The Intelligent Community Forum is a New York-based international think tank, research organization, publisher, and social enterprise that studies the world’s cities to discover and then share the strategies used to create an Intelligent Community.

“This visit is the most interesting part of the judging process as we search the globe for the Intelligent Community of the Year. As the co-founders spend time in each of the Top7 cities we gain an up close and personal view of what makes a community a contender. We see the latest in the world’s best ideas and programs that improve communities,” says Jung.

All the world’s communities are challenged to deal with the changes brought about by a broadband-based economy where jobs, investment and knowledge increasingly depend on advances in communications. The three co-founders of the Intelligent Community Forum, John Jung, Louis Zacharilla and Robert Bell have co-authored a new book entitled Brain Gain: How Innovative Cities Create Job Growth in an Age of Disruption. It uses 17 Intelligent Communities to examine the important global issues such as job creation, the impact of unemployment, how to stimulate economic growth, the ability of innovation to create, preserve or destroy and the ever-increasing need to provide education.

“We see so many successful projects that have really improved communities, economically, socially or culturally that we can’t wait to share them with global communities. Our books and our awards programs are two ways we can accomplish that goal,” says Jung. For the winning city come global bragging rights but also significant public and business interest in what the city has to offer.

A large international group of experts will review the written submissions from communities plus the reports written by the co-founders after their tours. In Toronto, Canada in June at the annual Intelligent Community Forum’s Summit the Intelligent Community for 2015 will be announced.