The Smart21 community includes 21 Communities or regions around the world with a documented strategy for creating a local prosperity and inclusion using broadband and information technology to attract leading-edge businesses, stimulate job creation, build skills, generate economic growth, and improve the delivery of government services.   

This recognition joins others by world renowned organisations such as the World Economic Forum, the European Commission and the Economist Intelligence Unit that have recognised Malta’s advanced information society and economy as worldwide models.    

Malta’s inclusion was described as this year’s ‘surprise choice’ stating that although it is a small island country, it supports a growing and vibrant ICT industry of 200 companies and it embraces an aggressive plan to produce knowledge workers and keep its lead in innovation, offers free education to its citizens and community technology learning centres in cooperation with lead international technology companies.   

The 2008 Smart21 includes communities from 14 nations, with first-time entries from Puerto Rico, Qatar and South Africa.  Population ranged from 22,000 to over 6 million.  The United States claimed five spots on the 2008 list and Canada claimed three spots.  Other nations represented on the list include The Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, India, and Malta.  

The Smart21 announcement is the first stage in ICF's annual Intelligent Community Awards cycle.  Based on nominations submitted by communities large and small from around the world, ICF selects 21 finalists with the potential to become one of the Forum's Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year.  The Smart21 list is announced at least 60 days before the selection of the Top Seven and promoted to the world's media by ICF and the communities involved. 

Gaining a place among the year's Smart21 is considered a badge of honour as well as the first step greater recognition as an Intelligent Community positioned to prosper in the broadband economy. Malta will now compete against the other 20 communities for the title of ‘Intelligent Community of the Year’. The winning community will be announced in May, at the annual Broadband Economy conference in New York City.  

In an official statement, Minister for IT Austin Gatt remarked that “once again we have shown to be leaders among the very best. This nomination as one of the top 21 intelligent communities in the world is a well-deserved label for Malta and the Maltese. As our forefathers before us we have shown an innate capacity to use our ideas and our energies where our natural resources lag. The ICF may have been ‘surprised’ by Malta’s performance but we sure have not. In 2000 we set out to transform our country into an ICT Centre of Excellence. We knew we could do it (though some of us did not), worked hard on it and here we are today.  

“The mission now is to stay on top and that is as hard as getting there. Other communities worldwide are thinking new ways of over-taking the leaders an we can never become complacent. Our new National ICT Strategy for the coming years will drive forward our programme establishing ever higher targets and ever more ambitious goals. If anything ICF has now joined many others worldwide in testifying our capacity to do this.”