Solutions: Inclusion - Technology Summit

Facilitate a Community Technology Summit

GOAL: A technology summit should bring together community stakeholders to develop a dialogue about how public and private stakeholders can collectively improve broadband access, adoption, and use.

DESCRIPTION: Develop and host a technology summit for residents and businesses to increase awareness of broadband value, service options, and the potential impact on quality of life.

The technology summit should facilitate community partnerships between leaders in local government and the private sector, including non-profits and private businesses in the education, healthcare, and agriculture sectors, with the goal of ensuring that residents have at least one place in the community to use powerful new broadband technologies, and that this asset will be sustained over time.

Further, the technology summit should highlight success stories as evidence of the impact of technology.

ACTIONS:

Create community partnerships.

Identify funding sources and hosts.

Identify suitable speakers.

Develop relevant content.

RESPONSIBLE PARTIES:

Community leaders/organizations; County/City government; Broadband providers; Citizens; Schools, districts, higher education; Libraries; Businesses/IT professionals/technology companies

RESOURCES:

The Texas A&M University System Technology Summit http://techsummit.tamu.edu

National Telecommunications & Information Administration https://www.ntia.doc.gov/other-publication/2015/Nesummit

Michigan Broadband Conference in review: http://connectmycommunity.org/project-view/michigan-broadband-conference-in-review-the-human-impact/.

Iosco County Summit Showcases Business and Technology Growth: http://connectmycommunity.org/project-view/iosco-county-summit-showcases-business-and-technology-growth/