Google names Coeur d’Alene as Idaho’s eCity

Google’s eCity Awards has designated Coeur d’Alene as the digital capital of Idaho and Idaho’s 2015 eCity.

Google and the independent research firm Ipsos MORI named a Google eCity for all 50 states. The eCity for Oregon is Lake Oswego. In Washington it’s Kirkland, in Nevada it’s Reno, and in Utah it’s Salt Lake City.

“I think it’s richly deserved,” said Charles Rich, the University of Idaho’s associate vice president for North Idaho. “We have seen a real exponential increase in the formation and growth of tech businesses. In conjunction with that, there has been a strong push for connectivity and fiber (optic installation).”

Google and Ipsos MORI analyzed the online strength of local small businesses in cities to determine each state’s digital capital.

Intermax Networks, the largest independent fiber optic network in north Idaho, has installed 51 miles of fiber optic cable in the past three years in Kootenai and Bonner counties. Intermax serves 89 commercial buildings representing hundreds of companies in the Coeur d’Alene-Sandpoint corridor, company President Mike Kennedy said.

“It’s a fiber optic asset that was not here three years ago,” Kennedy said. “Only three years ago, the capacity and connectivity story was bleak for companies in north Idaho.  The only significant options for mega-bandwidth were copper pairs and enhanced DSL from the phone company which were limited and very expensive.”

Google in its Coeur d’Alene eCity listing described the visual splendor of the region and singled out the Innovation Collective, an organization that CdA entrepreneur Nick Smoot established to inspire and connect young entrepreneurs.

“This designation from Google provides us with national attention that we are a very progressive town technologically,” Smoot said. “When someone is looking for great places to live, Coeur d’Alene already ranks high due to the people, mountains, lakes, affordability and now our tech culture.

“Coeur d’Alene has this weird synergy happening in the past 1½-2 years,” Smoot continued. “Inventors and geniuses are retiring up here.”

The newcomers are serving as mentors for young entrepreneurs and starting up more tech companies. Smoot said northern Idaho is home to Bill Lupien, the “godfather of electronic trading,” who invented Instinet, which brought electronic trading to the New York Stock Exchange. X Craft, the world’s fastest commercial drone, is developed there, and another company is creating 3D carbon fiber.

“I think it would be fair to say, between Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Sandpoint, there are at least 75 high-tech startups,” said Smoot, who is himself executive director of Mountain Man Ventures, an early-stage investment company.

“The primary focus here is on assisting Coeur d’Alene in becoming a robotics hub, but the Innovation Collective as a whole is serving entrepreneurs who are making a difference and want to do big things,” Smoot said.

Intermax donates the fiber optic cable for the Innovation Collective.

“Nick Smoot tells me that he’s had visiting execs say the connectivity in that center is better than anywhere else they’ve traveled,” Kennedy said.