Wanganui announced as Intelligent Communities Smart21 - 24/10/2012

Wanganui has been named as one of the Smart21 Communities of the Year, reaching the semi-finalist stage for the 2013 Intelligent Community of the Year award. The announcement was made in Riverside, California, USA, the community named as the 2012 Intelligent Community of the Year.

“This is great news and recognises the progress we have made by adopting a very proactive approach to ensure this community is able to acquire and use new technologies,” says Mayor Annette Main, who chairs the Wanganui Digital Leaders Forum.

“The flow-on effects from the use of this new technology will see changes we could never have imagined. Just as the telephone changed the ways we work, find information, do business and communicate with each other, access to ultrafast broadband will create opportunities that will change the ways we live our lives.

“The Intelligent Communities Forum is a global movement which celebrates and supports communities which demonstrate the positive ways in which they have embraced the challenges of broadband, and adapted and developed strategies to use this new technology to the benefit of their residents.

“We are once again leading the field in New Zealand as the first New Zealand community to be included in the Intelligent Communities Smart21 list and are in the company of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tallinn, Estonia and Hsinchu City, Taiwan on the 2013 Smart21 list.

“Our work in the digital field is wide and varied and ensures that all parts of our district, both urban and rural, will be able to see the benefits that flow from the use of new technology. We are partnering with local organisations, businesses and individuals to ensure that Wanganui will achieve our goal of 100% connectivity.

“I would like to congratulate everyone involved in making Wanganui’s application to be included in the Smart21 Intelligent Communities for 2013 which is a significant achievement.”

In January 2013 the Intelligent Communities Forum will name seven of the Smart21 as the next process in the selection as an Intelligent Community, with the announcement of the winner of the 2013 Intelligent Community designation in June 2013.

The Intelligent Communities Forum seeks to share the best practices of the world's Intelligent Communities in adapting to the demands of the broadband economy, in order to help communities everywhere find sustainable renewal and growth.