With a growing economy based on small to midsize enterprises specializing in IT, biotech and nanotechnology, Suwon companies with 50 or fewer employees make up 94 percent of all employers in the city -- and collectively, small businesses in general make a large contribution to the economic diversity of small communities, as noted in the research paper called The Role of Small Business in Economic Growth and Poverty Alleviation in West Virginia: An Empirical Analysis. "Through their capital investments, they create jobs and new opportunities to promote community-building and social activities," the report states. "They also contribute to the development of a diversified economy by absorbing surplus labor resulting from economic restructuring."
But the city's commitment to education also caught the eyes of jurists.
"The levels of educational investment in Suwon, which is not a large city, sends a signal that as we emerge from the global economic crisis, it is the investment made in people that produce the truly impressive financial return," said ICF Co-Founder Louis Zacharilla. "Suwon, which is named 'Happy Suwon' by its citizens, offers many best practices that we are proud to share with the world today."
Between 2002 and 2009, the city invested more than $360 million to upgrade school facilities, open new schools and expand staff. The city has an additional $186 million in a support plan to fund future projects focusing on education for a global economy and work force.
"Investment in education is one of the most sound and rational outlays of capital that a government can ever make," said Suwon's Mayor Yong Seo Kim.
At an awards ceremony today, May 21, at Steiner Film Studios in Brooklyn, N.Y., Zacharilla presented the award to Suwon as part of ICF's annual summit, Building the Broadband Economy. The goal of the awards is to highlight the role broadband communications and information technologies play in the economic and social development of communities worldwide.
Also honored were the recipients of ICF's Visionary of the Year Award and ICF's three Founders Awards. The annual event is produced by the Intelligent Community Forum in partnership with the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. Stockholm, Sweden, was the ICF's 2009 Intelligent Community of the Year.
