Groupe Intellex

The Annual Round

David Brunnen — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 13:49:57 +0000

Sure signs of the start of an English Autumn:

Children collecting conkers blown out of Horse Chestnut trees,
Geese honking as they gather for another great migration,
Corporate accountants worrying about budgets for the next financial year,
Blackberry bushes under siege from foraging jam-makers, and
Company directors from across India flying into Heathrow for their annual London Global Convention on Governance and Sustainability.

That the Institute of Directors of India should choose to fly in to England for their autumn reflection just when so many others are heading off to their winter retreats is, of course, based on solid commercial logic. The tourists are going home, travel and hotel rates are easing and there’s much business to be done in a less heated atmosphere.

This Global Convention (the 15^th) may not have been a very long-standing seasonal feature and it certainly isn’t an unchanging ritual – but you can depend on it. You can be sure that the agenda will give ample time to challenging questions and seek new ways of shifting the culture and practice of enterprise governance. The distinction between executive management and corporate governance is an important part of business life – but it is one that needs constant review and renewal.

The theme paper for the forthcoming 15th London Global Convention on Governance and Sustainability is now available online. It raises a series of questions about contemporary approaches to corporate governance and their relevance to entrepreneurs, SMEs and the family businesses that are so important in many parts of the world:

Does compliance with corporate governance codes inhibit innovation, risk taking and diversity?

To what extent should governance be general and standard as opposed to appropriate to the context?

Why is there so little innovation and variety in governance structures and practices?

Why are so many boards adopting a standard model rather than thinking about governance adapted to meet the needs of each particular enterprise, its aspirations, opportunities, challenges and evolution?

Is the governance community a vested interest seeking codes, complexity and compliance because of the benefits they brings to them as suppliers of governance services?

Do we need a revolution in corporate governance, a new model, different approaches for various situations, or is this just a question of a shift of emphasis?

The 15th London Global Convention on Corporate Governance and Sustainability of the Institute of Directors, India will be held in London from 7th to 9th October 2015. Following a Global Business Meet at the House of Lords and a special session on the changing role of finance professionals in the boardroom at Chartered Accountants Hall on the first day, the conference element of the convention and the presentation of Golden Peacock Awards will be held at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square. Further details are available from:

http://www.iodonline.com/london-global-convention-2015.html

The IOD’s Global Convention theme paper is compiled by Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas - a member of the business school team at the University of Greenwich and Director‐General of IOD India for UK and Europe Operations.

Response to ISPreview report 19/06/2015

david Brunnen — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 13:36:56 +0000

In the week after our return from Toronto and the Intelligent Communies Forum, an item in ISP Review caught our attention.

Read our full response at http://wp.me/p2oly0-7xk

ICF Global Summit Perspectives: the growth impacts of policy polarisation

David Brunnen — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 07:57:46 +0000

Reflecting on a stimulating week of powerfully concentrated insights and great inspirations, delegates at the 2015 Intelligent Community Forum’s annual Global Summit might well have spotted the irony of making hard choices between the competing Urban and Rural study streams.

In this gathering last week in Toronto, Mayors, Civic Leaders, Economic Developers and Policy Influencers from around the world represented both intensely Urban and some more Rural environments. In plenary ‘Community Accelerator’ sessions these camps would come together – united in their understanding of actionable attitudes to local growth and development – and yet, in choosing to engage in either the Urban or Rural Master Classes, delegates indirectly accepted that supposedly ‘normal’ polarisation.

For sure, there were some crossover delegates but for the most part the Urban stream was the better attended. From way beyond the bigger (supposedly brighter and more-urgent) connectivity conflict zones, delegates were treated to myth-busting moments showing that, even if it is harder to resolve, disregarding 50% of your economy does not add up to a sustainable growth strategy.

The universal over-arching growth perspective is what so often gets lost in the demands for policy attention from increasingly pressured places with claims for ‘economies of scale’ and the massively complex infrastructure needs of metro-dwelling citizens.

Above and beyond urging stronger advocacy from less-favoured places, or even the creation of ‘Virtual Metros’ to notionally level the playing field, surely policies to provide future-proofed digital infrastructures (and the stimulus that they enable) should everywhere be rooted in the drive for the economic and social well-being of local citizens and enterprises.

In the race to be recognised as the Intelligent Community of 2015, the surviving Top 7 communities (whether large, small, urban or rural) understood long ago that long-term (10 - 30 year) commitments to their economic well-being needed a consistent strategic approach with evolving local leadership and attention to local needs. These local issues are largely beyond the macro interventions of national governments and Party politics.

It is ironic that such an approach can be described as ‘Revolutionary’. Surely that tag is an indication of the extent to which folks and their communities now need to reassert control of their local direction.

So much more can be said of this ICF Global Summit, the underlying international quest for community recognition and the intensity of the associated Study Tour experiences.

The urgent rush for change, the inevitable need to adapt our communities to the utility of a digitally mediated world, was no less impressive than the forces of nature we experienced at the nearby Niagara Falls.

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NextGen 15 – the UK’s 8^th annual networking event to inform local government policy and provide a platform for the broader broadband sector will be held on November 5^th in central London.

NextGen Events (an ICF Partner) and director Marit Hendriks is an international juror for the assessment of the Intelligent Community of the Year – awarded this year to Columbus, Ohio.

David Brunnen’s contribution to the 2015 Global Summit was based on the Groupe Intellex paper ‘Global Trade Development Outwith the Metros: not beyond belief’.

'Ten Eggs Talk' - the script

David Brunnen — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 15:39:24 +0000

In this brief talk prepared for a conference on enabling economic growth we used the metaphor of a box of ten eggs to highlight the marketing of broadband connectivity where few suppliers can assure customers of what sort of service they may actually experience.

The talk is also a platform for highlighting the need for Municipal Enterprise with far stronger local leadership and attention to local business and community needs - and questioning the value of national regulatory metrics and policy relevance.

Read the full script here

Research suggests the HR community and regulators are barking up the wrong trees

David Brunnen — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 12:01:00 +0000

Investigation finds many widely adopted approaches are unnecessary and counter-productive

Regulators and HR practitioners who call for culture change to prevent behaviours that led to the last financial crash are barking up the wrong tree according to research findings by the University of Greenwich's Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas.

The evidence of a five year investigation suggests attempts to change corporate cultures can be counter-productive and are not necessary when there are quicker and easier ways of changing behaviour, preventing undesirable conduct and ensuring compliance.

Alarm Bell: must all things change?

Coulson-Thomas argues that: “Calls for general and fundamental change of structure, culture or procedures should trigger alarm bells. Continuity can be as important as change, particularly continuity of relationships and consistency of experience that meets customer expectations and requirements. Changes can create new opportunities for fraud, theft, hacking and other abuses. Uncertainty during a period of transition or transformation, or while changes are bedding in, can create new loopholes and vulnerabilities.”

Cultural Diversities: many creative perspectives

The Professor believes: “Customers, employees, business partners, suppliers and investors often represent a diversity of cultures, religions, values and nationalities. A variety of perspectives can spur creativity. General culture change is often advocated where there are affordable ways of quickly changing behaviour and achieving other aims with existing people and cultures. Fraud and other abuses usually result from technical loopholes and vulnerabilities rather than deficiencies of general attitudes and values.”

Who Needs What Sort of Change?

Coulson-Thomas points out that: “To a libertarian attempts to change attitudes, beliefs and values might be as unwelcome as the efforts of totalitarian regimes to change how their people think. One response to a desire or request for culture change could be questions such as change to what culture or to whose culture? Will the attitudes, beliefs and values of a CEO, board or consultant hired to advise on culture change be better or worse, or more or less relevant and/or appropriate to various situations and contexts than an existing mix of attitudes, beliefs and values?”

Questions for HR practitioners

He continues: “Many HR practitioners need to question whether they are helping or hindering. My investigations of what high performers do differently reveal large and measurable differences in performance among people trained, rewarded and compensated the same way. The variability of performance across members of key work-groups raises questions concerning the relevance and contribution of many training, reward and other HR policies and practices. Wide differences are explained by how many critical success factors are in place. The extent to which the job, task or activity is done in a winning or losing way determines outcomes.”

Winners and Losers: avoid pouring money down the drain

The professor finds “Training, reward or compensation do not appear differentiators in the many sectors in which the policies and practices of competing companies seem largely the same. For key jobs such as bidding for business, building key account relationships, pricing, purchasing, or creating and/or exploiting know-how, the approaches of winners - or those in the top quartile of achievement - are very different from those of losers in the bottom quartile of achievement. Evidence from reports that have examined critical success factors for key jobs suggests that however much people are paid, whatever their culture and however motivated and engaged they are, if they approach a task or activity in a losing way they are likely to fail. Increasing motivation or remuneration in the hope of a better result while people's approaches and the support they receive remains unchanged could be like pouring money down a drain.”

Rewards: and their unintended consequences

Colin’s studies also reveal the ineffectiveness on many reward polices. “Reward and compensation policies and practices also contribute to mis-selling and other abuses. The prospect of commission payments can bias views, distort judgements, encourage risky behaviour and result in a flouting of rules. There are other expensive practices and naïve behaviours, such as a policy of paying above average or in the top quartile to attract better people and then complaining about the cost of talent wars. Reward, compensation and other policies that companies pursue may have much less impact than claimed by those who champion them and/or have a vested interest.”

Supporting Key Work-Groups: a more positive approach

Coulson-Thomas suspects: “Many companies pursue policies that are general, time consuming and disruptive when quicker, cheaper and more affordable options exist. In relation to training, reward and other HR policies and practices a ratchet effect may be in operation. The wrong policies may have a negative impact on behaviour, while many expensive approaches deliver little in the way of positive benefits in relation to other and better ways of improving performance. Too often those in roles that are neither visible nor a source of competitive advantage or differentiation benefit the most from general remuneration policies. Supporting key work-groups is the key to success.”

Three Key Messages

In summary, Coulson-Thomas suggests:

Many general corporate culture change programmes and associated training may be unnecessary if their purpose is to quickly alter specific behaviours in particular areas.

Organisations may need to embrace a diversity of cultures and encourage a variety of approaches and behaviours across different functions and business units.

Performance support which integrates learning and working can be a cost-effective way of changing behaviour, ensuring compliance, enabling people to innovate and remain current and competitive, and delivering multiple objectives without requiring a change of personnel, culture or structure.

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Notes:

Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas holds a portfolio of board, academic, public and voluntary appointments, including being a member of the business school team at the University of Greenwich, Director-General for UK and Europe of the Institute of Directors of India and leader of the International Governance Initiative of the Order of St Lazarus.

