The City of Dublin joins communities from Scotland, Estonia and South Korea – and is one of only two from the U.S. – to be named a Top Seven Intelligent Community in a New York-based think tank’s annual list of smart cities from around the globe.

The announcement was made today by the Intelligent Community Forum at the Pacific Telecommunications Council’s annual conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Top Seven Communities are: Arlington County, Va.; Dublin, Ohio; Dundee, Scotland; Eindhoven, Netherlands; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Suwon, South Korea and Tallinn, Estonia.

“It is a great honor to be considered in league with these global communities, and to be recognized for our efforts to keep our citizens and businesses connected to the world,” said Dublin City Manager Terry Foegler. “To be named one of seven international cities awarded Intelligent Community status further solidifies Dublin’s reputation as a community where you will find a highly educated workforce, an entrepreneurial spirit and the infrastructure to support it.”

The Top Seven Intelligent Communities are selected through analysis of detailed data submitted by the Smart21 Communities, which were named in October 2009 at a ceremony in New York City hosted by Stockholm, Sweden, the 2009 Intelligent Community of the Year. The Top Seven are the seven top-scoring communities from among the Smart21 in the quantitative analysis conducted by an international academic team.

In May 2010, one of the Top Seven will be named Intelligent Community of the Year at the Building the Broadband Economy summit, produced in association with the Polytechnic Institute of New York University.

According to the ICF, Intelligent Communities are those which have – whether through crisis or foresight – come to understand the enormous challenges of the Broadband Economy, and have taken conscious steps to create an economy capable of prospering in it. In a study funded by the Province of Ontario, Canada, the Intelligent Community Forum defined five critical success factors for the creation of Intelligent Communities: broadband connectivity, knowledge workforce, digital inclusion, innovation, and marketing and advocacy.

Dublin has used its innovative underground fiber optic network DubLink to establish the Central Ohio Research Network linking government, businesses and schools to the Ohio Supercomputer Center. In addition, the City is promoting an entrepreneurial economy through efforts such as the establishment of the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center, and partnering with the education and business communities to ensure a highly skilled workforce now and into the future.

Dublin was named a Smart21 Community in 2007, 2008 and 2009. This is the first time it has been named to the Top Seven list. For more information on the awards program, visit www.intelligentcommunity.org.