of
information technology, and form successful alliances to work together to use technology
to transform their community in significant and positive ways.
Because of these unified efforts, the community is able to leverage resources and projects
to develop and benefit from telecommunications infrastructure and services much earlier
than it otherwise would. Instead of incremental change, a transformation occurs which
increases choice, convenience and control for people in the community as they live, work,
travel, govern, shop, educate and entertain themselves.
Smart communities or regions are also economically competitive in the new global
economy, and attract and promote commerce as a result of an advanced
telecommunications infrastructure.
 3

The Panel on Smart Communities, Industry Canada (1998), suggests the following
definitions:
A "community" should be defined as a group of people sharing a similar interest, which
includes some or all of the common elements: geography, history, interests, goals,
culture, economic and social fabric.
A "Smart Community" should be defined as a community ranging from a neighborhood
to a nation-wide community of common or shared interest, whose members,
organizations and governing institutions are working in partnership to use information
and communication technologies to transform their circumstances in significant ways.

Smart Community International Network (SCIN)’s (2003) definition is:

A Smart Community is a community with a vision of the future that involves the
application of information and communication technologies in a new and innovative way
to empower its residents, institutions and regions as a whole. As such, they make the most
of the opportunities that new applications afford and broadband-based services can
deliver – such as better health care delivery, better education and training, and new
business opportunities.

In a similar way Australian Smart Community is defined as:

Smart Communities are communities with a vision of the future that involve harnessing
the power of the Internet and other ICT technologies in new and innovative ways to
empower their residents, institutions, community groups and businesses.

In summary the Smart Community concept has a holistic view and tries to incorporate all
the possible aspects and parts involved outgoing from a geographically limited area such
as a town, city or region and their citizens. This concept sets the community and citizens’
needs in focus.

The figure below shows schematically a model for the holistic view on Smart
Communities:

Authorities
Environment

Work

Education.

E-commerce
Security
 4

It is not enough for a community to offer jobs, space for enterprises or beautiful
surroundings in order to be attractive and sustainable for the citizens and enterprises. A
Smart Community also has the understanding of all the parties involved and combine the
efforts to achieve the best results. The Smart Community concept stresses the importance
of collaboration, cooperation and partnership between all parties involved including
public institutions, private sector, voluntary organizations, schools and citizens.

ICT is used as a tool. A well functioning infrastructure such as optical fiber broadband
and Internet is absolutely necessary but not enough to become a Smart Community. In
addition it is necessary to concentrate on ICT applications such as e-voting, e-learning or
e-commerce for all the important aspects of the community’s activities.

ICT and its applications are there to facilitate involvement of all parties in the
development of the community. ICT infrastructure and applications are prerequisites but
without real engagement and willingness to collaborate and cooperate between public
institutions, private sector, voluntary organizations, schools and citizens there is no smart
community.

3. Development

Today, the Smart Community concept is known and used all over the world under
different names and in different circumstances. There are local and regional initiatives
like in California in the US or national programs like in Canada. Above the national
level, there are projects and programs of the European Union and lately there are visible
global worldwide co-operations such as Smart Community International Network
(SCIN). Below follows some examples of these different approaches.

3.1 USA

US regions and cities decide themselves to start a Smart Communities movement with a
clear understanding of the importance of local initiatives and a bottom-up approach. This
movement started 1993 with California.

California

California with the Institute for smart Communities at the San Diego State University and
CALTRANS (California State Department of Transportation) has been one of the first
states and places to investigate how to put the Smart Communities concept in practical
solutions. One of the first and successful examples of the usage of Smart Communities
ideas was the five years Smart Valley project (1993-1998).

Smart Valley was a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitate the deployment of

technologies in order to make Silicon Valley and California a better place to live and a
stronger competitor in the world economy. The collaboration between the private and
public sectors was an important prerequisite of the success of the Smart Valley project.

Smart Valley achievements included:

 5

• SmartSchools NetDay and PCDay projects, which wired 82% of Silicon Valley’s
public schools and placed 3,000 networked Pentium processor-based computers
with leading-edge teachers. Before the event, fewer than 19% of valley schools
were wired.
• Smart Voter 96, the world’s first interactive non-partisan election web site
providing information about candidates, polling places, and precinct information.
• Smart Valley Telecommuting Guide, which has received worldwide recognition
and since 1994 has served as the foundation document for companies
implementing telecommuting programs.
• Smart Permitting Project, which makes the municipal permitting process less time
and paper-intensive and facilitates companies’ plans to build or expand.