The evidence in parts one and two of an article “Learning and behaviour: addressing the culture change conundrum” published in Industrial and Commercial Training draw upon three reports Transforming Knowledge Management, Talent Management 2 and Transforming Public Services by Colin Coulson-Thomas which summarise the findings of a five-year investigation into the most cost-effective route to high performance organisations. They and some 20 studies of critical success factors for key jobs are published by Policy Publications and can be obtained from www.policypublications.com

Readers may also wish to visit the Professor's Theme Paper for the upcoming World Congress on Environment Management

Global Trade outwith the Metros: not beyond belief

david brunnen — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 09:12:44 +0000

In a paper prepared for the Intelligent Community Forum's 2015 Global Summit, we review the export potential of UK firms in areas beyond the Megacities.

The primary conclusion is that a Urband/Rural policy polarisation distorts economic growth prospects and there is massive scope for stronger locally-led economic growth.

The summary and a link to the full report can be found here .

Leadership and Differentiation: enterprise leaders in Dubai hear from Prof, Coulson-Thomas

David Brunnen — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 13:02:56 +0000

There is a particular requirement for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in the Middle East according to Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas.

Speaking in Dubai to business leaders he suggested, “Current consumption patterns with consumers queuing up in shopping malls to pay hefty premiums for imported brands may not be sustainable. They set a poor example for a world that needs to make more effective use of available resources.”

The University of Greenwich academic suggested some questions that need to be addressed:

Where are local entrepreneurs and locally designed goods and services that would better suit local needs?
Where are local architects who could use traditional methods and styles and provide alternatives to the services of international practices that better match local topography, history and climate?

According to Coulson-Thomas “Goods, services, buildings and practices could be differentiated and developed to stress what is unique, special or different about the local situation, circumstances and context.

The vision for Dubai is an exciting one, but simply importing overseas goods and services can lead to buildings that could be found in any number of cities. Replicating international icons rather than developing distinct and home-grown cultural themes, is reflected in the sight of obese children waddling through Malls in many locations.

The author of Winning Companies; Winning People suggests that: “If responsible entrepreneurship is to thrive, business practices and approaches need to change. In particular a new balance between freedom and control is required. Building checks into the support provided to key work-groups can enable them to be set free to develop new solutions and create additional options. The provision of 24/7 support can allow employees to be given new freedoms in terms of where, when, how and with whom they work. New leadership shifts the balance from monitoring people to helping them.”

The professor's advice was, of course, yet another import - but one that argued for greater capacity in local solutions.

Essentially he was asking if more could be done to produce local/domestic alternatives to imported goods and services and whether the result might be an infrastructure, lifestyle, diet etc that is more in keeping with local history and culture and more energy efficient and sustainable. He argued this in the context of a fresh approach to venture management - one that is more focused on employee support in contrast to an imported (or default) management culture that is robotically centred around process and control.

If more of the enterprise budget were spent locally, would this encourage local entrepreneurs and domestic alternatives to foreign/international brands?

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Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas was speaking in Dubai at the Etisalat Academy Centre of Excellence on the subject of New Leadership and HR: A quicker, affordable and more sustainable route to high performance organisations.

The findings of his recent investigations into less expensive, disruptive and time consuming ways of transforming performance and simultaneously delivering multiple benefits for both people and organisations are set out in three reports: Talent Management 2, Transforming Public Services and Transforming Knowledge Management. They set out the change of emphasis and new leadership required and can be obtained from www.policypublications.com

2015 NextGen Digital Challenge Awards: Nominations close 29th May

David Brunnen — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 17:29:55 +0000

The Open Call for entries in the 5^th annual NextGen Digital Challenge Awards programme has already attracted some great ideas from across the UK.

In addition to the original categories for innovations in City, Urban and Rural Broadband Networks, Open Data and Digital Inclusion, the 2015 programme includes spaces for projects in the ‘Sharing Economy’, Digital Health and ‘Municipal Enterprise’.

A full list of the Awards Categories is available together with details of previous winners and short-listed Finalists.

The Open Call closes at the end of May and the 2015 short-listed Finalists will be announced in June. Nomination is FREE.

The independent judging panel will review the Finalists in September.

Winners will be announced on November 5^th at the Awards Dinner hosted by Lord Merlin Erroll in the House of Lords, Westminster. The celebration follows the NextGen15 Workshops & Trade Fair.

Sponsorship opportunities for some Awards Categories are still available – contact: Marit Hendriks on 07734 919479

NextGen Academy brings breakthrough workshop from Warsaw to London

David Brunnen — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 09:50:49 +0000

For UK readers who were unable to trek to Warsaw in February, NextGen Academy has arranged a special treat next month in London.

Like so many delegates, our journey to the 2015 FTTH Council Europe’s annual conference was enlivened by VenturaNext’s mini-MBA led by CCO Richard Jones. In the space of just a few hours delegates already familiar with well worn arguments about investment in fibre access networks woke up to a realisation that those old familiar rules had shifted.

With input costs down, demand up, network planning & deployment management honed and growth outcomes valued more highly, it is time to rethink the decisions that have led many investors to limit risk through severe design compromise.

That is why a re-run of this great workshop is so timely for a UK audience – but delegate places are limited and priority must go to Municipalities concerned for their local economic growth and City Analysts who are called to back new market entrants.

The event on May 19^th in central London is not free of charge – but fees have been kept as low as possible with a 40% discounted rate for public sector attendees.

REGISTER HERE

Corporate Governance: positive or negative?

David Brunnen — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 06:02:45 +0000

More positive approaches to corporate governance could add greater value

Too many boards focus upon compliance rather than business development

Many boards could contribute much more to business growth and development if they adopted a different approach to corporate governance according to Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas, the author of Developing Directors. Speaking in Singapore he told Asian directors, board chairs and company secretaries that his recent investigations have identified opportunities for boards to add greater value by shifting the focus of their attention. He finds: “In seeking to avoid interference in operational matters many directors are overlooking areas that are properly the responsibility of the board.”

According to Prof. Coulson-Thomas: “The approaches to corporate governance adopted by some companies are excessively negative and are inhibiting innovation, entrepreneurship and responsible risk taking. Directors need to understand that competitive success can require both prudence and creativity, and practical and cost-effective approaches are available that can reconcile the two. For example, building checks into performance support tools can make it easy for people to comply and difficult for them to act in ways that cause quality, commercial, regulatory and other problems while exploring different solutions, bespoking responses and developing new options. ”

Coulson-Thomas' evidence of what more effective directors do differently reveals how much more value boards could contribute if they shifted their questioning to areas such as ensuring executives focus on better supporting those work-groups that contribute the most to key corporate objectives: “Handing demanding objectives to a CEO and senior executive team and hoping for the best is no longer enough when one can challenge the expensive, time-consuming and disruptive approaches being adopted when quicker and more cost-effective options exist. Boards need to be aware of approaches that avoid traditional trade-offs and allow the simultaneous achievement of multiple objectives. They should champion quicker routes to high performance organisations.”

The Professor mourned the lack of innovation and diversity in board practices:

“There are so many options for operating boards today and a variety of different ways in which they can discharge their responsibilities. The prevalence of corporate governance codes, a focus upon compliance and the practice of resorting to advisers and consultants who have climbed aboard the corporate governance bandwagon appears to have produced a dull uniformity of practice."

"Too many directors are doing just enough to comply rather than thinking through what form of board structure, composition and practice would be best suited for the situation a particular company is in, its stage of development, its priorities, the nature and geographic scope of its operations and the challenges that it faces.”

Losing sight of the purpose of governance

Coulson-Thomas suggests: “With vested interests and well meaning people calling for ever more detailed reporting and governance requirements we are in danger of losing sight of their purpose. What happened to relevance, economy, simplicity, proportionality, adaptability, flexibility, diversity, innovation and business development? Human nature is such that shareholders need protection but it is not unreasonable for the owners of companies to expect that the directors they appoint to look after their interests will also be diligent in stimulating, encouraging, enabling and supporting the profitable and sustainable growth of the businesses for which they are responsible.”

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Prof. Coulson-Thomas was in Singapore in March of 2015 to deliver a three day course on corporate governance, directors and boards.

Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas, author of Developing Directors, a handbook for building an effective boardroom team, is a member of the business school team at the University of Greenwich and holds a portfolio of private, public and voluntary sector appointments.

He has held UK public appointments at national and local level and can be contacted via http://www.coulson-thomas.com/. Developing Directors and his recent reports Talent Management 2, Transforming Public Services and Transforming Knowledge Management which outline where a change of focus can help boards to add more value and simultaneously pursue multiple objectives can be obtained from: http://www.policypublications.com/.

Open Call - NextGen Digital Challenge awards 2015

David Brunnen — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 11:47:33 +0000

The 2015 Digital Challenge launched its Open Call today for nominations of great digital endeavour across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

This is the 5th year for a programme that highlights great examples of innovative projects that might otherwise not be reported by mainstream media.

Entry is, once again, free of charge and full details can be found at http://www.nextgenevents.co.uk/awards

Digital Challenge 2014 Awards Categories & Finalists Announced

David Brunnen — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:40:08 +0000

Every year we review all the nominations from our ‘Open Call’ and only then decide the Awards Categories for that year. In a fast-changing world, this ensures that the Digital Challenge reflects current activity.

This year we will be presenting five trophies – two for network initiatives (Connected Cities and Rural & Urban broadband schemes) and one award each for ‘Digital Inclusion & Advocacy’, ‘Education & Digital Expertise’ and the ‘Open Data Innovation Award’.

And this year’s finalists are:

Network Nominations

Connected Cities Award

Mansfield Business Improvement District for crowd-funded Public WiFi.

ITS for their passive infrastructure concession partnership in Hammersmith & Fulham.

Velocity1 for business connectivity at the new London Designer Outlet, Wembley

Hyperoptic – for Gigabit broadband into East Village (former Athletes Village) with Get Living London

Virtual1 for their extensive ‘dark fibre’ network (London) for business users

CityFibre – for their FTTH Gigabit partnership with Peterborough Local Authority

Rural & Urban Broadband Award

Connecting Cheshire Partnership – rollout with BT

Cotswolds Broadband for a radical approach to funding and local partnership

ITS for Fibre Garden - the largest wholly private rural FTTH rollout in UK

Northamptonshire County Council for partnership with National Farmers Union with free trials of Avonline satellite systems.

Spectrum Internet for this Welsh ISP’s promotion of the BDUK Voucher scheme for business users

JT – now with a third (circa 9,500) of their Jersey-based customers on a fully fibred network with speed guarantees.

