Kingston, globally recognized by Intelligent Community Forum for fostering an innovation ecosystem where businesses, government, and institutional partners create high-quality employment and build inclusive prosperity.
The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) has named Kingston as one of the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2025, a prestigious recognition for cities that have been able to go from Smart to Intelligent by going beyond IT infrastructure to fostering an innovation ecosystem where businesses, government, and institutional partners create high-quality employment and build inclusive prosperity.
In March of 2025, Kingston reclaimed its ranking as one of 21 Smart Communities of 2025. The city was first recognized by ICF as one of the 21 Smart Communities in 2009, five years later in 2014 it again received this distinction as well as being named one of the Top7 Intelligent Communities.
The Intelligent Community Forum is a global alliance of cities and regions that collaborates in order to exchange insights and expertise. The aim of this collaboration is to drive inclusive growth, innovation, and sustainable development. The organization serves as both a think tank and a forum for advancing solutions to social challenges in the digital era. Every year ICF hosts a world-wide awards program called Smart 21. Communities that are awarded a Smart 21 designation then compete for a Top7 placement and eventually vie to be named the year’s Most Intelligent Community.
The Top7 recognition reinforces Kingston’s position as a global leader in community innovation and sustainable economic development, celebrating the community’s strategic investments in digital infrastructure, workforce development, and inclusive growth initiatives.
On June 18, 2025, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) named Kingston as
one of the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2025, a prestigious recognition for cities that go from Smart to Intelligent.
Community Narratives
The Intelligent Community Forum evaluates and ranks communities using six core principles known as the Intelligent Community Indicators, as part of their Community Accelerator Strategy. These indicators are: Connectivity, Workforce Development, Innovation, Engagement, Digital Inclusion, Sustainability.
These categories reflect the essential drivers of economic growth and social advancement in the digital era. They are designed to measure how effectively a community harnesses technology and collaborative efforts to create a vibrant, inclusive, and forward-looking environment. Kingston excels in these areas – below are a few highlights of how the city is leveraging technology to make it a better place to do business.
Connectivity
Keeping residents and businesses connected digitally is vital for the overall growth and development of Kingston. We are fortunate to have our own municipal corporation, Utilities Kingston which operates, among other things, the broadband and networking infrastructure in the city. This is unique in the province. They have built a Community Broadband Network to benefit all citizens, with the vision of making the Kingston region a “smart community”.
Utilities Kingston Telecommunications
Utilities Kingston has been successfully operating a fibre optic and radio frequency-based business for over 25 years now. They have agreements with major telecommunication carriers to offer their services in communities from Brockville to Napanee, as well as agreements with smaller and independent providers. Kingston is one of only a handful of utility companies that still has its own independent telecommunications provider.
Click here to learn more –>
Other Projects
Workforce Development
Kingston offers a diverse and experienced workforce and the second largest talent pool in Eastern Ontario. With two world-class research-intensive universities and one of the best community colleges in Canada, the city has a high percentage of certificate, diploma, and degree holders. Statistics Canada (StatsCan) has noted Kingston as the smartest city in Canada with the highest concentration of PhD holders per capita in the country. This highly skilled workforce offers businesses a full complement of labour and talent required for their individual company needs. The city’s workforce is bolstered by strong program completions in health professions, biological sciences, engineering, chemistry, and business.
Coupled with thriving industries in healthcare, public administration, and education, Kingston has become a premier hub for life sciences innovation and sustainable manufacturing. Kingston is also home to more than 30 research laboratories. Leading companies such as Kinarm, Lonza, Octane, Frulact, Feihe, IPG Photonics, IDEXX and Novari Health have chosen Kingston for their global R&D and production facilities, benefiting from partnerships with St. Lawrence College, Queen’s University, and the Royal Military College of Canada. These collaborations provide access to cutting-edge facilities and expertise.
Workforce In-Migration Strategy/Workplace Inclusion Charter
Launched in 2019, the Workplace Inclusion Charter (WIC) has supported over 80 local employers of various sizes and stages in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. The WIC project employs Inclusion Advisors and Inclusion Coaches who bring both professional and lived experiences to their roles. They collaborate with each employer to assess key opportunities and areas for improvement, developing action plans with organizational priorities and tangible benchmarks.
The Charter’s local success has led to several sub-projects, including a focus on service providers, targeted initiatives for international students and graduates, and collaborations with neighbouring municipalities to help establish their own programs. All projects under the Charter banner have been exclusively funded through grants.
Other Projects
Queen’s Career Apprenticeship: Kingston –>
Queen’s Innovation Centre Summer Initiative –>
Kingston Young Professionals Network –>
BGC South East STEM Program Registration –>
Innovation
The City of Kingston is a leader in the Canadian economy, ranking number one in industrial and academic research & development (FDI Benchmark, 2019). Post-secondary institutions are developing world-class talent along with specialized research institutions, global industries and dedicated incubators and accelerators, which positions the city as an innovative leading economy.
Accelerators and incubators within the city provide entrepreneurs and innovators with the necessary space to bridge the gap between invention and innovation. Kingston’s accelerators and incubators provide services that support online and mobile startups, mentorship, funding, networking, training, and office space.
