Ipswich has been named as one of the world’s smartest communities.

The Intelligent Community Forum, an international think-tank dedicated to economic growth in the broadband economy, chose the city in its smart twenty-one of 2011.

Lincoln Humphries reports.

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Queensland’s oldest city has also been dubbed the smartest.

Just decades ago the city west of Brisbane was synonymous with high unemployment.

Now it’s the only Australian city included amongst the finalists for the intelligent community of the year award.

Ipswich’s economy has long been powered by the mining and industrial sectors.

But it was the local council’s ability to secure two locations in Ipswich for the initial rollout of the National Broadband Network, its work to attract tertiary campuses and its ICT-centric economic focus, which placed the city in the world’s top 21.

The smart city list will be whittled down to seven early next year and the winner announced in New York in June.

Lincoln Humphries, QUT News.