Digital Inclusion & Advocacy Award

Enfield Libraries for their iPad/Tablet loan scheme aimed at raising Digital Inclusion

Tinder Foundation in partnership with NHS for their scheme to improve access to health information and reduce patient enquiries

ITS for using wireless for social housing digital inclusion projects

Northamptonshire CC for working with exemplar businesses to showcase benefits across many sectors

RSLM Digital for their community organising platform

Education & Digital Expertise Award

Bitjam for coding education for young people

Hacklab for developing interactive technology for museums and art galleries in North Staffordshire

Lincolnshire CC for the OnLincolnshire Technology Hubs.

Skills at Work for their NHS well@work project

Open Data Innovation Award

DVLA's 'View Driving Record' project providing the insurance sector with access to Driver Licence records (nominated by Skyscape Team)

Seesense (NI) for a product for cyclists that’s designed to generate data.

Leeds Data Mill for accelerating the value of Open Data (public and private)

Northamptonshire CC for their Mapping and Deployment Plans – the first UK Local Authority to publish the full Postcode data detailed in a BT contract.

Sensum (NI) for development of behavioural monitors to improve mobile advertising effectiveness

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The 2014 Next generation Digital Challenge Awards programme is run in association with NG Events Ltd.

For more information visit NextGen Events 2014 Awards

Britain’s Battle to Boost Broadband - Digital Challenge Awards - Nominations close soon

David Brunnen — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 10:33:07 +0000

Britain’s Battle to Boost Broadband:

2014 Awards Contenders reflect huge strides by enterprise and public sector.

With just 2 weeks still to go for nominations, the 2014 Digital Challenge is giving air-time to some brilliant innovations and fresh thinking from new ventures and community leaders.

Public library lends out touch-screen Tablets to help older folk get online

New Mobile App for ‘behavioural analytics’ boosts advertising effectiveness.

Interactive technology in museums enhances education

Thousands trained in health literacy – saving calls on NHS

Secure online access to 40 million Driving Licence records bringing insurance costs down

County Council creates new technology hubs

Town Centre uses crowd-funding to create free-wifi facility.

New Rural Fibre Network backed by District Council

New product designs fast-tracked with 3D printing

These and many more projects are breathing new life into local economies and bolstering community cohesion.

In 2014 folks all over the UK are realizing that the pace of broadband (and what it helps you do) is growing at an amazing rate.

The 2014 Next Generation Digital Challenge will identify the brightest and best new ideas and achievements.

Nominations close 30^th June.
Short-listed Finalist announcement 15^th July (at Intelligent Cities event, Bradford)
Independent judging panel deliberates in September.
Winners announced and trophies presented at the NextGen 14 conference dinner 11^th November (Derby).

Click for more info

Go direct to the Nomination Form

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Link to previous notice announcing the Open Call for nominations

Digital Challenge 2014 - Open Call for Nominations

David Brunnen — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 15:08:54 +0000

Open Call for Nominations

Nominations are now invited for the 2014 Digital Challenge Awards programme.

The awards programme provides a platform for knowledge transfer and the recognition of the Projects and Teams that exemplify progress, innovation and forward thinking in the UK’s increasingly digitalised economy.

Across all economic sectors and in every aspect of public & private enterprise, digital innovations impact on people of all ages and from all communities.

Transformations in the way we all work and live are largely enabled by the design and investment in essential infrastructures – fixed and mobile broadband connectivity in both urban and rural environments.

In addition to great examples of infrastructure and connectivity, the Next Generation Digital Challenge awards programme reaches beyond those projects to celebrate innovative endeavour in practical applications. The scope for 2014 may include greater emphasis on Smart Cities, the ‘Internet of Things’, Broadband Network Quality, Digital Inclusion, eHealth, Energy Management & Sustainability and Community Cultural Developments.

Nomination is easy and free of charge.

Anyone can nominate any project or team they feel deserving of wider recognition. Simply complete this simple Digital Challenge Nomination form. The data will be held in a secure database and not shared with any third parties.

The Open Call for nominations will close on Friday 30th June. A short-list of Finalists for each Awards category will then be invited to enter the final round: – a submission to a prestigious and independent judging panel. Finalist participation is also free of charge.

The 2014 results will be announced, and trophies awarded, on 11 November at the annual Next Generation conference dinner and awards ceremony. Further information, links to previous Awards Winners and an on-line nomination form is available at NextGen.

Follow Digital Challenge news @EventsNextGen and #NG14

Enquiries to awards@nextgenevents.co.uk or +44 (0) 7714 325 657

Groupe Intellex Study Tours

David Brunnen — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 13:58:26 +0000

Our Study Tours are particularly relevant for those seeking to define the roadmaps towards ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’ cities and communities.

Study Tours take City, Community and Technology leaders and their policy developers, away from familiar territory and expose them to the very different experiences and perceptions of people and places that have already tackled big challenges.

Networking with other leaders in progressive places, Study Tours have this extraordinary effect of stretching imaginations.

As cities and communities plan to develop their local economies two major themes arise: (a) competition for resources and (b) pressures to find greater efficiencies in delivery of public services.

Resource Competition

The competition for resources has always been regional and national but is also global – the latter being the wild card of inward investment in the major city league. But success is hard won and is rarely conferred on communities that have skipped the training sessions. The intensive ‘due diligence’ of global investors will inevitably expose any weaknesses or dubious credentials. Building global competitiveness demands decades of development, astute local leadership and careful advocacy of local enterprise and societal communities.

Efficiency

On the other hand, the very public pressure for greater efficiencies has great short-term appeal – not least to smart technology enthusiasts. The intent to ‘do more with less’ can so easily shrink to ‘doing less with less’. Without clear vision, no amount of market fundamentalism can muster the collaborative community will-power needed to grow a town or city into great place to live and play as well as work. Seen as high GDP growth, the wealth of local economies needs conversion to more broadly shared well-being. Parts of that conversion may include greater local procurement, a stronger skills base, locally enthusiastic enabling of innovation & new enterprise and greater care for society’s less able.

Study Tour design

Our Community Study Tours can be customised to meet the needs and priorities of specific places and people. We can identify study target locations that match the conditions and challenges of the delegates. We took, for example, leaders from the Scottish Highlands to similarly rural communities in northern Sweden to explore infrastructure developments. Some Study Tours can be focused more on the needs for Research and Development – how to build enterprise investment and collaboration – or they may tackle challenges of developing services for predominantly elderly populations or finding best practice in the deployment of 'smart' technologies.

As an alternative to selection of specific Study Tour locations we can this year enable delegates to attend an event where many of the world’s most successful communities gather to exchange their ideas and celebrate their progress. Plugging in to their wealth of experience – an intense immersion in the journeys undertaken by these pioneers – provides evidence and support for the challenges at home. In this digitalised era, collaborative advantage replaces outmoded interpretations of aggressive competition. We encourage intellectual immigration (because not all ideas are invented here) but knowledge transfer is a two-way street. In sharing ideas and challenges with others we can all contribute to new perspectives.

For enterprise leaders, community developers and economic planners, Study Tours can be developed to meet your local and/or regional priorities. Please contact studytours@groupe-intellex.com or tweet @groupeintellex for further information.

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'Community Study Tours' is a joint production by Groupe Intellex and NG Events Ltd.

2014 Digital Challenge: Open Call for Nominations to be launched in February

David Brunnen — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 13:49:13 +0000

The Next Generation Digital Challenge Awards showcase the best in digital access (broadband) infrastructures and applications innovation. Our awards programme runs alongside the annual NextGen Conference - the UK's leading event for Next Generation broadband activity.

Now in its 4^th year, the Digital Challenge Awards will embrace more aspects of the UK’s digitally transformed economy. The Open Call in February will seek innovative and inspiring examples of projects and teams who deserve wider recognition.

Last year the Awards Categories included achievements in Open Data, Digital Skills and Innovative Enterprise. This year we may also expect to see progress in Smart City developments, Broadband Quality, Network Management, eHealth, Municipal Enterprise and recognition of the role of cultural activities in the growth of prosperous local &regional economies.

The Awards Categories will, however, be determined by the Nominations.

The Open Call is an appeal to anyone to put forward any project or team deserving wider recognition for their achievements. We need only contact details and a brief descriptive line. We will research the Nominations ahead of the assessment for Short-Listed Finalists in June/July.

The Finalists will be invited to prepare an expanded submission to a prestigious independent judging panel and the winning entries will be celebrated at an Awards Dinner on November. Submission guidance will be given and entry is free of charge.

For more information regarding nominations, and enquiries about Awards Category Sponsorship, contact us by email or call 07714 325 657. Details of previous winners are available via the NextGen website

Developing Fabrics for the Future

David Brunnen — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 11:33:50 +0000

Economists and politicians like to speak of ‘fabric’ – the warp and weft of the threads interwoven within our society, our identity, enterprises and communities. Our ‘Economic Revitalisation’ paper last year started with a graphic describing this complex weave – contrasting the ‘silos’ of governmental departments with the cross-cutting themes that hold local economies together and build prosperity on top of the underlying infrastructure.

That late-2012 view of the economic fabric was informed by the global insight of the Intelligent Community Forum based in New York. The themes were well understood by local leaders. 2013 was certainly not short of ‘smart city’ technology initiatives but concerns about the quality of digital infrastructures, the local capacity for Innovation and the availability of digital expertise became ever more apparent.

Smart or Intelligent

The ‘Economist’ magazine’s debate ‘Are smart cities empty hype?’ and Prospect magazine listing ‘Boom cities’ in their profile of ‘2014 big ideas’ were media recognition of the inexorable growth of cities. The RSA’s City Growth Commission and strategy papers from the Department for Business Innovation & Skills focus on the way cities attract innovative talent, jobs and investment (and develop overseas export potential) but they also highlight wider issues - ever-increasing demands for urban housing, strains on public services and a realisation that calls for ‘economic rebalancing’ mean much more than finding a response to the economic hotspots of London and the South East.

‘While the city has been called humanity's greatest invention, rampant urbanisation has also created some of the most important challenges of our time’ – Harvard Business School.

The UK’s major urban centres generate vast wealth but, in contrast to their international counterparts, our local leaders have very little control over public resources. The notions of ‘localism’ and city/region responsibilities have still a very long way to run.

Few seem prepared to question the underlying notion of perpetual city growth and the implicit faith that technology alone will make these select places sustainable. For already unequal societies it might seem like a call for even greater extremes and the social ills that inequality fosters. Some may contend that city growth in part reflects a long-term lack of investment in their hinterlands. And, despite ‘smart solutions’, there’s the concern that we are really talking about local communities and their cultures - including their enterprise cultures. Ultimately it is the way we learn to work and live together that is more important than the convenient economic efficiencies of squeezing more into ever-decreasing time and space.

