Doug McCollough has been CIO of leading digital cities, including Dublin, Ohio where he helped lead that small city to multiple awards, including ICF’s Top7. He recently took over the role of Executive Director for the ICF Institute, and was recently names the first-ever Executive Director of the Beta District, which spans several cities in the mos…

Guyana is defined by its dense rainforest. Culturally connected to the Caribbean region, it has become a richer country due to its oil production and GDP per capita. But it has high levels of poverty. Especially in the rural areas. One person with an understanding of connectivity from his years in the satellite and telecommunications industries dec…

The New York City’s Department of Parks’ first Director of Data Analytics who contributed the key ingredients to the success of the city’s Million Trees Research Conference and knows her way around urban forests discusses her new venture, Helpful Places, and how digital trust can be imbedded in the organization of community governments. It’s a fasc…

The New York City’s Department of Parks’ first Director of Data Analytics who contributed the key ingredients to the success of the city’s Million Trees Research Conference and knows her way around urban forests discusses her new venture, Helpful Places, and how digital trust can be imbedded in the organization of community governments. It’s a fasc…

A fun, informative and rolling conversation with the three founders of ICF and the movement, along with its Executive Director. The group discusses the holistic approach to economic and social development and explains why cities from Ohio to Taiwan to Brazil share similar approaches on their successful journeys. They conclude by sharing their top s…

A fun, informative and rolling conversation with the three founders of ICF and the movement, along with its Executive Director. The group discusses the holistic approach to economic and social development and explains why cities from Ohio to Taiwan to Brazil share similar approaches on their successful journeys. They conclude by sharing their top s…

In part one of this conversation, you heard the world's most Intelligent Community of the Year tell you how they have used innovation and planning to evolve into one of the world's elite cities. Today, I want to go deeper to the core of this whole movement and listen as Dario Paixao tells you unequivocally that what is being done in creative can be…

Curitiba, Brazil. Ever heard of it? Ever been there? Ever seen or read stories about the building of its railroad and its history of innovation? Ever wonder how a city can be sustainable and flourishing? How about Rafael Greca? Ever heard of him? The outgoing Mayor of Curitiba is one of the most amazing people in the intelligent community movement …

Continuing our look at mistrust of government, doxing and the implications of digital technology on Intelligent Communities, Lou speaks with theformer Mayor of Stratford, Canada, Dan Mathieson. Considered one of Canada’s best mayors, whose tech-savvy insights led is city to three Top7 placements, he is into a new concept, “Immersive Cities.” Mathie…

Continuing our look at mistrust of government, doxing and the implications of digital technology on Intelligent Communities, Lou speaks with theformer Mayor of Stratford, Canada, Dan Mathieson. Considered one of Canada’s best mayors, whose tech-savvy insights led is city to three Top7 placements, he is into a new concept, “Immersive Cities.” Mathie…

What are the corrosive impacts of AI? Are there ways to offset some of the more negative trends in our communities and make technologies instruments of joy rather than menaces? What causes acted-out anger against mayors, council members, school boards, jurists and journalists? What is at the root of this community fragmentation? In the second episo…

What are the corrosive impacts of AI? Are there ways to offset some of the more negative trends in our communities and make technologies instruments of joy rather than menaces? What causes acted-out anger against mayors, council members, school boards, jurists and journalists? What is at the root of this community fragmentation? In this first episo…

The CEO and Founder of Bable Smart Cities in Germany is on a mission: to accelerate change for a better urban life by helping a city or a region’s stakeholders create sustainable, innovative, and inclusive places. How’s he doing? And why is his company called “Bable??” In this episode we speak with Alexander Schmidt, whose company has been working …

A nation of 23 million people that punches far above its weight is a subject of study and fascination around the world. Its prowess in semi-conductor technology is just the beginning. Much of Taiwan’s success comes from the way it has designed its cities and the way its culture embraces innovation, ideas from everywhere and implements them in a pro…

In a year when democracies around the world go to the voting polls to select leaders and representatives in nations and local towns and regions, we see much has changed due to an adoption of the “Intelligent Community” idea and through the evolution of technologies like broadband and AI, which have crept into our daily lives. The COVID Pandemic alt…

In a year when democracies around the world go to the voting polls to select leaders and representatives in nations and local towns and regions, we see much has changed due to an adoption of the “Intelligent Community” idea and through the evolution of technologies like broadband and AI, which have crept into our daily lives. The COVID Pandemic alt…