Speaking on behalf of the Smart Valley Board of Directors, President and CEO Pete
Sinclair in 1998 declared: Smart Valley was never intended to be an organization that
spent most of its time justifying its existence and raising money. Rather, in the Silicon
Valley tradition, the organization focused on delivering measurable results.

In 1997, The Institute for Smart Communities, under the leadership of Lionel Van
Deerlin Endowed Professor of Communications and Public Policy at San Diego State
University and President of the World Foundation for Smart communities, prof John
Eger, produced two important guidebooks: Smart Communities Guidebook (1997)) and
Smart Communities Implementation Guide. (1997)

In the introduction to the Smart Communities Guidebook (1997) Pete Wilson, Governor
of California states:
We all know how vital information and communications technology will be to the
economy of the 21st century. Fortunately, no State, nor any nation, is as well-positioned
to lead the new global information economy as is California. Our State is already the
world’s largest supplier of “information software,” such as books, movies, music, CD-
ROMs, and computer programs, as well as one of the world’s top producers of computer
and telecommunications hardware.

Ironically, because the pervasive spread of telecommunications and computer technology

has so compressed time and space, it is now virtually impossible to govern in the old,
hierarchical, top-down style. Rather, just as the Internet and the World Wide Web have
evolved as networks of individually designed and maintained computer systems, so too
must the coming information economy evolve as a network of “smart communities” and
“smart institutions” responding to their own local needs, opportunities, and
technological capacity.

The “smart community” concept says that local leaders know far better than State or
national officials how next-generation technologies can best be marshalled to a
community’s benefit. It says that only local political, civic, business, and education
leaders, working in cooperation, can bring people and technology together in time to
capture the competitive and civic advantages that the telecommunications revolution
makes possible.
 6

Smart Communities Guidebook stresses the necessity of collaboration between all parts
involved and interested in the development of their own community as well as the
importance of the human aspects in the implementation of new technologies. Knowing
that technological changes are coming is one thing; knowing how best to put them to use
is another.

Market forces may generate new technologies, but they do not give rise to smart
communities; only people do - people with a vision, with a commitment to change, and
with a willingness to work together with others in their community to achieve a common
purpose. Likewise, while technological advances may open up significant new
opportunities in a region, communities will not be able to take advantage of these
opportunities unless they first transform their social and economic institutions in ways
that explicitly foster change, collaboration, and competitiveness. (International Center for
Communications, 1997)

Sometimes results can be surprising. In Silicon Valley, the world’s leading high-
technology center, when businesses sought to expand their technical work force, they
discovered the most skilled and best prepared new workers were coming from India,
Israel, Ireland, and Singapore and not from the near by schools.

3.2 Canada

In contrast to the bottom-up American approach Canada and the Canadian government
have in the most consequent way adopted the top down approach and implemented the
concept of Smart communities as a governmental program. Smart Communities was one
of six pillars of the Government of Canada's national Connectedness Agenda, which
aimed to make Canada the most connected nation in the world by the year 2000 as a
complement to the other five pillars (Canada On-line, Canadian Content On-line,
Electronic Commerce, Canadian Governments On-line, Connecting Canada to the
World).

The Smart Communities Program was a three-year federal program created and
administered by Industry Canada to help Canada become a world leader in the
development and use of information and communication technologies for economic,
social and cultural development.

The program's goal was to help establish world-class Smart Communities (1999) across
the country so that Canadians can fully realize the benefits that information and
communication technologies have to offer and the objectives were:
- assist communities in developing and implementing sustainable Smart
Communities strategies;
- create opportunities for learning through the sharing among communities of Smart
activities, experiences and lessons learned;
- provide new business opportunities, domestically and internationally, for Canadian
companies developing and delivering information and communication technology
applications and services.
 7

The approach adopted by the Canadian government was based on an overall national
policy. The Smart Communities program was also initiated in order to achieve the
exchange of experiences and better collaboration between different regions of the country
aiming for increased prosperity, improvement of quality of life as well as better
opportunities for job, education and recreation for all citizens and all parts of the country
and the country as whole.