Cultures for Prosperity

Once again the Intelligent Community Forum is a step ahead by focusing on community cultural issues.

‘Culture gives us a sense of identity and belonging. It also creates intellectual property that can have substantial economic value.’ – ICF.

They show that investment in culture in all its forms is a major contributor to prosperity - the creation of wealth and its conversion into well-being. This search for local economic growth is hardwired into the viewpoint of the Federation of Small Businesses – a view that challenges conventional macro-economics in the cause of taking local responsibility for local prosperity and sustainability. What is the point of national regulatory targets based on bland averages without local relevance? What price do we pay for worshipping national brands? In a world of Big Data and supposedly ‘Open Government’ whom can we trust with information care? Do we really desire bigger, faster, cheaper, or greater long-term utility?

Quality and Sustainability

Nor should we be surprised if Quality concerns re-emerge in 2014. Generational shifts, increased online dependence, market education, dissatisfaction with broadband performance and new technical understandings of network flows, will drive network suppliers to abandon ‘business as usual’ models. ‘Up To’, ‘Best Efforts’ apologies for warranty and ‘fitness for purpose’, will not answer enlightened local business and community leaders’ demands for ‘fitness for use’. Investing in Quality (particularly digital infrastructure quality) will cost and the basement may not offer sustainable bargains. ‘Ignorance is not bliss’. New performance evidence may embarrass but open recognition of great challenges often stirs shaken communities to find fresh remedies.

The Emergent Fabric

The new economic fabric will be woven with many different threads. Creatively ambiguous, the word ‘fabrication’ (‘making things’ or ‘making things up’) captures the sum of all our individual threads. In 2014 a new higher-quality weave aims to be more environmentally (and economically) sustainable, culturally sensitive, less unequal yet richly diverse and fit for use.

These themes will inform the design of our Events, Study Tours and Digital Challenge awards on our journeys through the coming year. While celebrating inventive endeavour we’ll aim to present balanced views, wider contexts and serious implications for the future.

Keep in touch with NG Events, the Next Generation Digital Challenge awards, Community Study Tours, Groupe Intellex blogs and all the speakers and exhibitors at our UK and overseas conferences and seminars – www.nextgenevents.co.uk or follow @EventsNextGen

Download PDF available via Groupe Intellex blog

judging underway for the Digital Challenge 2013

David Brunnen — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 14:40:01 +0000

As noted in the Groupe Intellex blog, the short-listed entries for this year's Next Generation Digital Challenge awards are now in the hands of the judging panel.

We do not envy their task. With a record number of entries we ended up with more Awards Categories with more Finalists in each - creating in turn a need for an expanded panel of judges and careful load-sharing of the entries between them.

Finalists in each of the six Awards Categories are asessed seperately taking into account the diversity of the challenges they faced, the ingenuity shown in finding solutions and the extent of their achievements. Hopefully when all the score-sheets are returned we will be able to identify clear winner for each category.

The Finalists are, of course, already winners having been selected from a huge entry field. The response this year says a lot about the sources of economic growth even if, as some would suggest, the way that national performance measures are currently constructed does not adequately reflect the new types of economic activity.

The final outcomes of this year's Digital Challenge will not be declared until October 14th but it is heartening to know that we have already been asked for the details of the 2014 round. We've promised to make an announcement about 2014 in November and will be setting out an outline plan for new categories following discussions with potential sponsors during the Awards Ceremony.

Meanwhile we are leaving no stone unturned in our push for recognition of these Finalist achievements - they have all been invited to present their case-studies at the NextGen 13 conference at Wembley and the exhibition area will feature their final submissions.

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The Next Generation Digital Challenge Awards programme is a joint venture between Groupe Intellex and NG Events Ltd.

Next Generation Digital Challenge awards - Finalists announced

David Brunnen — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 07:53:34 +0000

The news on Monday of the short-listed finalists for the 2013 Digital Challenge highlighted three new categories to complement the long established focus on infrastructure investments.

New this year are categories for Open Data projects, Digital Innovation and Digital Skills. These categories arose out of a change in the awards programme - an Open Nomination phase where anyone could nominate the projects they felt deserved recognition.

Analysing the entries we found nearly enough to justify an additional category related to network quality - and on current trends this factor will almost certainly feature in the 2014 edition.

The three new categories do however signal the determination to crack on with exploiting new-found digital capabilies - even if within the UK the capacity of most local broadband access is constrained by the use of telephone lines or mobile cellular utilities.

Further comment here and link to the short-listed Finalists

Go ON UK supports Digital Challenge awards

David Brunnen — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:55:21 +0000

The 2013 edition of the Next Generation Digital Challenge awards will be supported by Go ON UK.

'Our simple but ambitious aim', says Go ON UK, 'is to make the UK the most digitally capable nation in the world’.

By sponsoring one of the categories in this year’s Digital Challenge awards, Go ON UK is turning the spotlight on the issues of skills and expertise.

Go ON UK CEO, Graham Walker said, “Improving digital skills across the board will have huge social and economic benefits to the UK. We want to inspire and support individuals and organisations to share their skills with others. These changes will transform all of our lives, and make a tangible, long-term difference to society.

The ‘Open Call’ for nominations for the Next Generation Digital Challenge awards programme extends to April 30^th. All nominated contenders will then be surveyed and a short-list of finalists will be announced in June.

An independent judging panel will assess the case studies from each of the finalists. Winners will be announced and trophies presented at the NextGen Conference dinner on 14th October in London.

For full details of the Open Call visit the NextGen website or email awards@nextgenevents.co.uk for further information.

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Notes:

The Next Generation Digital Challenge awards programme is jointly managed by NG Events Ltd and Groupe-Intellex.

Go ON UK is a category sponsor. Additional sponsorship and media opportunities are still available.

Graphics available on request: Go ON UK logo and Digital Challenge 2013 banner.

All enquiries to awards@nextgenevents.co.uk or 07714 325 657

Next Generation Digital Challenge Awards 2013

David Brunnen — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

THE NEXT GENERATION DIGITAL CHALLENGE AWARDS 2013

UPDATE 4th April 2013 - Go ON UK announced as category sponsor

Celebrating the enablers of your own digital economy

In every aspect of how we work and live the digital economy is becoming better understood.

Everyday life is being informed and changed by digital capabilities that each of us find useful.

These digital discoveries do not appear by magic. They are enabled.

We learn from people, places, platforms, projects, and systems. Some may expand our horizons and others may simply remove the burdens of everyday hassle but all are part of being connected and using that connectivity.

For this year’s edition of the Challenge we’ve declared the awards programme an Open Challenge.

The starting point for this year’s ‘Digital Challenge’ is to map the people, projects and innovations that are making a difference – the digital innovations you find to be of most value to yourself, your family, your business or your community

We are open to your input – and we will analyse the categories and contenders to inform this year’s awards. Share with us your best discovery. It may be a person, a service, an application, a project, a provider, a better broadband connection or even a piece of kit.

All we need to know is just enough detail (contacts/names/website) to invite your suggested contender to take part in the next round of this year’s Next Generation Digital Challenge awards.

NOMINATE NOW – send your suggestions to awards@nextgenevents.co.uk

The UK Open Nomination phase closes on 30^th April 2013.

International Nominations will remain open until 28^th June*

From your inputs the 2013 short-listed nominations and categories will be declared on 2^nd July. The contenders will then be invited to submit details for selection as Finalists.

Full case studies for Finalists in each category will go forward to an independent judging panel in September.

The 2013 Next Generation Digital Challenge Award winners will be announced and trophies presented at the NextGen13 conference dinner on 14^th October.

* International nominations are limited to a single ‘Connected City’ category.

Next Generation Digital Challenge Awards

A Groupe Intellex production in association with NG Events Ltd

Sponsorship announced here

Study Tour 2013 - Chattanooga Update

David Brunnen — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

** UPDATE 22 MARCH 2013 ** New Study Tour Option

Responding to enquiries from potential delegates we have introduced a Chattanooga Only option. This 3-night option is £1,000 cheaper than the full 5-night Study Tour that includes the ICF Summit in New York.

For the latest detailed brief and itinerary email StudyTours@groupe-intellex.com or call +44 (0) 7714 325 657.

** UPDATE 2nd March 2013 ** PATHFINDER VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE

We have just returned from our 'pathfinder' visit to Chattanooga and New York. We have updated the details below and made some great contacts with folks willing to share their experiences of developing 'smart cities'.

DIGITAL DISCOVERY USA

Study tour to Chattanooga and the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) Summit in New York

Week commencing 2^nd June 2013

Our next Study Tour will take delegates to the City of Chattanooga in Eastern Tennessee where we will explore the emergence and impacts of the USA’s first ‘GigCity’. We will then relocate to New York for part of ICF’s annual summit before returning home overnight on 7^th/8^th June.

Chattanooga is the first city in the USA to offer one-gigabit-per-second fibre Internet service to all residents and businesses. At 200 times the speed of the national average, the Gig opens the door to unimagined ways of learning, playing and conducting business.

In recent years, the city’s signature lifestyle and focus on environmental stewardship has attracted $4 billion in foreign direct investment.

The fibre network that enables Gig service was installed by Chattanooga's publicly owned electric power company, EPB, to support the most advanced smart grid system in the nation. The smart grid is the first major application for Chattanooga's Gig network, but it’s just one of many that the community plans to deploy as they continue to take advantage of the Gig.

The Chattanooga experience provides many potential insights for the UK economy, including:

Responding to the challenges and opportunities of a digital economy

Enabling applications across many sectors – and inward investment and jobs growth

Innovation impacts – an in-depth view of ‘Gig Tank’, ‘Lamp Post’ and ‘Company Lab’

The enabling role of the Energy utility – with innovative FTTH-linked smart grid applications

How long term gains and massive cost reductions prove the viability of the investment model

The technical challenges of a city-wide fibre network and enabling advanced mobile services

Disaster Mitigation – preparedness for responses to the unexpected

Public Services – the massive impacts on local government and public services delivery

The leadership perspectives of the Mayors for both the City and the surrounding County

Sustainability – how green is your city?

ICF The 2013 ICF Summit (‘Building the Broadband Economy’) is an international gathering of mayors, chief administrative officers, chief information officers and economic development leaders from cities, states and regions around the world. Produced in partnership with the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, the annual Summit is a unique opportunity to learn from the world's most dynamic communities how to use information and communications technology to build prosperous, inclusive and sustainable communities.

On the last day of the Study Tour we will attend ICF’s annual awards ceremony and discover which city will be named as the Intelligent Community of the Year. This event includes an address by the Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year and presentation of the ICF Founders Awards.

