Economist Shamubeel Eaqub will be in Whanganui next week to join Intelligent Community Forum co-founder John Jung in discussing the city's digital future.
Mr Eaqub will talk with Mr Jung at a public event on April 26 about how building a strong digital community can address provincial decline.
Mr Jung's visit follows Whanganui being recognised as a Top7 Intelligent Community for 2016 by the forum and while here he will visit some of the businesses and organisations which were included in the city's application.
"The reason for Mr Jung's visit is for him to see the information we provided in our Top7 application come to life," Chair of the Whanganui Digital Leaders Forum Mayor Annette Main said.
"We will show him a diverse range of businesses and organisations who have a digital focus and whose work will help our district thrive into the future. Mr Jung will be able to see how far we have come on our digital journey and we are really excited to have him here."
Innovation leader (special project) for the Whanganui District Council, Marianne Archibald, said she was excited by the line-up for the public talk which has been called Daring to be Digital and would be about how Whanganui makes it through the next 100 years.
"We've got such amazing people here, really innovative people who are doing cool stuff," she said. "I'm proud of our community."
Daring to be Digital will be held at the War Memorial Hall from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, April 26. Mayor Annette Main and Internet NZ Chief Executive Jordan Carter will also speak.
Following his visit Mr Jung will write a site report on Whanganui which will be added to its application for the 2016 Intelligent Community of the Year, decided by a panel of international judges in June.