The applications that were important to develop according to the Smart Communities
program were:
- Health/Medicine - Social Services
- Environmental Management - Law and Public Safety
- Telework and Telecommuting - Housing
- Education and Learning - Tourism
- Transportation - Access to Government
- Information Community Networks

3.3 Australia

Australia’s first smart communities emerged 1994-98 and reflected the gradual pace
and limitations of “dial up access” to narrow band Internet services. Since 1998, there
has been a substantial increase in Smart Community development, which is a result of
great awareness and increased network connectivity.

As the key components of Smart Communities were considered:

- Cost effective access to reliable telecommunications services;
- A modern community portal;
- Learning linkages, which foster a continuous learning environment for all
citizens;
- Smart Community services initiated by Local, State and federal Government
agencies;
- Development of an eCommerce marketplace providing new choices and
opportunities for local business;
- Personal safety/security linkages to community support and policing services;
- A new higher order of community engagement.

In essence for Australia, Smart Communities are, Internet enabled, about the
development of social capital and encouragement of a new higher order of community
engagement.

In the Australian approach the role and the roll-out of broadband infrastructure is
stressed as an enabler for a much more sophisticated generation of Smart Community
initiatives.

For Western Australia to embrace this phenomenon the real imperative is the not
insignificant matter of our international competitiveness. Other very sound reasons for
doing so include, stronger communities (community engagement/local interaction)
reduced cost of Government service delivery, more effective security and job creation.
 8

Bryce M (2003)

3.4 Europe

There were and are several programs within the European Union that could be defined
as a type of Smart Communities programs even if the Smart Community terminology as
such is not always used. Organizations such as Telecities, European Digital Cities and
Eurocities all within the European Commission could be classified as variations on the
Smart Community theme.

What characterize Europe is a collaboration and exchange of experiences on a

European level. There are also in most of the European countries similar national and
regional projects but it is on the European level that the European Union has taken the
lead for coordination and collaboration between different towns, cities and regions
above the national level.

Eurocities

In the beginning of the 1990es EuroCities, an association of European metropolitan

cities was established. It currently represents 97 cities from 26 European countries and,
through its thematic subnetworks, many more large, medium-sized and small cities in
Europe. The network aims to improve the quality of life of the 80% of Europeans living
in cities and urban areas by influencing the European agenda, and promoting the
exchange of experience and best practice between city governments.

EuroCities is the key lobby to promote an integrated European urban policy and the
involvement of cities in the European policy process by steering political actions
towards all the European institutions: The European Commission, the European
Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the Council. The network encourages
and facilitates the planning and implementation of transnational projects between cities.

Alongside its lobbying activities with the EU institutions, Eurocities promotes the
exchange of experience and best practice and the transfer of know-how between local
governments across Europe, facilitating the development and implementation of
transnational cooperation projects. The main areas of EuroCities activities are:
- Cultural
- East West
- Economic development and urban regeneration
- Environment
- Social welfare
- New mobile culture
- Medicine
and TeleCities.

Telecities

TeleCities is the major European network of cities committed to leadership in the

Information and Knowledge Society. Established in 1993 in the framework of
 9

Eurocities, TeleCities is open to democratically elected city governments as well as to

business and scientific partners. www.telecities.org (2003)

TeleCities has over 100 members from 20 different European countries that share
experience and develop practical solutions in order to achieve an Inclusive Information
and Knowledge Society. By promoting eCitizenship at local level TeleCities aim to
ensure that all citizens can equally gain from the benefits of the Information and
Knowledge Society both at European and local level.

