Five municipalities and counties in Taiwan — New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung, Taitung County and Hsinchu County — have been named among the world’s Smart21 Communities of 2016 by the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum (ICF).
Their inclusion gives them the potential to be awarded one of the seven Intelligent Communities of the Year.
Other finalists include eight communities in Canada, two communities each from the US and Australia, and one community each from Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden.
This year’s Smart21 Communities were selected out of nearly 150 cities and regions around the world.
The Smart21 announcement is the first stage in the ICF’s annual Intelligent Community Awards’ 12-month cycle, which will lead to the announcement of seven finalists in February next year and ultimately to the Intelligent Community of the Year award in June of that year.
The ICF annually evaluates communities according to six specific indicators, including availability of broadband services, knowledge workforce, innovation, digital equality, sustainability and advocacy.
The theme for next year’s award, “From Revolution to Renaissance,” focuses on how intelligent communities plan their futures at a time when the economy, the environment and social structures are undergoing dramatic change.
The Intelligent Community Forum studies the economic and social development of the 21st Century community and seeks to share the best practices of the world’s intelligent communities to help communities around the world establish sustainable renewal and growth.
Last year, New Taipei City, the only nomination from Asia, garnered a Top 7 Intelligent Communities award.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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