Taichung City took part in the Smart City competition held by Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) for the second time and is listed again as one of “The TOP 7 of 2013” by ICF. Winning such honor again demonstrated that the internationalization efforts of Taichung City have been recognized by international organizations.

ICF announced on January 23 (New York time) the shortlist of "The Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2013" and Taichung City was elected among them once again. Taichung City is thus qualified to compete for the first prize of the year with the other six cities, including Columbus, Ohio, USA; Tallinn, Estonia; Oulu, Finland; Toronto, Canada; Stratford, Canada; and Taoyuan County, Taiwan.

According to the ICF official website, the most important reason to have listed Taichung City among the Top 7 was the successful merger of Taichung City and County into a special municipality at the end of 2010. The merger and upgrade was made between a city where the tertiary industry accounted for more than 70% of its economic activities and a rural county with 50% of whose GDP came from manufacturing and agriculture. The smooth transition and synergy thus created have demonstrated the great leadership of Mayor Jason Hu.

The second reason was that under the collaboration of the city government and telecommunications companies, thousands of WiFi hotspots have been created and the high-speed Internet fiber and 4G WiMAX systems have provided service to more than 90% of the population. In addition, the innovative applications, information and communications technologies developed under the partnerships of the public and private sectors have become the driving force to boost Taichung City in the global competition.

Moreover, many labor universities, community colleges, education centers, and incubation centers have been set up in Taichung City to provide lifelong learning programs, including free computer training courses and other knowledge and skill enhancement programs. Meanwhile, the combination of science parks, the Precision Machinery Park, and the Software Park has turned Taichung City into the technology corridor in central Taiwan and an important beacon in the world’s precision machinery industry.

In addition to the continuation of the broadband network infrastructure, the precision machinery industrial parks, and the 1999 public service system for the seamless merge of Taichung county and city that have been presented since last year, the Taichung City Government stressed that it also presented itself very well on how Taichung City has been working towards "Innovation and Employment", the competition theme that ICF has set for year 2003.

The city government expressed that building Taichung City into an intelligent community is one of the important political views of Mayor Hu and the naming of Taichung City again by ICF as one of "The TOP 7 of 2013" showed that the efforts of Taichung City to promote a broadband environment, digital contents and innovative services have been deeply affirmed by the international organization, and Taichung City Government appreciates very much the contributions made by all the sectors, including the industry, the government, and the universities.

In the future, the city government vows to work closely with all walks of life, including the industry, the government, and the universities, to refer to the development experience of other Intelligent Communities in the world, strengthen the infrastructure, help industrial upgrading, and develop and promote convenient services to the public. It is hoped that Taichung City will always strive for sustainable development as an intelligent community.