TeleCities actively works for its members to:

• Influence the European Agenda to ensure that the interests of cities are taken
into account in policy making
• Foster exchange of experience and knowledge transfer amongst cities. Co-
operation and networking with South European and CEE cities is also pursued to
contribute to the enlargement goals of the European Union
• Inform members on policies, programmes and initiatives at EU and local level
• Facilitate and support the development of EU funded projects relevant to the
members and the network

The main actual TeleCities issues and projects are:

• Implementing local public online services integrated into re-engineered processes
• Promoting the right to eSecurity for all European citizens
• Implementing eDemocracy through new forms of citizens’ participation and
community empowerment
• Ensuring that all European citizens are digitally literate and able to profit from
the benefits of the knowledge society
• Benchmarking and learning from the eStrategies of cities and their practical
implementation

Some of the European initiatives are aiming for a global reach:

Global Cities Dialogue

The Global Cities Dialogue in cooperation with TeleCities is a strategic initiative which
proposes an open framework for action for all Cities interested in working together to
realise the potential of an Information Society free from social exclusion and based on
sustainable development. It builds on the premise that Cities have a key role to play in
the Information Society as the geographical, political, socio-economic and cultural
entities where millions live, work and directly exercise their rights as citizens and
consumers.

Stockholm Challenge Award

The Stockholm Challenge is based on a real global need for sharing and learning
among entrepreneurs and champions of the digital revolution. The Stockholm
Challenge Award is a non-profit initiative of the City of Stockholm in partnership with
the European Commission. It offers IT pioneers from around the world a unique
opportunity to showcase projects of excellence, which can be private, public, academic
or non-profit.
 10

Global Junior Challenge

Information and Communication Technologies are offering younger generations across
the world unprecedented opportunities. The City of Rome has launched the Global
Junior Challenge, to help all young people all over the world play a leading role in the
emerging Information Society

4. Smart Community International Network

The Smart Community International Network (SCIN) was formally launched on March,
2003 in Malaysia. The Launch Program was only the first of several missions organized
by SCIN. Comparable programs focused on exchange & business development will
take place in the other SCIN Communities in the not so distant future, whereas new
partner communities are expected to join the Smart Community International Network
itself.

Responding to the rapid proliferation of Smart Community projects around the world,
the Dutch Government has undertaken the first steps toward the foundation of the
Smart Community International Network (SCIN). SCIN is a multilateral organization
founded by four communities: The City of Stockholm, Sweden; Kenniswijk, the
Netherlands; City of Ottawa, Canada; and the Multimedia Super Corridor, Malaysia.
The aim of SCIN is to promote, facilitate and institutionalize cooperation by means of
exchange, best practice programs, business development, missions, benchmarking
tools, and joint project implementation. The SCIN partners have the ambition to excel
as leaders in smart community development.

A unique bench marking tool developed and endorsed by the SCIN partners is the
Community e-Development Index, which serves as a comprehensive (self)assessment
tool for municipalities and regions to analyze their smart community development in a
variety of areas such as infrastructure, governance, knowledge capital and services.

Business development is facilitated by means of permanent matchmaking facilities and

missions. Active support is offered to private sector parties directly involved in smart
community development and the creation of innovative services. For 2003, the
founding partners of SCIN selected three areas that serve as focus areas of business
development and best practice exchange:
• Mobile Services
• Security
• Video Communication

SCIN founding organizations are:

Stockholm (Sweden)
Stockholm has invested $ 100 mln in broadband infrastructure and founded the
company Stokab for the development of a fibre-optic infrastructure ( i.e. dark fibre) in
order to stimulate investments in new telecommunications services in the Stockholm
region. This has led to several providers of broadband services such as
Bredbandsbolaget which connects apartment buildings with 10 Gb/s. This development
has had significant effects for the private sector and it will also serve as a new standard
 11

