Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), headquartered in New York named the Top 7 Intelligent Communities at 6pm local time on February 10 (7am on February 11 Taiwan time). Magistrate Chiu Ching-chun thanked everyone for their efforts to make Hsinchu County an intelligent community and stated that reaching the Top 7 at the first attempt was quite an achievement. Ranking Top 7 from Taiwan was Hsinchu County and New Taipei City, along with other cities such as Montreal in Canada, Mülheim an der Ruhr in Germany, Surrey in British Columbia, Canada, Whanganui in New Zealand and Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada.
Magistrate Chiu said that Hsinchu County was named one of the Smart 21 Communities on October 21, 2015. In an effort to make the Top 7, with respect to the six intelligent community indicators and this year’s theme of “From Revolution to Renaissance,” the related smart technology achievements of county government departments and various social circles were brought together and included in the evaluation documents. The six indicators are: broadband, knowledge workforce, innovation, digital equality, sustainability, and advocacy. Hsinchu County displayed its technology, Hakka culture and livability, winning the affirmation of the judges.
Together with telecommunications businesses, the county government has made a big effort to build a sound ICT infrastructure, including laying an optic-fiber network, setting up Wi-Fi hot spots, establishing a 4G mobile network. Also, the county’s excellent transport links and the presence of world-class applied technology R&D institute the Industrial Technology Research Institute, together with Tai Yuen Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park and Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park attracting a large number of knowledge workers, technology professionals and technology companies from Taiwan and overseas, making Hsinchu County a “smart technology city.”
Director of the General Development Department of Hsinchu County Government Chen Guan-yi said that professionals from the ICF will visit the county to inspect the implementation situation with respect to the six indicators in March or April. Evaluation is expected to be carried out in May this year and the top smart intelligent community in the world named in June.