First World Forum on Smart Communities* Announced

June 5, 1997

In Nice, France and Rome, Italy, September 8-12, 1997 the First World Forum on Smart Communities: Shaping the Future Conference in cooperation with the European Commission, will be held in association with the Japan-U.S. Telecommunications Research Institute, a program of the SDSU International Center for Communications; Columbia University School of Business; France Telecom; Telecom Italia and a broad coalition of industry, government and academic organizations from Europe, Japan and North America.

Underscoring the importance of telecommunications to renewing and rebuilding cities, this First World Forum will bring together senior executives from industry and government on three continents to talk about the challenge of conversion; and the importance of private/public new partnerships and cutting-edge applications to develop smart communities.

Martin Bangemann, Vice President of the European Commission; FCC Chairman Reed Hundt; and a senior ministry official from the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications will open this prestigious event. Senator Pierre Laffitte, former President of the French Senate; John Eger, former Telecommunications Advisor to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and Chairman of the California Institute for Smart Communities^TM in San Diego will also be present for the opening ceremonies.

Mr. Eger, Senator Laffitte and Dr. Sylviane Toporkoff of ITEMS International, co-organizations of this year's event, and founders of the World Forum, hope to emphasize the importance of telecommunications and information technology to economic wealth, wealth and well being in the changing global information economy; and the role of "Smart Communities" in developing nations global information infrastructures.

For additional background materials on the conference including sponsorship opportunities, contact Cindy Hicks, 619-594-6933.

*
"A smart community is a geographical area ranging in size from a neighborhood to a multi-county region whose residents, organizations, and governing institutions are using information technology to transform their region in significant ways. Cooperation among government, industry, educators, and the citizenry, instead of individual groups acting in isolation, is preferred. The technological enhancements undertaken as part of this effort should result in fundamental, rather than incremental, change." Building Smart Communities^TM, January 1997.