for years to come. Today there are connection points in all municipalities throughout
the country.
For more information: www.itsweden.com and www.stokab.se
Multimedia Super Corridor (Malaysia)
The MSC is strategically located south of Kuala Lumpur and north of Kuala Lumpur
International Airport. Within this zone, two new cities have been constructed as part of
the MSC: Cyberjaya and Putrajaya. A Fibre-Optic Backbone provides the infrastructure
required within the MSC. Over 830 companies (national and international), mostly
service oriented, are located within the MSC, operating under MSC status. Although
the MSC is mainly focused on the private sector, much experience has been obtained
through the implementation of Smart Cards, Smart Schools, Telemedicine and E-
Government, all of which are among MSC’s designated Flagship Applications. An
example of this is the adoption of the Smart Card as a passport, driver’s licence, means
of payment and tool of personal data storage to citizens in Malaysia, with over 2
million cards issued to date.
For more information: www.mdc.com.my
Sm@rtCapital (Canada)
SmartCapital is an initiative to accelerate the development of online services for all
sectors of the City of Ottawa. Working in collaboration with numerous partners,
SmartCapital is launching services that are transforming the way in which citizens
interact with one another, with public and private institutions, and with the world.
SmartCapital is a multi-million dollar initiative boasting 20 online service projects, the
engagement of over 50 development partners, and the ability to define, develop and
deliver multiple services to online users. SmartCapital was selected by Industry Canada
as Ontario’s Smart Communities Demonstration Project. The demonstration project
involves 12 major initiatives and runs from the year 2001 to 2003.
For more information: www.smartcapital.ca
Kenniswijk BV Eindhoven
Kenniswijk is an initiative of the Dutch ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water
Management – since May 2002: ministry of Economic Affairs – to stimulate the
development of ICT services and facilities for the consumer. The aim is to become an
open consumer market of the future. Kenniswijk is to encompass 40.000 households
and 84.000 inhabitants with access to the fibre optic network (Fibre-to-the Home). Full
broadband capacity will be offered to the Kenniswijk end-user, including broadband
services which are stimulated and subsidized under the Kenniswijk project. Since its
start in 2001, 80 service development proposals have been received under the
Kenniswijk broadband service (subsidy) program. For more information:
www.kenniswijk.nl

5. Local initiatives – example of Tranås, Sweden

The town of Tranås in Sweden is a god illustration of a typical development towards

becoming a Smart Community. Sweden is one of the most advanced countries in the
usage of ICT and broadband services. Swedish government’s ambition is to have
provided all households with a minimum of 2 Mb/s per user in 2005. The national
government has invested in a national backbone. Regional and local government are
stimulated to upgrade their own infrastructure. Already in March 2002 more than 12%
of the population had direct access to broadband, and a usage of the Internet is approx.
 12

70% for ages 16-75 y. One of the important initiatives that accelerated the usage of the
Internet and investments in the broadband infrastructure was the 24/7 authority
program. This program gives the citizens possibility to contact authorities on any levels
and to provide services and information to the inhabitants over the Internet 24 hours
seven days a week.

Tranås, a municipality of approximately 18 000 inhabitants some 300 kilometers south

of Stockholm, is an example of an early adapter of the Smart Community concept. This
concept was introduced already in 1998 and in the year 2000 a decision was made to
adopt a strategy based on the “Smart Community” concept for the usage of broadband
infrastructure for applications and services for the best of the community inhabitants
and businesses in all their activities including contacts with authorities, other
businesses, schools or any other activity.

Tranås made early efforts to build a municipal area network in order to enhance and
make the local administration more efficient as well as to include the local industry in a
co-operative project. The vision was that broadband was a means to support Tranås to
become a Smart community, a better place to live for citizens and more competitive for
future developments.

As in the case of Silicon Valley in California, Tranås experienced an economic decline

as the most important business – in this case the fur industry – disappeared. There
emerged a clear understanding of the necessity to act, which pushed Tranås in an early
stage to look for new ideas and ways to transform a negative trend into a prosperous
development for the community. The leading politicians decided to look for new
industries that could be established. The conditions necessary to attract new market
players were analyzed and Tranås community leadership decided:
- to convert the old industrial part of the town into a hyper-modern building
complex for companies with all facilities, including a lot of fiber and broadband
connections.
- to facilitate for students to participate in higher education in co-operation with
Jönköping University.
- to build a municipality-owned infrastructure based on broadband technology, and
in a first phase connect public authorities, larger businesses and schools, then
gradually to connect all SME:s and inhabitants. In order to achieve this goal the
Tranås Municipal Area Network (abbr. TRAMAN) project was started.
TRAMAN was specified, procured and installed in-house by the local authority.
The local authority controls TRAMAN fully. All the same, TRAMAN is an open
IP based network that offers broadband up to 100 Mbps to the local
administration, health care services, schools, enterprises, corporations and
households.

Tranås has agreed upon the strategy to become a Smart Community with a motto of the
good life for everybody. This strategy is based on collaboration and its main pillars are:
- Security
- Democracy
- Solidarity
- Belief in the Future
 13

To take the full advantage of the broadband investment and the infrastructure on place
(TRAMAN) Tranås is well positioned to develop into a Smart Community.

