31 October 2014

The City of Sherbrooke is among the 21 smartest communities in the world (Smart21) according to the 2015 ranking of the international organization Intelligent Community Forum.

Sherbrooke is the only city in Quebec to appear on the 2015 list. Two other Canadian cities, Edmonton (Alberta) and Surrey (British Columbia), were selected from the applications submitted by 400 communities from around the world.

» Watch the 2015 smart communities video

Sherbrooke has gained repute, in particular, through its “Sherbrooke intelligente et innovante” project, which has brought together some 20 local stakeholders to develop projects such as hackathons, a digital plan, the Branchez-vous program (encouraging businesses to have greater online visibility), and the City of Sherbrooke’s open data portal. The Société de transport de Sherbrooke (public transit system) is currently working on a pilot project for smart bus shelters.

Smart21 ranks communities that have been innovating in the technology sector to improve their community’s vitality and vibrancy.

Coming soon

The top 21 communities are now in contention for the top 7 intelligent communities of the year, to be announced on January 22, 2015. The smartest community of the year will be crowned in June 2015 in Toronto, 2014’s winning city.

Sources: City of Sherbrooke, La Tribune, and Intelligent Community Forum