The city last year welcomed ICF co-founder Louis Zacharilla for a short visit in the hopes of nabbing the Intelligent Community of the Year honor, but the name was bestowed upon Suwon, South Korea.

Dublin received a second chance this fall when it was named a "Smart21" community in October for the fifth year in a row by the New York-based think tank. In January, Dublin was notified it was a member of the 2011 Top Seven Intelligent Communities - for the second year in a row.

As a top seven intelligent community, Dublin warrants a visit from an ICF representative.

"John Jung is one of the co-founders of the ICF and since we've been named a top seven community again this year he is coming to town to do an on-site visit," said deputy city manager and director of economic development Dana McDaniel. "He'll take a look at the things we submitted in the application and do an additional assessment of us as they go forward and evaluate the top seven communities around the world and narrow it down to the number one community."

Jung will arrive in the evening on March 27 and spend the day on March 28 getting acclimated to the community.

"This is John's first visit to the community. Louis Zacharilla has been here a couple of times," McDaniel said. "We will orient him to Dublin and the physical space of Dublin, what we are made up of and so forth. We'll give him the background and history, what we have going and the future. Then he's going to meet with quite a few folks: Ohio Health, tech start-ups."

Because the 2011 Intelligent Community contest was based on innovative approaches to delivering healthcare while increasing productivity and eliminating unneeded costs, McDaniel said the visit will focus on some wellness initiatives and companies.

"We intend to demonstrate how we leverage tech and broadband for wellness in the community," he said.

Also on March 28, the city will host a public reception for Jung from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Dublin Community Recreation Center, 5600 Post Road.

"We want to do a reception to welcome him to the community," McDaniel said. "He will use that as an opportunity to speak to the public about the Intelligent Community Forum and the purpose of his visit."

Dublin will also work to give Jung a view of how it works regionally through meetings with TechColumbus, the Ohio Supercomputer and Columbus 2020.

With a focus on health and wellness, meetings with Dublin Methodist and Ohio Health are planned, as well as visits with Dublin start-ups that focus on health.

"We also have him talking to a couple of tech companies. HealthSpot is a start-up in Dublin that's using technology for health and wellness. The other is Neoprobe, a Dublin-based company that is doing wonderful things in the medical world," McDaniel said.

The Intelligent Community of the year is expected to be announced on June 3.

Other communities that made the top seven list are: Chattanooga, Tenn.; Eindhoven, Netherlands; Issy-les-Moulineaux, France; Riverside, Cal.; Stratford, Ontario, Canada; and Windsor-Essex, Ontario, Canada.