Recently, every region is committed to the industrialization of special resources, and makes
them as local specialty products or services for booming of local economy, creation of employment
opportunities, and expansion of regional labor market. It has become an important approach of regional
development. The development and application of information technology has a critical impact on the
currently local upgrading and transformation, and thus many regions actively promote smart city. It
makes the development of regional characteristics into new era of technicalization. This paper selects
successful examples such as the smart city of Riverside City, Taipei City, Tokushima ken and Kagawa
ken, and the ecological island of Penghu, which have a high international reputation. The study
explores how these cases develop the local speciality via high tech to find out the essential elements
of local economic development strategies. As a result, this study categorizes four essential elements
which are leadership and integration, flexible innovation, external supports and human development.