The ”Heartland” of the United States is a geographical expanse that is breathtaking in its size and scope. Covering 20 states, from North Dakota to Texas, it is among the most diverse places on the globe. Yet for the past decades it has underperformed the ”Services” economies of America’s coastal states and cities. But that is changing dramatically…

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Ambassador Jarmo Sareva, Finland’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs before being named the country’s first Ambassador for Innovation. Sareva was Finland’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs before being named the country’s first Ambassador for Innovation. These two jobs w…

Sareva was Finland’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs before being named the country’s first Ambassador for Innovation. These two jobs were central to the success of Finland, which is known for its innovation in technology and the development of showcase cities, including ICF’s 2018 Intelligent Community of the Year, Espoo. He also served in directorsh…

In this second episode, best-selling author of the “Overview Effect” Frank White talks about the hope and plan he has to establish a group of people who will be the heart and soul of bringing the overview effect “down to Earth.” How can experiencing a vision of unity and a tightly-knit community off the planet (“the overview effect”) improve commun…

Many astronauts say that when they initially see the Earth from afar, they look first for their hometowns….Eventually, they realize that their true identity as a human….is ‘with that whole thing.’” One of the world’s most esteemed authors and Space philosophers, best-selling author Frank White, wrote The Overview Effect nearly 40 years ago while ga…

Lou and Ben Winchester continue their discussion about the changes taking place in rural communities and the misperceptions afoot. You will enjoy the second part of this Podcast. While Lou claims, “The Middle of Nowhere is No More,” Ben adds, “And we live in the middle of Everywhere!” Ben has been working both in and for small towns across the Midw…

“The seeds of success for rural economies have been planted!” So says the controversial champion of the rural narrative, University of Minnesota educator and researcher Dr. Ben Winchester, a demographer at the University of Minnesota’s. Extension Center for Community Vitality. “If the small town is dying why is there a housing shortage in most part…

Now that COVID is no longer a global pandemic, what is it? And what is the lesson communities learned over the past 3 years? In this rebroadcast of the interview with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, who was just featured in TIMES100 Health, ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Dr. Jetelina, Director of Population Health Analytics, to learn these answers…

Lou continues The INTELLIGENT Community Podcast with Adrianne Furniss and touches on the subject of HOW small communities develop brain gain and capacity over the long term. They also discuss how broadband can reinforce cultural restoration and its role in enabling democracy to persist in the Digital Age. Adrianne Benton Furniss is Executive Direct…

Our goal is to bring open, affordable, high-performance broadband to all people in the U.S. to ensure a thriving democracy,” says Adrianne Furniss. In a rare interview and her first podcast, the Executive Director of the Benton Institute discusses the current state of rural broadband in the United States and her view of how to build capacity within…

What makes Canadian cities such as Waterloo, Ottawa, and Toronto hubs of high-tech entrepreneurship and successful Intelligent Communities? Since moving to Canada, Professor Darius Ornston, author of When Small States Make Big Leaps, which chronicled how the Nordic countries developed the ability to enter new, tech-based markets, has similarly stud…

What makes Canadian cities such as Waterloo, Ottawa and Toronto hubs of high-tech entrepreneurship and successful Intelligent Communities? Since moving to Canada, Professor Darius Ornston, author of When Small States Make Big Leaps, which chronicled how the Nordic countries developed the ability to enter new, tech-based markets, has similarly studi…

This week marks the start of another global awards campaign at ICF. We begin the search for the successor to the current Intelligent Community of the Year, Binh Duong, Vietnam. Who will it be? We begin by naming theSmart21(see the video) on March 20th. This year’s S21 Awards and Conference will be held in Taipei, Taiwan. Taipei was the 2006 Intelli…

A NY tech exec and mother decides to serve her community by running for office in one of the most high-profile districts in Manhattan. Elizabeth Golluscio looked at her city’s $106 billion budget and found that there was limited transparency on how decisions were being made. She looked at challenges like unlicensed E-bikes (part of the 56,000 deliv…

ICF announced early this year that it issued a license for its third Institute. The new ICF Institute will be based in Atlantic Canada, in the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick at New Brunswick Community College. The new Canadian institute joins those established in Dublin, Ohio (USA) and Hsinchu, Taiwan to further promote the Intelligent Communit…

A NY tech exec and mother decides to serve her community by running for office in one of the most high-profile districts in Manhattan. Elizabeth Golluscio looked at her city’s $106 billion budget and found that there was limited transparency on how decisions were being made. She looked at challenges like unlicensed E-bikes (part of the 56,000 deliv…

