rural communities in the broadband economy:lessons from planet earth

www.intelligentcommunity.com

Rural Communities in the Broadband Economy

Robert BellExecutive Director, Co-Founder

Lessons from Planet Earth

INTELLIGENTCOMMUNITY

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[Your Community Name Here] All Roads Lead to


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Welcome to theBroadband Economy


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Creating theBroadband Economy Global broadband

Deployed beginning in 1970s Connecting economic centers

worldwide Enabling collaboration and

trade across time zones and borders with low or no transaction cost

Melding financial markets and making investment portable

Making intellectual property and knowledge work dominant economic factors

-200 0 200 400 600 800 1000

1990-2000

1870-1970

Increasing Prosperity

> $1/day< $1/day


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Challenges of theBroadband Economy For economic purposes, the people of Mumbai,

Shenzen and Jakarta live next door to the people of New York, Athens and Toronto, leading to - Flight of jobs and investment to locations offering best mix

of cost, appropriately-skilled labor and access to markets Supercharged competition that shortens product lifecycles

and puts a premium on innovation Rise in minimum skill level needed to earn a living wage Local economic success increasingly dependent on the

global economy Social stresses from eroding economic opportunities,

pressure on social welfare, increased economic inequality


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It’s about the children Every community’s first priority is to be a place

where families can raise children and those children can build a future if they choose

Economic opportunity makes possible everything else we value

The Broadband Economy has changed the rules – for worse and for better


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Creating theBroadband Economy Local broadband

Deployed beginning in 1990s Providing individuals, local institutions and government with

enterprise-level access to local community and global information resources

0 10 20 30 40

Millions of subscribers

South Korea

Canada

USA

Singapore

Denmark

Japan

France

Mexico

UK

Broadband Growth: 2000-2007

2000

2007

28,289%

264%

688%

21,250%

2,783%


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Broadband EconomyCommunity Opportunities Every community has opportunities to use broadband

for economic, political and social development Small and midsize companies (primary producers of job

growth) have global trade opportunities once reserved for multinational firms

Innovation becomes as important as location, resources or capital in creating opportunity for success

Individuals and businesses connect to a global community of vendors competing for their business, saving money and improving quality

Children and adults can go global in search for education and culture, knowledge and collaboration

Web-based tools can increase community involvement


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Intelligent Community ExampleLaGrange, Georgia Rural city of 26,000 spurred by 1990s plant

closing to build communications infrastructure Unable to persuade telcos or cablecos to invest,

created CLEC and built fiber networks Backbone for government use, replacing telco systems Muni bond issue funded state-of-the-art business and

residential network leased to cable company, with bandwidth reserved for city

Introduced free Internet access service via TVs in 2000, which gained nationwide attention and was a hit “starter service” for the young and elderly

Attracted call centers, became IT service provider to entire county

Contributed $1m+ to city treasury annually

2000

http://www.intelligentcommunity.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=Top7_2007_Waterloo_ON_Canada&category=Community


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Intelligent Community ExamplesFredericton, New Brunswick Municipal coop built fiber network for government

and institutions in rural city of 50,000 Reduce costs compared to carrier contract Vastly increased speed and capacity Created competition that spurred private investment: 70%

of households now connected to broadband

Added 8 km2 wireless overlay blanketing downtown “Fred-E-Zone,” receiving major publicity “We don’t charge you to walk on our sidewalks; why

would we charge you for broadband?”

Innovation-driven knowledge economy Knowledge Park public-private venture IT for environmental sustainability

2008

http://www.intelligentcommunity.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=Top7_2008_Fredericton_NB_Canada&category=Communityhttp://www.intelligentcommunity.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=Top7_2004_Western-Valley_NS_Canada&category=Community


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Intelligent Community ExamplesBristol, Virginia Rural Virginia community of 17,000 developed fiber

network for municipal electric substations in 1999 Connected government offices and schools in 2000;

announced plan in 2001 to offer commercial FTTP Three-year, $2.5 million legal and legislative battle with telco

and cable incumbents ended in victory for Bristol

Economic impacts Operates networks for local govt. in surrounding counties;

$16 million annual revenue has made network self-sufficient Saved customers estimated $10m since 2003 Attracted tech facilities for knowledge-based companies

CGI and Northrup Grumman; two new industrial parks Attracted an estimated $50m in new private investment and

additional $37m in annual payrolls2009


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The End of The Middle of Nowhere Small and rural communities have

meaningful opportunities to Leverage quality of life as a

competitive advantage Turn traditional skills and expertise

into new economic activity Use broadband to reaffirm the social

covenant for young and old


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What is an Intelligent Community?

A town, city or metro region that understands the challenges of the global Broadband Economy, and is creating a local economy capable of seizing its opportunities.


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BROADBAND

KNOWLEDGE WORKFORCE

INNOVATIONMARKETINGDIGITAL INCLUSION

Intelligent Communities


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Seven Habitsof Intelligent Communities Have leaders who convince people there is more

to be won than lost from the Broadband Economy Have big ambitions and an appetite for action Do what it takes to get broadband – but don’t fall

in love with technology Create sustainable models for broadband, digital

education, digital inclusion and ICT innovation Create and celebrate community champions Work to build a culture of use for ICT among

employers and citizens Plan for economic growth while reducing their

emissions


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Intelligent Community Forum

Think tank focusing on ICT and economic development at community level

Annual Awards program gathering data on hundreds of communities per year

www.intelligentcommunity.org

Building the Broadband Economy summit May 13-15, 2009, NYC (www.icfsummit.com)

Immersion Lab Europe 2009: Dundee, Tallinn, Eindhoven

Broadband Economies, available Jan. 14 on Amazon.com


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Smart21 Communities of 2009 Albany, New York, USA Ashland, Oregon, USA Bristol, Virginia, USA Dublin, Ohio, USA Edmonton, AB, Canada Eindhoven, Netherlands Fredericton, NB, Canada Gold Coast City, Q, Australia Issy-les-Moulineaux, France Kenora, ON, Canada Malta

Manchester, England, UK Moncton, NB, Canada Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa Porto Alegre, Brazil Riverside, CA, USA Stockholm, Sweden Tallinn, Estonia Trikala, Greece Westchester County, NY, USA Taoyuan County, Taiwan

www.intelligentcommunity.com

Rural Communities in the Broadband Economy

Robert BellExecutive Director, Co-Founder

Lessons from Planet Earth

rural communities in the broadband economy:lessons from planet earth

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