ESTEVAN - Estevan has been selected as a Smart 21 Community for 2022 by the Intelligent Community Forum.
The exciting news was announced during the grand opening of the Southeast Innovation Business Development Centre on May 18.
Estevan became the first community in Saskatchewan to make it to the top, and city Coun. Rebecca Foord, who is also a part of the city's innovation council, said they are now trying to make it to the top seven and then hope to be named the No 1 Intelligent Community for 2022.
The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) is a global network of cities and regions with a think tank at its centre. Its mission is to help communities in the digital age find a new path to economic development and community growth – one that creates inclusive prosperity, tackles social challenges and enriches quality of life.
To get the city noticed, the local innovation council had put together a lengthy application, demonstrating how and where Estevan was innovative.
"I give kudos to the people in the innovation council who filled it out and took the time to do it," Foord said.
"[We had to explain] what are we doing in education in our community, in economic development. It factored in a large number of things that are happening in our community. [First, it seemed that] these questions were very hard to answer. But once we sat down and thought about it, these questions were quite easy, because we're doing X, Y and Z in education. And it connects with this and this in economic development. So, once we sat down and thought about it, [we saw that] we're actually a very well connected, intelligent, smart community in terms of using each other and networking in each of our different areas of expertise in the community."
While innovations are not the first thing that comes to mind when some people think of Estevan, Foord pointed out that innovations, in sense of new and progressive ways to solve the existing problems, are all around us. Of course, the carbon capture and storage facility at the Boundary Dam Power Station is one of the biggest examples of local innovations recognized worldwide.
"It's one of the best in the world and it has been for quite some time here on an international stage, but we've never had the full opportunity to show it off in such a way, we just said, ‘Okay, it's here, it's a solution to a problem.’ But it is hugely innovative," Foord noted.
She added that there are many innovations created locally and used in the oilfield globally. Besides, Jeff Sandquist, one of the vice-presidents of Microsoft, who is originally from Estevan, has been working with the innovation council to develop Estevan as a technology hub, where people would want to start and grow their businesses.
On the other hand, some of Estevan's old-time businesses are incorporating technology and progress into their operations, which also makes Estevan techier in general. As an example, Foord used Jenny Joans, which faced a problem at the beginning of the pandemic and needed to find a solution, so they digitalized their entire store in six months.
"Innovation is not always creating the next Facebook or Instagram. Innovation is finding a solution to a problem that we're having, it is taking something old and turning it new," Foord said. "If you take an example of Henry Ford, he said, if you ask people what they wanted, they would have said they wanted a faster horse instead of a car. Right? People didn't like that, but it was changed. He found something that he wanted to do and changed it and turned it into what the world is becoming. And I think a lot of places in this community are doing that. They just don't realize it."
The innovation council put another application in to compete for making it to the top seven.
"There was another application process and it really made me dig even deeper this time. They said take your application and blow it up, even more, basically brag about your community and any innovations that you possibly can. And again, it forced us to sit down and say what are our partners in the community doing in this and this, what are our non-profits doing in a digital age to further help people in the community, and what's the education sector doing in order to help educate students in a time where everything is virtual but at the same time you get that great human connection from being taught in person," Foord explained.
Fingers crossed, the council hopes for Estevan to be named as a top-seven finalist during the next month or so. And the winner will be announced in the fall.
Foord said that making it to the Smart 21 opens endless opportunities for networking, in which communities from across the world get to share their experiences in progressive problem-solving. Besides, it helps to promote the community and get more people to learn about it, potentially opening new opportunities.
Foord thanked Sask INC and everyone who has been involved with the process.
"It has been a long and rigorous process. It's the first time we've received an award like this and I hope that we continue to receive it over the years … because it's made us want to work harder. I just want to find more opportunities around the world," Foord said.
The other communities that made it to Smart 21 of 2022 were Adelaide, South Australia, Australia; Alexandria Lakes Area, Minn., U.S., Belfast, Northern Ireland, U.K.; Binh Duong Smart City, Vietnam; Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil; Durham Region, Ont.; East Central Region, Minn.; Elefsina, Attica, Greece; redericton, N.B.; Township of Langley, B.C.; Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada; Markham, Ont.; New Taipei City, Taiwan; Philadelphia, Penn.; Prospect, South Australia, Australia; Rochester, N.Y.; Seat Pleasant, Mary.; Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia; Townsville, Queensland, Australia; and Whanganui, New Zealand.
Winnipeg won in 2021.
