N.Y. county joins global tech network

Westchester County, N.Y., has become the first locality in the United States to join an international network of technology-oriented cities.The Global Digital City Network (GDCN), founded in 2000, has 13 members. The network's purpose is to provide a forum for information sharing and to promote joint initiatives. Westchester County accepted an invitation to join GDCN in August, during the network’s general annual meeting in Dundee, Scotland.The county, which is north of New York City, plans to use the network to generate new business opportunities for local companies and promote Westchester as a location for investment. Large companies such as IBM and Nokia are in the county. The technology sectors represented there include software, telecommunications, security and animation, said Scott Fernqvist, special assistant to the county’s chief information officer.In addition to Westchester, members of the invitation-only network includeKakamigahara and Inuyama City in Japan; Chuncheon in South Korea; Dalian, Jilin, Shenyang and Yanji in China; Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; Dundee; Gold Coast City in Australia; Nizhny Novgorod in Russia; and Taipei in Taiwan.Westchester will host GDCN’s 2008 annual meeting, said Fernqvist, who manages the county’s worldwide partnerships. The date has not been set, but Fernqvist said he believes the conference will take place about this time -- In September -- next year.