Boston Ranked No. 8 in Survey of Top Digital Cities, Down from No. 1

Does Boston feel a little less digital this year than it did in 2010?

In the Center for Digital Government’s 2011 Digital Cities Survey, the Hub took the number eight spot, which represents a slide of seven spots in comparison to 2010 (when Boston was number one).

The Center for Digital Government – a division of eRepublic – is a national research and advisory institute that focuses on information technology policies in state and local government. For the past ten years, the Center has conducted its Digital Cities survey and ranked city governments based on how well they utilize technology for operating efficiently and “realizing strategic objectives despite current fiscal constraints.”

This year, the Hub handed over its digital crown to the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, which took top honors in the “250,000 or more population” category.

The other municipalities that ranked higher than Boston in the 2011 Digital Cities Survey included:

• City of Seattle, Washington (2^nd)
• Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County, Tennessee (3^rd)
• City of Aurora, Colorado and City of Chicago, Illinois (tied for 4^th)
• City of Corpus Christi, Texas (5^th)
• El Paso City and County, Texas (6^th)
• City of Riverside, California (7^th)

“Cities that are investing in technology are capturing cost savings that are critical to continuity of operations and their ability to meet higher demand for services,” said Todd Sander, director of Digital Communities.

Sander continued, “The highest-ranking cities in the survey showed great strides in consolidating and enabling shared services, government transparency and communications interoperability. We applaud these innovators as they work in the spirit of collaboration to provide extraordinary value to constituents despite budget setbacks.”

The only other New England municipality to be named a winner of the 2011 Digital Cities Survey was the Town of Manchester, Connecticut. Manchester ranked 8^th in the survey’s smallest population category: 30,000 to 74,999.

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Posted by erik devaney on Nov 7 2011. Filed under Featured - For home page featured article, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry