加拿大新斯科舍省的西谷，面积约5600平方公里，正处于工业化国家农村所面临的挑战中：人口减少（1998年人口为20,825人），支柱产业工作流失，平均教育水平低（1996年，49%人口没有高中毕业文凭）和高失业率（1998年，失业率为13%）。然而，在二十世纪九十年代后期进行调查时，居民对社区有强烈的正面感受，相信在未来五年内，这里将成为一个更好的生活和工作场所。西谷发展管理局（WVDA）是七个地方政府以及省和联邦政府的经济发展伙伴关，认为居民的积极态度是宝贵资源。 2001年2月，西谷发展管理局成为加拿大工业部授予智慧社区资助的12个市和地区之一，进行为期三年的示范项目，作为确保加拿大在信息技术和创新方面领先地位的国家战略的一部分。
Planting the Seeds for Change
Over the course of three years, WVDA and its local communities introduced innovations in nearly every critical area for the Intelligent Community. Plans were made to install fiber-optic infrastructure to meet the Valley’s connectivity needs. With a small, dispersed population, the Valley had little hope of attracting private-sector telcos to deploy a network. Nonetheless, with the support of cable TV, power and technology companies, an initial 44-kilometer network was deployed. Other projects focused on Web-enabling public information and services. County library catalogs were put online, creating a new local software company in the process. Nova Scotia is home to Canada’s unique Acadian population — descendents of French colonists who settled there in the 1600s — and the Centre Acadian launched an online genealogy project documenting family histories, which is already playing a role in attracting more tourists to such festivals as the Congrès Mondial Acadien. The Nova Scotia Community College introduced new information technology courses, and a geographical information system called CLICK put 50 years of infrastructure data online, making it possible for workers to use GPS-linked laptops to precisely located underground water, power and sewer systems. Internet kiosks were deployed to 14 sites in the region and have been transitioned to a private-sector company that is adding commercial content in order to sustain the project. Two IT business incubation centers were created that have facilitated the opening of eight IT businesses, and outreach efforts offered training and promotion of Internet and PC literacy for local businesses, community groups and individuals. In all, the demonstration project created over 50 jobs in new industries and produced over C$4 million worth of in-kind contributions from governments and private-sector partners. In a traditional rural economy, WVDA has planted the seeds for major change in how local cultures and economies interconnect with the rest of Canada and the world, to their mutual benefit.
Population: 4,700,000
Top7 2004