Thanks to advanced fiber-optic penetration and other measures taken to push Chattanooga toward the 21st century, the city soon could be under consideration as one of the world’s most “Intelligent Communities,” said Robert Bell, co-founder of a New York City-based think tank, at a luncheon Friday hosted by the Chattanooga Technology Council.
Business and community leaders sat in rapt attention as Bell played a video featuring Fatboy Slim’s 2006 hit, “Right Here, Right Now.” Hundreds of statistics flashed across the screen, leading attendees to an inevitable conclusion: the world economy is quickly changing, and the winners are those who change with it.
Luckily, Bell said, Chattanooga stands ready to join the worldwide fraternity of communities with widespread broadband access and other technologically driven innovations that could catapult the city into the international spotlight if leaders correctly leverage Chattanooga’s strengths.
“We’re in a completely new economy, where multinational corporations can run operations around the planet,” Bell said. “Communities can either pretend that isn’t going on, or they can adapt so they can prosper.”
The goal, he said, is to build the 21st-century equivalent of airports, highways and bridges to bring jobs, entrepreneurship and intelligent growth.