By combining an in-depth visit to Chattanooga and the high-level networking potential of ICF this Study Tour will provide powerful insights to inform developments in the UK.

The Study Tour will bring together senior delegates from across many sectors and major city administrations. A minimum of ten and maximum of twelve delegate bookings are available for this unique and concentrated experience.

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UPDATE: recent US media attention on Chatanooga.

Notes:

The Study Tour will be led by Marit Hendriks and David Brunnen.

David is Managing Editor of Groupe Intellex (an online publication focused on innovation), a non-executive director of the Foundation for Information Society Policy and writes for the UK’s Communications Management Association.

Marit is a Groupe Intellex Associate and founder/director of NG Events Ltd – managing the UK’s longest-established programme of events and conferences for digital economy champions.

Based on the essay ‘Growing Stronger Communities’, previous Study Tours for UK delegates have visited Sweden and The Netherlands and, together with their management of the Next Generation Digital Challenge awards programme, Marit and David have a comprehensive view of digital infrastructure developments and the growth of the supporting industry.

Enquiries regarding sponsorship opportunities and delegate registrations should be directed to studytours@groupe-intellex.com

Details of this Study Tour are subject to confirmation in April 2013.

Broadband Breakfast in Westminster

David Brunnen — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:59:27 +0000

Parliamentary Broadband Breakfast Discussion 5th February, Portcullis House, Westminster

The PICTFOR – NG Events Ltd - Next Generation event on 5th February was our first joint event. The intent was to inject some fresh thinking into debates around broadband policy.

With this purpose in mind we selected three themes and allocated each to two speakers who were asked to speak for 3 minutes as an introduction to open discussion.

Attending the discussions were Parliamentarians and a widely drawn representation from the broadband industry and those concerned with economic and societal policy development within our increasingly digitalised economy.

The event was chaired by Chi Onwurah MP. The structure of brief introductory remarks and ample discussion time allowed speakers to be provocative and their topics to be explored in depth.

Theme 1: Broadband Policy Targets

Malcolm Taylor, a seasoned regulatory and policy commentator, spoke from the perspective of a brand new and very independent think tank – the Foundation for Information Society Policy. His intent was to inject some fresh thinking into the notion of broadband policy targets. The open-ended nature of technology routinely consigns unambitious targets to the waste bins of history and aspirations such as ‘to be best’ are considered by many in the industry to be relatively meaningless.

Malcolm’s suggestion for more a useful policy direction involved regularly revised longer-term ambitions for improvements (possibly locally determined) beyond a general ‘service floor’ that could capture several aspects of connectivity performance. In the context of ever-greater local governance we should, he said, be considering penalties for providers who fail to live up to the service expectations.

Karin Ahl, President of FTTH Council Europe, pointed out the need for stronger political leadership and the inevitable demand for higher capacity and service flexibilities that could only be satisfied by fibre.

Quoting New Zealand and France as policy indicators, Karin suggested that legislators should realistically plan for the growth of the digital economy and positively incentivise the demise of last generation technologies. Karin also queried the dilution of terminology with copper-based broadband services referenced as ‘fibre broadband’ by UK incumbents.

The ensuring discussion ranged from questioning the motivations behind the FTTH Council’s position and strong support for the FISP position on rethinking targets. Participants also called for better monitoring of what service levels are actually delivered and used – the outputs rather than the inputs – and this in many ways reflected concerns with other common provider claims such as ‘up to’ speeds and ‘homes passed’. The forthcoming FTTH Council

Europe summit later in February will provide further opportunities for debate.

Theme 2: Local Communities and Policy Integration

The complex challenges of managing a city with a fast-growing population and a fast-shrinking budget were brought to life by Raj Mack of Birmingham City Council.

Building on the theme that investing in the digital infrastructure is not in itself sufficient – it is in the application of the infrastructure that efficiency and innovation would be found - Raj ventured that public sector services are a major driver of the growth of the digital economy and should usefully inform the design parameters of infrastructure investment.

With ‘digital by default’ as a trend within both the public and private sectors, the growth of the Internet of Things and new tools for mapping/interpreting Open Data, the scope for joined up public sector services was huge – and should not be constrained by outmoded forms of connectivity provisioning.

Raj had made only brief mention of digital inclusion issues but the next speaker, Helen Milner of the UK Online Centres Foundation, more than made up for coverage of the scale of the digital divide.

Helen’s analysis of the needs of the 15-20 million people who were not participating in the digital economy showed that access and connectivity is a far smaller concern than the underlying motivational issues – and, at a cost of £30/head, the work yields huge value to business and the state. It is, inevitably, a journey where confidence and skill levels of all citizens need to grow as the digital economy develops.

Discussion showed both understanding of the complexity facing cities and communities and the criticality of the digital inclusion effort. Whether the outcomes of inclusion programmes properly reflected the influence of smart-phones and the widespread uptake of mobile applications was left as an open question. Helen’s infographic can be found at her blog.

Theme 3: urban and rural priorities

The final discussion topic centered around the challenges of rural broadband deployments - the relative broadband poverty of those living and working in hard-to-reach areas – and the need for economic rebalancing.

Graham Bolton of Cambium gave us a view of the scope for fixed wireless solutions and a faster return on any public investment compared with infrastructure support for urban areas.

Barry Forde, the final speaker, outlined the rural fibre schemes of B4RN – Broadband for the Rural North. The solution for achieving what conventionally seems impossible – viability for FTTH deployment in thinly populated remote areas without state subsidy – requires an entirely fresh approach to cost reduction and demand certainty. This twin track approach is served partly by voluntary effort – particularly in the installation of ducts – and in the financial structure of the scheme that encourages participation.

In discussion it became clear that whilst public sector funding could now be used to support fixed wireless schemes, projects such as B4RN were still entirely dependent on private sector resourcing. Questions directed to Barry teased out issues related to wayleaves, the practical operational advantages of using private land and the failure of the Passive Infrastructure Access provisions to deliver any tangible benefits for local community networks.

Summary

Drawing all three themes together, Brian Condon (CBN) observed that investing in the digital infrastructure is a prerequisite for progress across all sectors of the economy, efficiencies and quality improvements in public sector services and for the personal growth of individuals and their contributions to society.

Drawing the discussion to a close, Chi Onwurah MP thanked all participants for a good natured and timely debate that had reached far deeper into the issues of broadband policy than previous events and parliamentarians expressed their thanks for the opportunity to hear views from beyond the conventional lobbying of incumbent interests.

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This event was jointly organised by PICTFOR and NG Events Ltd and signalled the start of the 2013 programme. Further announcements will be made concerning the Next Generation Digital Challenge awards and Study Tours to the USA and Sweden.

Community Study Tours 2013 Edition

David Brunnen — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:02:06 +0000

“Believing the Bigger Picture”

With the continued search for economic revitalization and societal development, where best might we look for inspiration, policies and market models that will inform investors and developers in the UK?

The supposedly world-leading digital market environments that may exist in the Far East seem far too culturally different - their translation into actions here in the UK might be seen as too impractical and their starting points have been so very different.

For 2013 we have selected a choice of two study locations – a distant venture scheduled for early June and one closer to home in early September. Apart from their 'translatable' social, political and economic environments they both demonstrate the power of places with visionary leadership.

Our earlier Study Tours focused attention directly on the deployment of digital infrastructure – notably the provision of ‘Fibre to the Home’ and the management of local networks – by visiting exemplars in Sweden and The Netherlands. It became apparent that these advanced network deployments and their sustained growth must be understood in the context of a wider set of digital application factors – all contributing necessary preconditions for success.

But rising above the complexity of integrating departmentalized responsibilities into a clear plan for action is a single goal that has not yet been fully articulated.

The entire point of digital investment and all that it enables is Revitalisation of the Economy. The elimination of the infrastructural ‘digital deficit’ is an essential step towards building sustainable communities and resolving all other deficits – fiscal, housing, energy, health – across every sector and every aspect of the way we work and live.

For those charged with designing and developing ‘smart communities’ the underlying objectives – the motivating factors behind digital deployments – are far removed from the day-to-day concerns of the networking industry and technologists. Community and eco-system developers are energized by the needs of many economic sectors.

In local digital infrastructure investment there is a common ground that enables many of those objectives to be satisfied but it is mistaken to see the networking platforms as the simple sole solution for successful economic revitalization and societal development. In the UK we are fortunate that our environments for working and living are now sufficiently ‘digitally-informed’ that questions about the need for infrastructure investment are far less contentious. This sharper view of adequacy and ambition occurs at a time when the transformational needs are starkly evident – particularly in the reorientation of public sector services.

We do not therefore despair at the ‘litany of lags’ – the league tables that chart the UK’s relative digital deficits – but are emboldened to better understand the experiences of pioneering communities and adapt these to regional, city and societal policy development in the UK.

The 4/5-day June 2013 Study Tour will visit the USA and include part of the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) annual summit in New York City. The Autumn Study Tour will visit Stockholm and a small town in central Sweden – both will inform delegates about municipal management of their local economies and the growing fusion of investment from many sectors in connectivity infrastructure.

Study Tours 2013 are intended for utility providers, network builders and operators, community champions, business leaders and (local) government officials tasked with building stronger economies and healthier communities.

To discuss sponsorship, participation and potential dates for CST 2013 please contact David Brunnen via StudyTours@groupe-intellex.com - 07714 325 657

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A Groupe Intellex and Marit Hendriks production

Economic Revitalisation: A NextGen Perspective

David Brunnen for NextGen — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:56:36 +0000

The fabric of the economy is a complex weave.

We are all familiar with the great Silos of State - health, education, energy and many more.

Nationally we departmentalize them; they are reflected in regional and local administrations. Market analysts, regulatory watchdogs and the media report on their every move. The familiar ‘silos of state’ are here represented by vertical lines and serving them all are the essential utilities of roads, energy, water and now digital connectivity.

There is no shortage of top-down initiatives to restore UK growth and development. Lord Heseltine’s report (‘No Stone Unturned’), Local Enterprise Partnerships, Super-connected Cities, ‘Sub-National Economic Regeneration’, Smart Communities – the active encouragement of localism by all national governments is not a new idea.

What is evident in the complexity of managing our cities is equally applicable in smaller towns and rural communities. Whenever they reach out for technological solutions – demanding, for example, better connectivity or smarter metering – it soon becomes apparent that simply including the local digital networks as an essential part of infrastructure is not enough.

Applied Digital Infrastructure

Studies of advanced cities and communities around the world show at least five strands of ‘applied digital infrastructure’. The essential connectivity layer enables active programmes in each of these five strands. If the strands are pulled together they add prosperity across every aspect of the way places and their communities work.

