The document discusses the emergence and importance of intelligent communities in the 21st century, emphasizing their role in economic and social development. It highlights the need for communities to adapt to global demands, address challenges such as brain drain, and leverage technology for growth. The text advocates for libraries as central to fostering innovation and connectivity in local economies.

1. www.intelligentcommunity.com
Louis Zacharilla
Co-Founder
ICF, New York
18 March 2014
New Voices for
Eternal Truths
The Rise of the
Intelligent Community

2. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Darkness & Light

3. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Consequences:
Vanishing Hometowns, Brain Drains &
Shaken “Survivors”

4. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Aspiration & Dysfunction
“In Europe where the idea of the nation state formed,
the state is losing its significance.”
- Henry Kissinger.
Tahrir Square, Egypt

5. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
The Cairo of Light

6. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Old Voices
“Empires of the future will be empires of the
mind.” - Winston Churchill (1943)

7. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
A unique moment in the history of
technology & economics

8. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Impacts of the Early Stage
 Elimination of “Middle of Nowhere”
 “Research” and “Knowledge” redefined. (Of $10T in
consumer spending, $5T was “researched” on web
before the purchase.) MOOCs, distance learning &
“pajama capitalism”
 Emergence of culture & quality of life as economic
raw material
 Cities and communities seizing their destinies again
 Brain Gain (“Home Grown Talent”)

9. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Some Facts
In Austin (2012 Top7) the creative economy grew 25%
during the recession, generating a US$4.3 billion
economic sector with 49,000 jobs and $71 million in new
taxes. (The rest of the economy flattened.)
While only 9% of USA jobs are in manufacturing, more
than 35% of all engineers work in manufacturing. AND
manufacturers account for 68% of the R&D spending in
the USA.
In Waterloo, Canada libraries teach about their
Intelligent Community status. Waterloo (population
120,000) produces 15% of all publicly-traded companies
on Toronto Stock Exchange (20060
(“The triple helix”)

10. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Mission: To Energize Communities for
the 21st
Century
“There is no place like home.”

11. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
ICF’s Mission
 To study the economic and social development of
the 21st
Century community at the local level
 To share best practices of Intelligent Communities to
accelerate development of ALL communities
 To enable a sustained, global dialogue among the
world’s committed Thought Leaders
 To look for a new “railroad.”
 To give a new digital & poetic voice to old truths

12. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
ICF Programs

13. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Why Do We Need an Intelligent
Communities Movement?

14. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
The Why Part Is Easy

15. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Recognition

16. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
To Rethink the City Paradigm

17. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
To arrest “brain drain”

18. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Have you noticed something?

19. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
52% of the world’s population lives in cities. By 2050, it is
projected to grow to 70%, placing demands on cities that far
outstrip the current capabilities of most urban centers.
It is
crowded!

20. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
some good news if you aren’t a big city.

21. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
“The Middle of Nowhere Is No
More!”
 “Is anything more poetic than an attractive place,
which is producing jobs, oozing with talent and
joyfully committed to telling itself and its children
stories that they will pass on for generations about
the year people stopped wanting them for their
body, and instead became endlessly fascinated by
their intelligence?” (11 Feb 2013)

22. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Libraries at the Center
Why Do We Need Them?

23. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
A new dark age is a click away
 For economic purposes the people of Venice, Hong
Kong & NY live next door to the people of Stratford,
Eindhoven and Suwon, leading to -
 Brain drain – a zero sum game
 Investment Shifting – locations offering best mix of cost,
appropriately-trained labor, broadband access & quality of life
have it all – AND get to keep their kids home
 Disintermediation – shortens product lifecycles, disrupts
social continuity and puts premium on innovation
 Local economic success – is increasingly dependent on your
plug-in to global economy. If you’re not thinking globally, it’s
hard to function locally. Libraries are the airports that take us
around the world & bring us home.

24. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
3 Ways into the 21st
Century
 Enter it kicking and screaming
 Take the long way (like, through the 12th
Century)
 Or you can become an Intelligent Community
community

25. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
B
R
O
A
D
B
A
N
D
KNOWLEDGE
WORKFORCE
INNOVATION
A
D
V
O
C
A
C
Y
DIGITAL INCLUSION
Intelligent Community Challenge to Northern Italy
Indicators

26. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Empires of the Mind
“The great advances are made not by individuals so
much as by environments. It is not a coincidence that
innovations tend to come in bundles.”
Everything is Illuminated, J Safran Foer

27. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Observed characteristics of
Intelligent Communities
 Issy-les-Moulineaux & Taichung (Taiwan):
Inspirational leadership & at least one champion
 Eindhoven & Stratford: “Triple Helix” among local
govt, private sector & academic and learning
institutions (egos left at the door)
 Stockholm : Plan human environments first
(innovation, creativity & collaboration as core
competence)

28. INTELLIGENT
COMMUNITY
FORUM
Do we need to “unlearn?”
 “The chief object of education is not to learn
things, but to unlearn things.” G.K. Chesterton
G.K. Chesterton, British writer