How does a university become a key driver for starting, building and maintaining industry-academic partnerships for the benefit of the local economy? Durham College’s Chris Gillis shares how he develops successful partnerships and overcomes many of the obstacles that keep other communities from moving ahead on this vital piece of the economic puzzl…

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Amy Rowland, Award-Winning Novelist and Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. Amy Rowland’s second novel, Inside the Wolf, was published by Algonquin in July 2023. She is also the author of The Transcriptionist (Algonquin 2014), which received the …

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Amy Rowland, Award-Winning Novelist and Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. Amy Rowland’s second novel, Inside the Wolf, was published by Algonquin in July 2023. She is also the author of The Transcriptionist (Algonquin 2014), which received the …

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks further with Karl Grossman, Journalist, Host of the Enviro Close-Up TV program and Professor of Journalism at SUNY at Old Westbury. They continue their discussion on the changing landscape of journalism, particularly at the local level. Karl Grossman has specialized …

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Karl Grossman, Journalist, Host of the Enviro Close-Up TV program and Professor of Journalism at SUNY at Old Westbury. They discuss the changing landscape of journalism, particularly at the local level, and what may be in store for news reporting in the future. …

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks further with José Roberto Lagunes Trejo, Research and Strategy Lead at Mexico City’s Fundación Hogares. They discuss trust and how a social index the Fundación has created is helping repair the social fabric in Mexican communities. José Roberto Lagunes Trejo is an ar…

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with José Roberto Lagunes Trejo, Research and Strategy Lead at Mexico City’s Fundación Hogares. They discuss the method used by José Roberto's organization to reinvigorate rundown neighborhoods and build trust among citizens in places where mistrust and fear have bec…

When you watch ICF’s videos on Youtube, what you see publicly are representatives from a city celebrating when their city is named Intelligent Community of the Year. Sometimes, as in the case of the mayor of Espoo, Finland, you see tears of joy. Sometimes, you see Eindhoven representatives from The Netherlands donning red shirts in celebration or C…

When you watch ICF’s videos on Youtube, what you see publicly are representatives from a city celebrating when their city is named Intelligent Community of the Year. Sometimes, as in the case of the mayor of Espoo, Finland, you see tears of joy. Sometimes, you see Eindhoven, The Netherlands representatives donning red shirts in celebration or Colum…

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Idoia Postigo, Director General at Bilbao Metropoli-30. Idoia shares the story of how Bilbao recovered from industrial decline and revitalized itself into a city that won the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize in 2010. Since the inception of the Association for the R…

In part 2, Chairman and CEO of Toronto’s Institute Without Boundaries and now the Brookfield Sustainability Institute Luigi Ferrara talks about sustainability, why we are far away from it and what Brookfield is going to do to move it into the consciousness of communities. Luigi Ferrara, Dean, Centre for Arts, Design and Information Technology, lead…

Chairman and CEO of Toronto’s Institute Without Boundaries and now the Brookfield Sustainability Institute Luigi Ferrara dives deep into how cities are being rebuilt and redesigned for sustainability and why Europe and Asia lead North American communities in this important area.By ICF

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Craig Taylor, best-selling author of Londoners and, most recently, New Yorkers: A City and its People in Our Time. To tell the story of New York City post-9/11 and COVID, Craig lived in New York City for over 5 years and immersed himself in the city's extraordin…

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Krista Nightengale, Executive Director at the Better Block Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to showing communities how to build a more walkable, bikeable, liveable neighborhood to improve quality of life and attract talent. Krista Nightengale is the Executive …

Dr. Katelyn Jetelina is one of America’s most trusted epidemiologists. She publishes Your Local Epidemiologist, a widely read website and newsletter covering a range of public health issues that translates evolving science into readable language for the general public. In this episode of The Intelligent Community, she discusses information integrit…

Now that COVID is no longer a global pandemic, what is it? And what is the lesson communities learned over the past 3 years? In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, Director of Population Health Analytics, to learn these answers and more. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD is an epidemiol…

Connectivity by itself adds little value – it is what people do with it that counts. Learn from communities that have leveraged their broadband assets for business retention and attraction, market differentiation, talent attraction for remote work and regional partnerships. Speakers Include: Tiffany Bower, Project Officer, Economic Development - Fu…

ICF Co-Founders Robert Bell, John Jung and Lou Zacharilla discuss current issues relating to broadband connectivity in our communities.By Intelligent Community Forum