In the work of revitalizing economic growth all of these locally managed strands must be championed to exploit the underlying digital infrastructure. Places that that prosper have projects in all of these arenas.

1. Open Data is most obviously evident in new mapping capabilities – exposing, to everyone, the anatomy of the place – and when this combines both public and commercial data sources the scope for smarter decisions is hugely increased. Central government has long understood the thirst for easier access to public data and now the corporate sector is beginning to appreciate the value of openness and collaboration. The Ordnance Survey has not been slow to promote tools for better mapping – and we gain much by easier and more-accurate visualization of ‘the state we are in’.

2. Expertise – increasing the local availability of skills and talents for employment is another critical factor in inward investment and boosting business prospects. This is not just about training clever clogs with computers. Digital connectivity has an impact on training and education across all sectors and from a local perspective it is the work of FE Colleges and companies like Pearson that contribute most to the challenges of matching employment opportunities to available skills.

3. Innovation – understanding and promoting the local capacity for innovation is not the preserve of a few R&D spin-outs or the Local Enterprise Partnership. Local acceptance and encouragement of innovation – a willingness to embrace change – is a hallmark of a smarter community. Innovation is often a series of small steps and most of these will look like the removal of some small everyday hassle or inconvenience – and that removal is possibly the greatest beneficial byproduct of the digital economy.

4. Inclusion – Digital Inclusion programmes are best delivered by local people for local people and the need is huge. We have far too many communities where people (and enterprises) are disconnected, disengaged and disadvantaged and the ‘Digital by Default’ plans for public services will highlight these gaps. The general theme, however, applies equally well to all aspects of participation in the life and work of the community, and the role of employers in encouraging engagement should not be overlooked.

5. Advocacy – the fifth and final essential strand is perhaps the least understood but is the most powerful force in promoting and marketing a local identity. A thriving local economy attracts inward investment. It retains its children. It gains sporting success. It provides a flag to wave in international markets. It needs the same marketing professionalism that might be devoted to some major brand and should use the full range of digital media channels.

Going beyond broadband - these five are the essential strands that must be championed if local investment in utility connectivity is going to translate into economic growth and societal development. These five strands will also inform the design requirements for local access networks and the way they are managed.

Throughout 2013 our NextGen exhibitors and speakers will be asked to reach beyond the challenges of utility digital infrastructure investment – itself the largest national engineering effort since the switchover to AC electricity and address the issues of ‘Applied Digital Infrastructure’ – for all cities, regions and rural communities adapting to the opportunities of a digital economy.

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Notes:

This paper is informed by:

NextGen12 session ‘The Rise of Intelligent Cities’ (Alan Mayo, Raj Mack and Michael Mulquin): http://www.nextgenevents.co.uk/events/nextgen-12/agenda
ICF publication, ‘Seizing Our Destiny’: http://www.groupe-intellex.com/editorials/18-gi-global/383-seizing-our-destiny.html

For more information contact Marit Hendriks or Andrew Macdonald via NG Events Ltd: http://www.nextgenevents.co.uk

Groupe Intellex readers respond

Editor — Wed, 23 May 2012 07:19:02 +0000

It's not the smartest of blogsites but for readers who have followed our editorial outputs it provides, at last, an opportunity for you to respond.

Most of the brief blog-notes cross-refer to substantial editorial content on this main site but today's entry, a short intro to the RSA's latest report 'Business, Society and Public Services', is a stand-alone piece.

Over time, more of our work will appear first on the blog and the main site will be redeveloped to give easier navigation of the Groupe Intellex archives.

Thanks for listening. Now we are learning to listen.

New blog-site for Groupe Intellex

David Brunnen — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:37:38 +0000

The new URL for the Groupe Intellex blog-site is http://groupeintellex.com/

The editorials published on our main website are not currently open to comments - but readers are welcome to add their views on the blog site.

In the build-up to Rio+20 the blog will carry more news on Sustainability topics and the linkages between plans to address Digital and Economic Deficits.

Getting ready for Rio – Archbishop asks timely questions

David Brunnen — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 08:41:53 +0000

In the third of our ‘readying for Rio’ editorial series we look beyond the world’s fixation on economic growth or the need for universal digital access and ask delegates to consider more fundamental questions about the way we regard money and trade.

When Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote the reviews of two new books for the May issue of Prospect Magazine, timescales would have made RIO+20 and its sustainability agenda a distant consideration.

But time has moved on and Rowan’s gentle observations and thought-provoking questions can now serve as another primer for those committed to contribute to issues of governance – issues that have spent far too long languishing on the global ‘things we really should be doing’ list.

The Archbishop’s review brings together Michael Sandel’s ‘What money Can’t Buy’ published yesterday and the Skidelskys’ (father and son) ‘How Much is Enough’, scheduled to appear in June just prior to Rio+20.

The former provokes us into asking about the limits of packaging and commoditisation – how, for example, would you view the sale of your own kidney and is this any different from selling your blood?

It raises in Rowan’s mind the lack of intellectually rigorous opposition to ‘a philosophy that has radically distorted how we view public services and education for the last few decades’, and it reminds us that this notion of exchangeability (of anything) challenges us to work harder to counter the ‘skill and sophistication of apologists for the universal commodification of life’.

If we believe that some things should remain priceless we must, in this world of market efficiency and consumer choice maximization, argue against the corrosion of morality that reduces absolutely everything to an actuarial value.

In the second book, the Skidelskys write of a Faustian bargain that has thrived on the Keynesian assumption that eventually capitalism will deliver sufficiency and sustainability and will no longer be needed, but “capitalism, it is now clear, has no spontaneous tendency to evolve into something nobler. Left to itself, the machinery of the want-generation will carry on churning endless and pointlessly.”

With monetary accumulation as an absolute goal, Rowan argues, that we have lost sight of shared values, and the notion of a ‘good life’ (where we might have reason to be happy) has been turned into an endless quest for feeling happy, as measured, of course, by a government-sponsored index.

And so, reasons the Archbishop, we need to see how eccentric this all seems in the broad context of history and culture – and we must ask what are ‘the habits and processes that will educate our passions and allow us to shape a credible narrative of the self [that can be] understood against the backdrop of what the ‘excellence’ of human nature might consist.’

If all this seems somewhat ‘other worldly’ I commend to the reader a thorough and contemplative reading of what is clearly ‘a wake-up call to a desperate need to rediscover some intelligible way of talking about humanity . . ..’

Take it as a sermon from a gentle pastor,

take time, make space, to contemplate the poetry of his prose,

reflect on inequalities, when billions live on less than $1.25 a day,

and, in the stillness, question the priorities that take you to Rio.

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Readers of this editorial also read ‘Sustainability: the end game for the next generation’

The UN Conference in Rio (June) - Rio+20, so named because it falls 20 years on from the first 'Earth Summit' - will be reported for Groupe Intellex by Marit Hendriks, a Groupe Intellex Associate and director of Nextgen Events Ltd - the UK's premier platform for Next Generation Access development.

Getting ready for Rio – the circular economy

David Brunnen — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:43:38 +0000

In our Rio-readying editorial series we have already debated the policy pre-requisites of digital infrastructure investment with two contributions from Marit Hendriks and a commentary on the Royal Society’s report ‘People and the Planet’.

As an answer to the Royal Society’s plea for a reduction in consumption, the latest report from Ellen MacArthur’s Foundation, ‘Towards a Circular Economy’ deserves consideration beyond the bounds of its targeted audience in the European Commission.

The report addresses four basic questions:

How does the circular economy compare to the race to improve efficiency within today’s ‘take-make-dispose’ economy?
What are the benefits of a restorative model to businesses and the economy?
How can companies and policy makers carry the concept to its breakthrough at scale?
Can some of today’s fundamental shifts in technology and consumer behaviour be used to accelerate the transition?

The report starts by outlining ‘the limits of linear consumption’ – and tackles head on the current ‘take-make-dispose’ pattern that generates a vast waste of raw materials. The authors observe that, ‘Whilst major strides have been made in improving resource efficiency and exploring new forms of energy, less thought has been given to systematically designing out material leakage and disposal,’ and notes the inherent commercial risks in dependence on rising and volatile resource prices and supply disruption.

Attention then shifts to the challenge of how to accelerate the proven ‘circular’ concept where all manner of goods are designed to be ‘made-to-be-made again’ – where waste is designed out and things are optimized for a cycle of disassembly and reuse. The implications of this circular approach are that ‘consumers’ become ‘users’, there’s a greater emphasis on product performance and there’s a need to incentivize recycling.

The report illustrates the concepts with case studies of products and the processes for improving the recycling rate – potentially leading to 50% cost reductions in remanufacturing of mobile phones (if only they were designed to be easier to take apart) and a projected saving of $1.1bn of landfill costs in the UK.

This leads to an assessment of the scale of opportunity with, for the EU, a recurrent annual saving of up to 3.9% of GDP (or around US$ equivalent of 630bn per annum). The benefits are clearly greater in some sectors (like automotive manufacturing) but the report fairly points out that these projections are ‘aspirational’ this side of widespread endorsement and encouragement by policy makers.

But despite being in ‘a pioneering phase’ the report argues that the ‘the shift has begun’ – driven by resource scarcity, the enabling power of information technology and social media and the apparent willingness of consumers to prefer ‘access’ to ‘ownership’.

This EMF report should be listed as basic reading for all attendees at Rio+20 in June – not least because of its inherent humility and reasonableness. It does not prescribe a complete solution to economic sustainability but it will shift your mind ‘Towards a Circular Economy’.

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The UN Conference in Rio (June) - Rio+20 so named because it falls 20 years on from the first 'Earth Summit' - will be reported for Groupe Intellex by Marit Hendriks, a Groupe Intellex Associate and director of NextGen Events Ltd - the UK's premier platform for Next Generation Access development.

Getting ready for Rio

GI Global — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:38:11 +0000

Getting ready for Rio+20

Today’s timely publication from the Royal Society, ‘People and the Planet’, is as good a wake-up call to UK media as we are likely to get this side of the events in Rio+20 in June.

The Royal Society's report has three central themes - Inequality, Population and Consumption – and argues that these cannot be tackled separately.

The report has 10 worthy recommendations and the full version, as you might expect from such an august team of thinkers, carries an authority that other authorities will find difficult to deny. But recommendations are not always easily translated into policy – particularly when politicians, no matter how well-meaning, are prisoners of their current circumstances.

Electorates rarely vote for an escape plan – they most often vote against anyone with half an idea about how to change things around here. Recognising the problem may be a first good step but recognizing that we all have to do something about it is quite another matter – and quite often beyond the horizon of any political licence.

