Others on the list include Dundee, Scotland; New Brunswick, Canada; Seoul, South Korea; Northeast Ohio; Tallinn, Estonia; and Westchester County, New York.

"What we try to do it take a mix of criteria and evaluate them and come up with a scoring plan to do that," explained Louis Zacharilla, the director of development at Intelligent Community Forum.

The think tank says whether you know it or not, right now the world is in a "broadband economy." The group judged the cities based on five criteria centered around that statement, including:

Intelligent city

A New York-based think tank says that Winston-Salem is one of the seven most intelligent cities in the world based on a "broadband economy."

Officials at Intelligent Community Forum say they chose Winston-Salem because of the growing Piedmont Triad Research Park, but they also say it's because of the city's efforts to bridge the digital divide through WinstonNet.

"The broadband access through WinstonNet and some of the available infrastructure is of such a quality,” Zacharilla said, “that you can absorb growth and you can facilitate growth, so first and foremost that was something we looked at.”

It's growth that is exactly what Winston-Salem’s mayor hopes will come out of this designation.

“Well it certainly puts you in good standing," Mayor Allen Joines said. "And when we're compared with Seoul, South Korea or Dundee, Scotland, places like that, I hope it would say to companies -- particularly knowledge-based companies -- is that Winston Salem might be a place we'd consider locating our facility.

"I think it's recognition of the hard work that we as a community have done in a strategic way to move our economy to a knowledge-based one and made the infrastructure to make it all happen."

Winston Salem is one of seven finalists. Those cities will compete for the top honors of Most Intelligent City in the World. That award will be announced in May.