Helix Life Sciences
Through this program, companies can utilize state-of-the-art wet lab space at Providence Care Hospital, connect with expert mentors and technical advisors and participate in the Build2Scale Life Sciences program. The project also enables businesses to access world class equipment at Queen’s University, along with the technical ability and knowledge that goes with it. Companies can also access funding through the program, which offers eligible businesses matching grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 to support their growth and market readiness.
Other Projects
Integrated Economic Development Strategy –>
Periwinkle Clinic (Midtown Kingston Health Home) –>
Mayor’s Innovation Challenge –>
RXN Hub –>
Point Pleasant Water Treatment SCADA System Upgrades –>
Combined Sewer Overflow Monitoring & Reporting –>
Transit Initiative for Youth –>
Kingston Syracuse Pathway –>
Queen’s PhD Community Initiative –>
Engagement
Public engagement is a key principle in creating successful communities. It helps to strengthen relationships within a community, increases the amount of transparency and trust in decision making and assists in creating better overall decisions. The City of Kingston has a Public Engagement Framework which guides the City on its engagement efforts. Given Kingston’s size and the number of varied ecosystems, regular engagement of residents, institutions, stakeholders and other partners helps build capacity within the community to get things done.
Get Involved Kingston
The Get Involved Kingston platform needed to be a cost-effective solution, digitally accessible, and scalable to adapt to the growth in Kingston’s population and the interest in local government. The hub was designed to serve at the community level (i.e. neighbourhood park improvements) and city-wide (i.e. official plan and transportation plan), so it had to be robust enough to handle various applications, as well as scalable to meet the city’s future needs. The platform informs and measures the effectiveness of communications and engagement initiatives. Weekly emailed engagement updates are sent to all platform participants, with an average open rate of 50%, and higher open rates for project specific updates (often 75-85% of participants will open project-specific emails). As of April 24, there are 18,117 registered participants on Get Involved Kingston, representing 14% of the population, with 64 unique postal codes represented amongst engagement participants. While most are in the urban area of Kingston, rural areas continue to grow and become more engaged.
Other Projects
Kingston INFocus –>
Welcome to Kingston App –>
Supporting Truth & Reconciliation –>
Tell Me More Podcast/Mayor’s Update –>
Digital Inclusion
Digital inclusion is becoming increasingly important in communities as the pace of technological change increases and cities evolve to try to keep up. Kingston is well positioned to do this both in terms of the digital infrastructure that we have in place and with the skills of residents of our city. Part of this is because we have three post-secondary institutions that are training our next generation with the tools that they need to make an impact on our future. Another factor is that our schools have research and development initiatives that make up a large portion of what they do and therefore they need the latest in digital tools to do their work. This puts Kingston in an enviable position moving forward.
Hyper Local Film Strategy
The Hyper Local Film Strategy will map out how smaller communities can position themselves as production hubs to encourage the growth of the independent film industry in Ontario. Using a made-in-Kingston approach, the strategy will use what is already happening in Kingston to demonstrate that with the proper investment in talent, infrastructure and support, smaller communities can be competitive in the film industry. Kingston has been fortunate to have developed a skilled workforce and technical expertise over a variety of production categories over the recent past, including a lot of postproduction digital knowledge that smaller communities could replicate. This strategy outlines how others can compete with, as well as support productions in larger centres.
Other Projects
Digital Adoption & Implementation Programs –>
Digital Mainstreet –>
NAV Canada: Digital Facility Initiative –>
Sustainability
Sustainability directly impacts the quality of life in a city. It is vitally important that what we do today in all aspects of life does not detrimentally impact the ability for future generations to meet their needs in terms of long-term economic development and social well-being. Kingston was the first Canadian city to adopt a protocol for sustainable energy procurement, and the first city in Ontario to declare a climate emergency. Kingston is looking at new initiatives through a sustainability lens, including The Green Standard Community Improvement Plan, The Brownfields Community Improvement Plan, Green/LEED buildings or the city’s electrified fleet of vehicles, transit buses and Zambonis, our new electric ferry, EV charging station for boats, and increasing the number of EV charging stations within the city. These efforts aim to achieve a carbon neutral future, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Climate Leadership Plan
The Climate Leadership Plan measures the impact of programs and actions taken by the City to reduce greenhouse gases. It also outlines steps that need to be taken to achieve the City’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2040. The plan incorporates feedback and ideas from the community and contains deliberate and specific actions to provide solutions in Kingston to the climate emergency. The plan is one of the first of its kind in Canada because it combines tactics to adapt to a changing climate with ones to mitigate future impacts by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Other Projects
The Big Dig –>
Ravensview Treatment Plant Electricity Generation–>
Kingston Community Climate Action Fund –>
Neighbourhood Climate Action Champions –>
UNDO & Canadian Wollastonite: Carbon Removal –>
Sustainable Kingston –>
Sustainably.eco –>
Kingston Veterans Village Project/Homes for Heros –>
The Intelligent Community Forum® is a global network with a think tank at its center. It connects hundreds of cities and regions on five continents for collaboration on economic development and for exchange of expertise and information that drives progress. Through this network, ICF researches how Intelligent Communities use information and communications technology to build inclusive prosperity, solve social problems and enrich their quality of life in our connected century.