But, remarkably, something is changing that promises (or threatens) to resolve the ideological log jams. People, ordinary people, are finding a voice that does not depend on representative democracy, or deference, or even acceptance of corporate bullying that would be outlawed in the school playground.

For policy planners, for corporate chiefs, for people who like to be leaders, their authority stems from acceptance within their community, business or electorate. But, if they lose that acceptance, if they have to justify their actions against a tsunami of protest, they are no less trashable than the reputations of media moguls who forgot to ‘do as they would be done by’.

So this new force, the empowerment of people to be heard, is for some a double-edged sword. But it’s much more than giving air-time to protesters - more than 1.3 bn people are living on less than $1.25 a day. The reality is that progress on each and every one of the Royal Society’s recommendations depends on the infrastructure that also serves this new digital democracy.

This is, of course, apparent to the appointed commissioners of the UN’s Broadband Commission on Digital Development - and again, few would now deny the need for greater digital investment. But the focus of the West has been to prescribe treatments for the rest – not realizing that in this increasingly digital world every country is a developing economy.

Some countries, the few with inspired leaders and well-informed electorates, are now megastreets ahead of others – but even they feel the need to invest further, to invest in the digital infrastructures that will give them some chance of coping with population growth, reducing material consumption and addressing the gross societal and economic inequalities – those legacies of overdosing on deregulation and unconstrained free market fantasies.

In a BBC radio interview this morning a spokesman for the Royal Society said, ‘We should plan to flourish’ – and that is exactly the optimistic view that networked technology can now enable.

The voices of the people for progress must and will be heard rising above the calls for retrenchment and austerity. First we should all deal with our digital deficits. All other deficiencies can be far more easily resolved in an environment where ideas freely flow and people are enabled to apply themselves to making progress on every one of those 10 recommendations.

__________________

The UN Conference in Rio (June) - Rio+20 so named because it falls 20 years on from the first 'Earth Summit' - will be reported for Groupe Intellex by Marit Hendriks, a Groupe Intellex Associate and director of Nextgen Events Ltd - the UK's premier platform for Next Generation Access development.

Hampshire CC presents case for using PSN to deliver better broadband

GI Global — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:14:57 +0000

Hampshire County Council Presents Case for Connecting “Not Spots” Using Public Service Networks at FTTx Council

Glyn Paton, who managed Hampshire County Council’s rural broadband project, which connected hundreds to superfast broadband where it was not previously possible, has set the case for using Public Service Networks (PSN) for residents in rural areas.

As the first county in the UK to connect all schools to a fibre network, Hampshire is in a great position to use this technique. Hampshire has now also become the first location to use its PSN to connect local residents that previously could only get a maximum 500 KB/s service.

“As a result of this project the residents of the village of Little London, Hampshire now have an improved broadband comparable to those in the City of London. Residents in the area now experience 40 MB per second. Considering they previously had no access to broadband, they cannot believe how fast their service now is,” said Mr Paton.

Mr Paton was involved with the project from the initial tender and procurement stage and said the winning bid was chosen because it allowed any service provider to use the network.

“We wanted this project to have extra credibility by being open and allowing any service provider to get involved. Where we are now, the residents of Little London, Hampshire have superfast broadband, with the choice of 30 different service providers. This would not have been possible without Netadmin and the other partners, Magdalene and Fluidata. These parties together enable a platform that allows residents to connect to a world of new services,” Mr Paton added.

Torbjorn Sandberg, CEO of Netadmin, commented that the potential for using this model in areas with a high quality PSN is massive.

He said: “I see many opportunities for other local authorities to use this model to solve their residents’ need for fast broadband. Using a PSN can be a very cost effective way of providing suitable connectivity. The residents in Hampshire now have a greater range of service providers than most.”

Take up of the pilot project has been very successful with 60 to 70 per cent of residents projected to utilise the PSN in Hampshire once previous broadband contracts have expired. Mr Paton understands that IFNL is now connected to the platform extending the reach to a further 40,000 properties.

Virgin Media was responsible for providing the infrastructure for the Hampshire PSN which provided backhaul.

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For further information about the project and to find out about Netadmin, visit www.netadminsystems.com.

Netadmin Systems develops and markets NETadmin, an end-to-end OSS/BSS system automating the service fulfilment and service assurance processes in Next Generation Networks - hardware vendor and access technology independent. Customer self activation and multi service provider support are key features.

Swedish-based Netadmin Systems is the market leader in the Nordics and is growing rapidly in international markets with more than 100 customers in 15 countries. In the UK the company supports the NextGen programme of Roadshows and conferences and will be taking part in the events in Milton Keynes on May 30th and in Edinburgh on June 7th. NextGen Events Ltd is directed by Andrew Macdonald and Marit Hendriks - a Groupe Intellex Associate.

Thoughts from abroad

David Brunnen — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:01:24 +0000

(Groupe Intellex is on vacation)

There are many reasons for sailing offshore. Some may enjoy pitting their wits against the forces of nature. Others may take a more functional view, the convenience of getting from A to B. In my mind the principal reason is to leave land and much else besides, to live, if only for a short time, in another world.

This other world is detached, separate and distinct from the everyday. Being offshore and away from home and work may not be trouble-free but is not bound by the limitations that beset landed life. Leastways it was so until the temptations of mobile phones, Internet and Wi-Fi access allowed business callers to intrude even offshore, even when far away in the Med, even on Good Friday.

In any rational world I should have left that phone/pad/laptop at home and respected the intention to be apart. Out of touch, offline, switched off, gone away. The value of a retreat is often found in the advancement it brings – thinking things through, getting ideas and feelings into some sort of perspective.

I may be relaxed but I didn’t immediately switch off and, until this latter half of the voyage, I am yet to discover that sense of advancement. Excusing my snatched moments of connectedness as reassurance for those at home, or the modern equivalent of a picture postcard ‘wishing you were here’, is no good reason for clinging to the essence of on-shoreness, of missing the news, of pretending to be in two or three places at once. It is no doubt convenient that every shore-side taverna provides Wi-Fi, that every bay on every island now has a mobile signal but, until these threads are broken, that inner urge to be ‘Captain of my fate/Master of my soul’ is still qualified by an all-too-easy reference to digital weather forecasts, GPS position indicators and the auto-helm.

There is, I will admit, a line to be drawn between desire and safety. On-shore the former may too easily displace the latter and at sea the latter should always trump the former. It is not that I do not care. The fundamental reason I am here is in that desire to be in another world and, in this next week, there will be minimal reassuring calls, and no texts, or pictures, or emails, or tweets.

And for those still on-shore it will most probably be a blessed relief that I have, at last, ‘gone away’.

Vathi (Ithaca) 8^th April 2012

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Groupe Intellex returns on April 16th.

Groupe Intellex in Munich for FTTH Council 2012

Groupe Intellex Global — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:28:38 +0000

Editor David Brunnen will be in Munich for the annual FTTH Council conference from 14th to 16th February.

He will be reporting on the latest news from exhibitors and speakers and looking in detail at the latest research from the world of fibre networks.

He will also be discussing the UK's 2012 NextGen programme with exhibitors and giving more details on the Connected Causes digital outreach project for organisations outside of the mainstream telecoms sector.

To contact David Brunnen in Munich call +44 7714 325 657, visit the media office on the ground floor of the conference centre or email david.brunnen@groupe-intellex.com

Connected Causes

David Brunnen — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:07:02 +0000

How much easier would work/life be if . . . .

Many research reports publicised in 2011 confirmed what had been apparent in other countries for some time; economic growth is directly linked to the quality of local digital access networks. More significantly the impacts of digital investment across the entire economy are now better understood.

Our own studies of networks in Sweden and the research reports produced for the Swedish government have also emphasized the societal benefits that become apparent beyond the initial network investments motivated by the search for economic growth and enterprise productivity.

Industry analysts have historically regarded both the source and outcomes of ICT investment as a Technology Sector topic. It is now more widely understood that around 80% of the benefit of ICT investment is felt in other sectors and often far removed from the centres of technological expertise.

Meanwhile the focus of investment in the next generation of digital connectivity remains firmly rooted in the established telecom sector where it is generally regarded as an incremental upgrade of existing network services to deliver connectivity for households rather than businesses. This ‘upgrade’ stance contrasts with those who argue that we should be embarking on a totally fresh approach to digital network provision akin to the conversion of electricity from DC to AC completed in the mid-1900s.

In terms of future competitiveness it is instructive to contrast network performance in different European states. The graph shows that citizens in countries with very dominant incumbent Telcos are experiencing little more than average performances whereas, in countries with greater competition in that sector, network services are significantly more innovative.

Beyond a simple focus on headline download speeds there are many other factors that impact on the quality and effectiveness of local network services. Many businesses might wish for the freedom of ‘dark fibre’ in designing and operating their own private networks but other important factors include upload speeds, response times, packet loss, concurrent and secure VPN capacities, open access to competitive services, local community-specific service development and hosting, and the availability of meaningful ‘service level agreements’. Network technology could allow users to enjoy ‘dynamic bandwidth’ – massive extra short-term capacity when needed at the flick of a switch – but such flexibility needs high-quality network management systems.

In this digital world almost every country can be regarded as a ‘developing nation’ – and, like road and rail investment, the relevance of what happens in the technology sector is of vital importance to the success of enterprises across the entire economy. Large businesses may be able to afford custom-made solutions to offset local access difficulties but the deficiencies are of much greater concern for micro and small/medium sized enterprises – i.e. the vast majority (99.5%) all UK businesses, widely acknowledged as the main source of jobs, innovation, exports and potential economic growth.

What is missing from the current mix of cautious investment and management of network transformation is a strong demand-side steer from outside of the technology sector. With some urgency organisations of all persuasions need to ask how much easier their work and life would be if they had ubiquitous and dependable access to high quality digital networks that really were fit for purpose.

That is why NextGen supports ‘Connected Causes’ – a partnership programme to engage many diverse organisations from across the UK economy - and further afield - in demanding faster and better deployment of high-quality digital access utility networks.

With an expansion of conventional ‘contra-deals’ (reciprocal in-kind cross promotions) NextGen invites organisations from every non-tech sector (private or public) to engage their audiences in debate about digital network adequacy. To facilitate that engagement we provide free resources in the form of graphics, presentations, expert speakers, editorial materials and opportunities for partnering organisations to speak at NextGen events across the UK.

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For more information: David Brunnen +44 7714 325 657 david.brunnen@groupe-intellex.com or Marit Hendriks: marith@nextgenevents.co.uk

Looking to the future

GI Gobal — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:03:55 +0000

Chris Holden, President of the FTTH Council Europe, takes a positive view at NextGen 11.

