About

“Trans­form­ing com­mu­ni­ties through technology”

Inter­na­tional Net­work of e-Communities

Com­mu­ni­ties around the world are respond­ing to the needs of their cit­i­zens by dis­cov­er­ing new ways of using infor­ma­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion tech­nolo­gies for eco­nomic, social and cul­tural devel­op­ment. Com­pa­nies and gov­ern­ments that take advan­tage of these new tech­nolo­gies will cre­ate jobs and eco­nomic growth as well as improve the over­all qual­ity of life within the com­mu­ni­ties in which they take part.

e-Community

An e-Community is a com­mu­nity with a vision of the future that involves the appli­ca­tion of infor­ma­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion tech­nolo­gies and broad­band infra­struc­tures in a new and inno­v­a­tive way to empower its res­i­dents, insti­tu­tions and regions as a whole. As such, they make the most of the oppor­tu­ni­ties that new appli­ca­tions afford and broadband-based ser­vices can deliver and help improve the com­mu­nity in ques­tion. Impor­tantly, an e-Community is not pri­mar­ily focused on tech­nol­ogy. It is about using broad­band tech­nol­ogy to enhance edu­ca­tion, export, elderly care, expe­ri­ence, effec­tive­ness, effi­ciency, emo­tions, enter­tain­ment and more.

How it all started — I-NEC history

Respond­ing to the rapid pro­lif­er­a­tion of Smart Com­mu­nity projects around the world, the Dutch Gov­ern­ment under­took the first steps toward the foun­da­tion of the Smart Com­mu­nity Inter­na­tional Net­work (SCIN). Among the first actions to con­sol­i­date this coop­er­a­tion, Mrs Monique de Vries, Dutch Junior Min­is­ter of Trans­port signed a Let­ter of Intent with her Malaysian coun­ter­part, Dato’ Leo Mog­gie in May 2001. Fol­low­ing, the Dutch Min­istry of Eco­nomic Affairs fur­ther sup­ported the found­ing of SCIN by finan­cial and orga­ni­za­tional means. As per March 2003, SCIN offi­cially com­menced work as a fully oper­a­tional mul­ti­lat­eral orga­ni­za­tion with three found­ing com­mu­ni­ties at the helm: The City of Stock­holm, Swe­den; Ken­niswijk, the Nether­lands; and the Mul­ti­me­dia Super Cor­ri­dor, Malaysia. In 2004 the largest Fiber to the Home project UTOPIA (presently being imple­mented in Utah, USA) became a mem­ber after which in 2005 Por­toDig­i­tal from Recife, Brazil, joined the net­work. In 2006, SmartCity@Malta and the city of Selt­jarnarnes, Ice­land became a member.

I-NEC Mis­sion Statement

To facil­i­tate it’s mem­bers to excel in e-community devel­op­ment by means of shar­ing unique knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence in ICT and broad­band devel­op­ment, run­ning joint pro­grams and stim­u­lat­ing busi­ness rela­tions between e-communities worldwide.