The city of  Waterloo in Canada’s Ontario province was named as Intelligent Community of the Year by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), an independent think tank at Polytechnic University in New York City. The goal of the awards is to increase awareness of the role that broadband communication and information technology play in economic and social development worldwide.

Waterloo, best known as the home of BlackBerry developer Research in Motion, has seen more than CAN$1.8 billion invested in privately-held technology companies in the area during the past 10 years, and the region is home to 10 percent of successful IPOs on the Toronto Stock Exchange. More than 75 percent of the city’s businesses and 47 percent of households are using broadband technology.

“Waterloo has never stopped raising the bar,” says Louis Zacharilla, co-founder of ICF. “Waterloo’s government has engaged actively with business and citizens in planning for a prosperous future.”

Other finalists included Dundee, Scotland; Issy-les-Moulineaux, France; and Tallinn, Estonia.