At the recent NextGen 11 conference in Bristol – the UK’s premier platform for all those engaged in developing the UK’s broadband infrastructure – Chris Holden gave an upbeat assessment of developments across the wider Europe but expressed concern at the slower progress with some of the major Western European countries. Some countries that you would expect to see on the league table such as UK, Germany and Spain have still not reached the minimum target of 1% penetration by FTTH/B to enter the table.

From his EU-wide viewpoint he could point to a doubling of fibre connectivity to customers in the past year and slightly more in terms of homes and buildings passed. With the CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan) added in, the figures of subscribers nearly double again to lift the total to 9.2 million.

This rapid growth has accelerated the Ukraine, Turkey and Romania into the league table of countries with more than 1% penetration of access fibre to either homes or buildings. The top of the table is still headed by the Far Eastern economies and a bright spot in the United Arab Emirates, but Lithuania, Norway and Sweden are hard on their heels.

In terms of take-up rates the Scandinavian countries led the field and Norway achieved 62% - ahead of South Korea at 59%. Even given some countries where take-up rates have been below par, the overall achievement of 18.3% represents a significant step towards the 2020 EU target of 50% household connectivity to at least a 100Mbps utility infrastructure.

Chris Holden was a little critical of the lack of a clear ‘upload’ target for 2020 – particularly because it is obvious that user-generated content and cloud applications demanding near symmetry were becoming ever more popular. But, in a spirit of optimism, he pointed out that the flexibility and future-proofing provided by a fully fibred network could not be equaled by any lesser technology – ‘it was’, he said, ‘the end game’.

He was delighted to see a requirement set by the Commission for realistic national plans and sensibly linked-up government departments but in some cases the level of detail supporting the plans could be improved. He also looked at how incumbents might now be encouraged to move towards FTTH – the market share lost by incumbents to the 70% of metropolitan networks developed by new market entrants reflected a livelier investment scene driven by the need for economic growth.

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This and all presentations from the NextGen 11 conference can be found via the NextGen website.

Readers of this article also viewed 'FTTH Bridging the rural divide'

And the winners are

David Brunnen — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:01:20 +0000

The results of NextGen Challenge were announced last week.

The occasion, a dinner in Bristol as part of the NextGen 11 conference and exhibition, was reported as a great success.

There could of course only be a single winner in each of the competition’s three categories but in a broader sense there are many winners – not just the short-listed finalists or even all those who were emboldened to enter the fray.

The winners are the customers - all those businesses and public sector organisations and ordinary families where the everyday load of working and living is being transformed by the myriad attempts to deliver better online access.

You might say that this doesn’t add up to much – and in aggregate there’s no denying that the UK has far to go – but that is not how the customers and beneficiaries of these NextGen Challenge entrants see the world. For them the prospect of better broadband is making a world of difference.

Beyond this there is yet another layer of winners – those who have yet to benefit from the experience of ‘first-movers’, pioneers and the brave souls who are determined to innovate. These are the businesses created and sustained, the new jobs in unlikely places, the simplification of dealing with organisations, the prospects of innovative locally-relevant services and the general empowerment of people to get on with life.

This was just the first year of NextGen Challenge. No-one could be sure it would produce the great examples that have won through. The competition in 2012 will surely highlight more brilliant achievements – and, like the old ecommerce awards of the 1990’s, the growing pile of case studies will hold many lessons for those intent on studying the transformation of society through the growth of better broadband and the future realization that much is dependent on the quality of that access.

We are fortunate in the UK that we do not need to look far for vital clues on the sorts of demand for broadband access that we can expect. The 2011 Community Study Tours to Sweden were just one of many opportunities to explore and share the experiences amongst our European neighbours – and as that programme looks yet further afield there will be yet more discoveries to come.

The winners of NextGen Challenge 2011 deserve our congratulations. The more stones thrown into this pond the greater the ripples at the edges.

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Full results of NextGen Challenge can be viewed here.

Details of Community Study Tours are described in the editorial 'Growing Stronger Communities'.

Let's not be mealy mouthed about this

David Brunnen — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:39:52 +0000

It’s not every day in Belfast that someone offers you a bug-burger.

In Northern Ireland we are well used to being considered a minority – very much on the periphery of everything. Some say we cost the UK more, we do less, and we generally under-perform. But now some bright spark has suggested that we can at last join the majority – the 80% of countries that farm insects for food.

These countries have a problem of course – what to do with the crunchy bits. But it turns out that our clever scientists – one area where we excel – have got the answer. Apparently the crunchy bits – known as Chitin – show great promise as feedstock for the latest polymer to make all manner of products. Who could resist the prospect of ants, literally, in your pants?

But why should we in Belfast have any interest in all this? Surely we live well enough on beef and chickens? It turns out that in the efficiency of food production, maggots beat meat at every twist and turn. With every country looking for food security, the ability, in an ever-growing population, to feed us becomes a national imperative. But, surprise, there’s yet another NI-reason for action – one that may even cause Gulliver’s Giants Park to be renamed Gnats Park.

In amongst the myriad of really useful suggestions of what to do with Giants Park, the idea of setting up a new farming research campus seems centre stage. Somehow, it seems to be entirely appropriate for that methane-generating mountain of decomposing rubbish to have a new life in this world of tasty maggot munching mouthfuls.

Nothing of course is decided – we don’t go in for decisiveness in matters such as these. Anyway we’ve never been that keen on playing cricket – so why not steal a march on Britain and play with Crickets? It’s not just our place in the UK that is at stake here.

In the über-competitiveness of Europe, where spending on R&D is a leading indicator of economic success, we have been long been trailing behind – so much so that in NI we’ve even set up a dedicated committee to look at the problem!

Apparently we need to urge big business to at least match the enthusiasm of our continental cousins. Over in Holland they may have already taken a lead in understanding the new opportunities of insect ingestion – or ‘entomophagy’ as the experts say. But, it seems, leap-frogging is an entirely accurate way of describing maneuvers in this market. The scope for food processing and packaging expertise, for new types of farming, for new probes into protein and for new export markets is, apparently, just waiting in the wings for the good folks of NI to take a liking to the finger-licking flying things.

You may think this is pure fantasy. You may even have heard people say ‘over my dead bodies’. We may be happy with honey but surely, you might say, we don’t need to scoff the bees as well. The news however is that the world needs places like NI to hang up on our hang-ups.

Well, if not fantasy then maybe we should look for some other excuse to live up to our world-wide trailing-nation status? Previous studies have shown our national addiction to creative bribery so maybe we could complain about the lack of EU subsidies for insect farms?

Or maybe we should embrace innovation.

Maybe we really do have an appetite for new taste sensations? The park is a big place – maybe there is room for a bug campus?

Let’s not be mealy-mouthed about this.

__________________

References:

Emeritus Professor Gene R. DeFoliart is at the Russell Laboratories of the Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA. Article reprinted with permission from Elsevier Science.

Arnold van Huis, Personal Chair, Professor Tropical Entomology, Wageningen University, Netherlands.

Giant’s Park – GI sews some seeds – editorial.

Food for thought – GI editorial.

(This editorial written for publication in NI's Business First magazine)

Syndication terms and conditions apply

NextGen Challenge - finalists announced

David Brunnen — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:49:41 +0000

The short-listed Finalists for NextGen Challenge were announced today.

Their entries have now been sent to the independent judging panel and the results will be announced on November 15th during the NextGen conference dinner at Bordeaux Quays Bristol.

There will be three winners - one for each of the three honours categories; 'Rural leadership and Community Development', 'Innovative Funding solutions' and 'Collaborative Advantage'.

The diversity of entries shows that local communities are making a great effort to ensure that the national transformation of utility broadband infrastructures is being designed to deliver both economic growth and societal development.

Congratulations to all who entered. Details of the NextGen 11 conference and exhibition (15th & 16th November, Bristol) can be found here

Notes:

theNextGen Challenge Finalists are:

For rural leadership & community development

North Yorkshire

CPEND (North Dorset)

Lothian Broadband

Tegola Network (Edinburgh university)

Knowle West Media Centre

For Innovation in Funding

Derwenthorpe (Fibre Options)

ClacksMax (Clackmannanshire)

Cybermoor (Alston)

For Collaborative Advantage

E2BN (East of England)

Superfast Cornwall

Hampshire not-spots

McWiLL - Multi-channel Wireless Local Loop technology

GI Global — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:52:11 +0000

Innovative developments in mobile wireless technologies are not entirely the preserve of major providers - Manufacturers and Operators in Europe and North America have little insight into the fresh approaches to mobile wireless designs that are gaining ground in China and the Far East.

We are therefore pleased to report that Eoin Lambkin (Director, Groupe Intellex NI) is to lead the first European trials of McWiLL - a Multi-channel Wireless Local Loop system that came to prominence during the Bejing Olympic Games by providing coverage of the sailing events.

With high spectrum efficiency and very low base-station costs the system will be tested in a number of environments both in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. The system lis particularly well suited to secure wide area Public Sector deployments and integration with advanced broadband deployments such as FTTH schemes.

Further details are available on request to Eoin.Lambkin@Groupe-Intellex.com.

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NextGen TV

David Brunnen — Thu, 19 May 2011 08:34:45 +0000

Starting with the NextGen event in Edinburgh the programme of Roadshows leading up to a 2-day conference in November will feature short video interviews with the stars of the show.

The first of these NextGen TV interviews features Henrik Halvorsen of NETAdmin Systems - the Swedish company whose management software enables local networks to provide customers with easy services selection and Service Providers with low-cost integration of management interfaces with their own operational/admin systems. NETAdmin's capabilities are at the heart of 'Open Access' designs not only in Sweden but in many other countries.

Groupe Intellex is....

Groupe Intellex — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Groupe Intellex is an international publication specialising in technology transfer, networked services and new venture incubation. We lead several innovative thought-leadership themes within three streams: Networked technologies, Creative Media and the Environment.

Our editorial and presentational skills support the process of bringing fresh ideas and new perspectives to the attention of investors, policy developers and potential innovators in their development of commercial eco-systems for business development.

In 2015 we will continue to promote Community Study Tours - taking UK delegates to explore progressive places - and our focus this year will be on Canada with a Study Tour that includes the Intelligent Community Forum's Global Summit in Toronto.

This site includes the management archive of Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas and editorials written for the UK's Communications Management Association - part of the BCS. The Editorials and Projects sections cover topics as diverse as FTTH, Connected Health and atmospheric CO2 remediation.

Managing Editor, David Brunnen, is based in Hampshire, UK.