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Pure Play MuniFi Morphing Into Intelligent Communities?

As the focus on Digital Divide and "free" Wi Fi fades away, what comes next? I'm predicting that we will start hearing more and more about Intelligent Communities. Here's why...

Following last month's Broadband Properties conference, I wrote an article where I raised a relatively new insight (for me):

Alternative Broadband in the coming years will be about BOTH capacity AND mobility.

That may not be an earth-shattering statement for you, but for me, it was a key insight that Mobility was not necessarily the be all and end all when it comes to broadband - it's not just about Wireless this or Wireless that. Mobility is very important, don't get me wrong. And while I had viewed Alternative Broadband with a fairly broad perspective, including both wired and wireless solutions, even combinations thereof, I had tended to focus on wireless, and wireless mesh in particular. I had never drawn that specific inference, that in the coming years we would all need both massive amounts of broadband (CAPACITY), far more than we currently enjoy, most likely through fiber optic fixed line networks at speeds in the tens or hundreds of Mbs, and far more ubiquitous options for wireless broadband (MOBILITY) at speeds over 1-2 Mbs.

When a city puts emphasis on both capacity and mobility they start to look more and more like an Intelligent Community, well prepared for whatever the 21st century can throw its way. These communities stand out from the crowd, and are about much more than merely having a municipal wireless program, Hot Zone, or for that matter, great access to Hot Spots or a good selection from traditional broadband providers.

Tomorrow, October 25, 2007, the Intelligent Community Forum is hosting a meeting titled
Intelligent Communities and Broadband: An Alternative to Energy Consumption in Waterloo, Ontario, a city about an hour's drive outside Toronto, Canada's largest city. Waterloo is the recipient of the Intelligent Community of the Year Award for 2007. The agenda is informative - see after the jump.

9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Improving Energy Management with a
Network-Centric Approach
Mr. Mark Golan, VP, Connected Real Estate Practice, Cisco
Face-to-face meetings requiring air travel can be replaced by TelePresence where the boardroom experience can be extended to anywhere in the world. This and other examples will illustrate how the Internet is making a valuable contribution
to our energy challenges.

10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Coffee Break - Poster and Technology Displays

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Companies Using Broadband: Saving Energy
Mr. John Wetmore, Former President, IBM Canada
This presentation discusses how IBM implemented a flexi workplace program and the consequence of this decision as connection to the Internet now allows employees to work partly from home.

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch and Speaker
Information Technology's Role in Reliable Electricity Supply
Dr. Jan Carr, CEO, Ontario Power Authority
A reliable, secure supply of reasonably priced electricity has underpinned Ontario's growth over the last century and is essential to ongoing economic prosperity. This presentation will highlight the critical role that communications technology plays in the electricity sector.

1:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Roadmap Review
Conference Moderator: Dr. Patricia Demers (FRSC)

1:45 PM - 2:45 PM
Canada's Challenge: Moving Information Without Moving People
Dr. Michael Binder, Assistant Deputy Minister, Industry Canada
Canadians are increasingly embracing the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their daily lives. This presentation examines the challenges and opportunities faced by policy-makers in building an innovative economy and society. Particular emphasis is placed on the potential of these technologies to support environmental goals.

2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Coffee Break - Poster and Technology Displays

3:15 PM - 4:15 PM
Hot Air: Solving Canada's Climate Change Problems
Mr. Jeffrey Simpson, Columnist, the Globe and Mail
This talk summarizes the climate threat to Canada and the current responses from politicians, industrialists and environmentalists. Mr. Simpson will lay out the few simple policies that Canada must adopt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and how modern communications media could be used to influence the environmental agenda.

4:15 PM - 5:00 PM
Roadmap Summary
Conference Moderator: Dr. Patricia Demers (FRSC)

5:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Intelligent Community Announcement - The 2008 Smart21 Communities
Mr. Lou Zacharilla and Mr. John Jung, Intelligent Community Forum (ICF)
The Smart21 announcement is the first stage in ICF's annual Intelligent Community Awards cycle. Based on nominations submitted by communities large and small from around the world, ICF selects 21 finalists with the potential to become one of the Forum’s Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year. Gaining a place among the year's Smart21 is considered a badge of honor as well as the first step towards greater recognition as an Intelligent Community positioned to prosper in the broadband economy.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The Intelligent Waterloo Conference is a one-day conference exploring approaches to using broadband technologies more effectively to lessen dependence on energy, distribute energy and influence energy policy.
How can we save energy using broadband? What environments can we provide to simulate person-to-person contact at a distance? Can we outsource work to other places to reduce the need for office space and travel? What broadband technologies and pricing strategies can be used to encourage more energy conservation and what businesses might be derived from broadband to support that? Hear broadband experts and visionaries share their thoughts on all of these questions and more...

ABOUT INTELLIGENT WATERLOO
The City of Waterloo has been named the 2007 Intelligent Community of the Year by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). The ICF is a not-for-profit think tank that focuses on job creation and economic development in the new global economy based on broadband. This conference is hosted by the Intelligent Waterloo Committee, the City of Waterloo, the University of Waterloo, the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada's Technology Triangle and Communitech.

As you can see, an Intelligent Community goes way past providing broadband Internet Access to address critical issues that face a community by leveraging broadband infrastructure.

The ICF will make their selection of their Smart 21 Communities of 2008 at the conference, which is a short list of cities from around the globe from which they will choose the next Intelligent Community of the Year next year.

Cities that are in the running will have these qualities:

Awarded to communities or regions with a documented strategy for creating a local prosperity and inclusion using broadband and information technology to attract leading-edge businesses, stimulate job creation, build skills, generate economic growth, and improve the delivery of government services. Evaluation of nominations is based on ICF's Intelligent Community Indicators, which provide the first conceptual framework for understanding all of the factors that determine a community's competitiveness in the Broadband Economy. The community must demonstrate that its strategy has produced measurable results in one or more of the following areas:

* Creation of jobs in fields expected to prosper in the Broadband Economy
* Attracting new businesses to the community or stimulating their formation
* Educational programs that equip young people and adults with the skills to perform knowledge work
* New technology infrastructure investment, whether of “hard” assets, services or software
* Innovation in the delivery of government services such as education, administration, law enforcement or citizen participation
* Innovation by local business lthat creates new products and services and leads to increased competitiveness
* Ensuring access to broadband and IT resources, as well as skills training, for low-income and at-risk populations

Will your community be on this list next year? If so, valuable publicity could be in store for you!

Posted on October 24, 2007 at 03:50 PM

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