The main applications and projects within the Smart Communities program for Tranås
should be pointed out such as:
- Meeting places – to use places natural for human meetings such as tourists
offices, libraries, gas stations, restaurants, sport arenas, to citizen information’s
places with trained personal and computers.
- New forms of co operation – within the community through sports, educational
associations, churches, retired people organizations or collaboration between
neighbors in order have voluntary actions to e.g. prevent crimes or and in
collaboration with adjacent outside of community around tourist information, to
share investments in common services or make together procurements.
- Tranås Optimal Portal (TOP) is a portal project with a special focus on secure
transmission of data. Today all local politicians, staff of the local authority, a
teacher with students and their parents can log into separate areas of the portal in
order to share information, documents and communicate. A local industry with
worldwide production and marketing of office furniture also uses a specific
section of TOP for their customer transactions. The goal is to let all inhabitants
and businesses use defined parts of TOP logging on with secure methods, in order
to take advantage of the services offered.
- Community emergency center based on co-operation between different public
safety representatives such as police, fire brigade and ambulances, as well as
security companies and others.

Tranås is an example that shows that it is possible to change a negative trend into
success. Tranås wants to share its experiences, both successes and failures, and has
decided to establish a Smart Communities Center in order to further develop Smart
Communities ideas in a cooperative way.

Tranås is not only emerging from a severe economic decline and depopulation but also
becoming a well-known point on the map in Sweden and internationally. Among other
things it is a member of EU’s organization of Telecities and co operates with Jönköping
and Linköping in high education programs. In 2001 Tranås was awarded a first price as
the best community in the country in introducing computer driving permits to its
inhabitants. Already Tranås has been presented in many radio and TV programs as well
as daily press and magazines. Recently, it was a special program on BBC about Tranås
and its development.

6. Further research questions

To use ICT as a tool for development of a community was a novelty ten years ago.
Today, every community is striving for getting as good as possible infrastructure in
order to exist on the global map. Introduction and usage of ICT in any kind of
community are seen as remedies for getting closer different parts of the world and even
closing the digital gap. A relevant question would be to investigate the difference
between communities that:
 14

- recently introduced the necessary infrastructure and Internet connections

- also provide possibilities of using ICT applications
- include the conditions above plus collaboration and cooperation between all
relevant parties?

One of the important prerequisites of being called a Smart Community is collaboration

and cooperation especially between the private and public sectors. This raises the
following research areas:
- Does the private and public sector cooperation limit open competition?
- Comparison between communities that build, run and provide ICT infrastructure
and communities that partly or completely buy a provision and administration of
ICT infrastructure, and taking into account long and short terms economic
consequences as well as competitive aspects.

7. Conclusions

Every smart community is unique, because its characteristics are based on the
community itself. One common denominator is that successful smart communities are
the result of a coalition of business, education, government and individual citizens. A
successful smart community can be built from the top down, or bottom up, but active
involvement from every sector of the community is essential. This united effort creates
synergy, which allows individual projects to build upon each other for faster progress,
resulting in the involved, informed and trained critical mass necessary for
transformation of how the entire community carries out its work.

Most of the Smart Communities or similar initiatives on the local level started from a
crisis situation and deep necessity for change. Smart Valley, LatinoNet in San Jose or
Tranås in Sweden are examples of such local initiatives.

Some countries such as Canada saw the power of the Smart Communities concept early
and in order to fully use its potential and avoid mistakes as well as to learn quickly
from successes, the country developed a national program for the practical
implementation and to facilitate exchange of experiences.

European Union projects are on the European level with less holistic approach. EU
programs stress cooperation and have several projects on different subjects such as
tourism, health or environment with representatives from the cities from all European
Union nations.

The moment of competition and benchmarking is clearly shown in Canada’s Smart

Communities Demonstration projects that are the central focus of the program as well
as such European initiatives as Stockholm Challenge Award or Global Junior
Challenge.

Recently Smart Communities became really international through SCIN. It is still

difficult to judge the efficiency and survival of this new organization as well as its
future importance and practical value. But already the fact that such an organizations
exists makes this phenomenon truly global.
 15

Independently of bottom up or top down approaches, local, regional national or above

national initiatives, dealing with cities, regions nations or the whole world the
phenomenon of Smart Communities exists and thrives.

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 16

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