The iSummit '08 was proudly hosted by the city of Sapporo.

Sapporo is the fifth largest city in Japan and is well-known as host to the 1972 Winter Olympics and home to the annual Sapporo Snow Festival in February.

Sapporo is celebrated as a well-organised base for modern, creative, technology-orientated businesses, which has earned it the name of 'the Ideas City '. Sapporo is host to projects such as e-silkroad from the heart of 'Sapporo Valley', which was established to build business relationships between IT centres across Asia, as well as the Project Esin and ICC projects, designed to foster creative industries in Sapporo.

This 'Ideas City' provided an innovative atmosphere where creativity and technology are nurtured and supported; the perfect setting for the meeting of Internet activists, entrepreneurs and creative professionals who attended the iSummit to exchange thoughts and ideas on how to strengthen the global Commons movement.

iCommons worked closely with a team from the city of Sapporo to prepare for the iSummit event. In the lead-up to the event, Chikara Inoue, Director of the iSummit '08 Sapporo coordination team, stated: "I am very excited that a conference such as the iSummit...is being held in Sapporo."

The city of Sapporo is part of the municipal government system, so its primary interest is in the public affairs and well-being of the city and her citizens. The goals of the city of Sapporo are to increase productivity and vitality in the local community; establish and protect the dignity and integrity of the city's character; and efficiently utilise limited public resources to create a vibrant city and community.

Other highlights of the city include a variety of musical performance venues and art exhibitions, as well as famous sites such as the Sapporo Clock Tower, the Eiffel Tower look-alike, the Sapporo TV Tower and the Sapporo Beer Museum. In Sapporo you can savour local specialities such as soup curry, fresh fish, Sapporo sweets and a local variety of blueberries called Haskup, not to mention the famous Sapporo beer.

Pics: Sapporo Clock Tower, , CC BY-NC 2.0 and downtown Sapporo at night, , CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 .