Technology Futures

I visit a lot of rural communities. Most of them are trying to chart a path for themselves in the Knowledge Economy. But there is still a lot of stovepipe thinking going on. Economic developers are rarely talking to town planners. Town planners are rarely talking to business people. Hardly anyone is talking to work at home businesspeople.

No one cares about broadband. Let me repeat that. Businesspeople that are engaged in the new economy don't care about broadband. What they care about is being able to meet their customers needs and expectations. Broadband is needed to do that, but broadband is not really an issue for them--what they are able to do with it is an issue.

What I'm trying to say is that broadband is simply one part of a bigger picture for communities, and the bigger picture, for the entrepreneurial, microenterprise businessperson (remember that small businesses are creating 75% of new jobs), is that they need a bunch of amenities and services in a community to be able to meet their customer needs and expectations. It's never just one thing (like broadband).

What are some of those things? Here's my list:

• Affordable,world class business office space -- Some of you are already thinking, "We've got our incubator." I am thinking about incubators, but too many that I visit are heavy on the industrial look and feel, and short on the kinds of finishing details that are not always expensive but that project, "We're doing business here." Many communities, instead of putting slab-steel siding buildings far out of town in a former industrial park, would be much better off rehabbing empty buildings on Main Street, like they did in Norton, Virginia, where they rehabbed a 1920s era hotel, got tax credits to do so, won awards for excellence, and are filling the space faster than they can finish the next floor.
• Once you get some businesses downtown, you need a great coffee shop, like the one in Franklin, Pennsylvania started by someone who just moved back to their hometown after ten years in California. Coffee shops with great coffee, an upscale ambiance, and a private meeting room are a key requirement of work at home businesspeople, who need a place to meet clients, have a light lunch, or just "get out of the office" to do some work.
• You need a clean, well-lit place to get a quick, hot breakfast. Businesspeople travel, and not everyone wants to eat donuts and biscuits at the free breakfast buffet at the motel by the interstate. And a lot of business gets done at breakfast, and the buffet room in the motel is not conducive to that.
• Business lunches and dinners are also important. Clients do come to the community to visit work at home businesspeople, and that means the community needs an upscale restaurant for more formal business lunches and dinners. Just one good restaurant in a community makes all the difference to businesspeople.
• Business visitors to a community want more news that one can get out of the local paper. The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and at least one "big city" paper should be available in easy to find locations, like the coffee shop or the breakfast eatery.
• Copying and printing services are the lifeblood of "just in time" Knowledge Economy businesses. The value of being able to walk into a Kinko's and get things printed right from a CD or a laptop is invaluable. Does your community have a local copying/printing store that offers these services and is easy to find?
• Public WiFi access is critical. Visiting businesspeople want to be able to check their email, catch up on news from the Web, and take care of business via the Internet. Can a visitor easily find a hotspot in your community? Is there a place to sit down and work?
• A good place to stay is also important. A B&B is fine if the town is too small to support a hotel, but the B&B owners need to know about the needs of businesspeople. Rooms should have a phone (for privacy and dial out Internet access), and a desk is essential--too many B&B rooms have no place to sit and work.
• A great community Web site portal with up to date local news and information (e.g. where to eat, where to find a hotspot, where to find copy services, where to buy a newspaper) is a vital economic development marketing tool. It telegraphs to businesspeople that the community is progressive and understands the Knowledge Economy.
• Finally, affordable broadband, as always, is critical.

Today, hundreds of entrepreneurs and small businesspeople are thinking of moving back to a smaller community with good quality of life. How many things on this list does your community have? Have you re-oriented your economic development strategies to ensure your community has the kinds of amenities that businesspeople want and expect?

A few years back, Idaho set its eyes firmly on the future, and the effort is beginning to have a major impact in the rural state. Idaho is not only not on the way to anywhere, it does not come to mind quickly as a hotbed of technology companies and entrepreneurs.

But it is. Wired's story is worth a read to see what can happen when a region sets a vision for the future and sticks to it long enough to see results. Idaho did not go after the quick fix. The state took its time, invested patiently, and kept it's eye on the ball.

MuniWireless has a story about Scottsburg, Kentucky and the importance of broadband to the future of the community.

Scottsburg is a rural community of 6000 north of Louisville. The problem they were facing there is common to rural communities: a T1 line in metro Louisville cost $300/month, and in rural Scottsburg it was $1300/month--that's the difference between a thriving business sector and and an economic disaster.

A modest investment in wireless allows Scottsburg residents and businesses to get broadband for $35/month, and a full T1 (via wireless) costs only $200/month--cheaper than Louisville.

The school system estimates that it saves $6000/month in telecom costs (that's taxpayer dollars!), and several businesses have been able to stay open, including the local Chrysler dealership, where 60 mechanics who use laptops to repair cars were told by Chrysler to get better broadband or close down.

When the local garage needs broadband to stay open, the whole "value of broadband" issue is closed to debate. If your community still has elected officials and economic developers who are not taking this seriously, show them this article. Ask them if saving $6000/month in taxpayer funds is important, and if not, ask them to please explain why.

Broadband saves jobs and money. It's just that simple.

Over the past couple of weeks, three major cities in the U.S. have announced ambitious plans to extend connectivity of one kind or another. New York and Philadelphia are moving forward with plans to create wireless blankets over most of each city.

New York's plan is more ambitious. The city is looking at making virtually every lamppost available for WiFi and cellular telephone access. Part of what is driving this is money. Even at the modest fees the city says it will charge for the right to mount antennas, it represents new income to the municipal government. What is less clear is if the plan will succeed. Some elected officials and citizen groups have raised concerns about the amount of additional EMF radiation that will be propogated by the plan. Not everyone is keen to have 24 hour/day gigahertz frequency radiation emanating from an antenna just a few feet from their second floor apartment window.

Philadelphia's plan is to create a WiFi blanket throughout the core area of the city, to make the place tech friendly. Both cities will rely on the private sector to spend the money to do the work, and will simply put the ordinances and fee structure in place that will allow those companies to place antennas and equipment on public property.

The third city, Chicago, is planning to put 2000 remote control surveillance cameras throughout its neighborhoods and city streets, with the dual aim of curbing crime and providing better coverage of potential terrorist targets. The system will be tied directly into the 911 system, which will allow 911 operators to pull up real time video of a crime, fire, or accident in progress. In Chicago, some groups have raised concerns about the potential privacy issues related to such comprehensive surveillance. In the end, the city will probably have its way, as we have no constitutional guarantee to privacy in public places.

All these initiatives are mixed news for smaller and rural communities. On the one hand, these initiatives not only raise the bar for what kind of infrastructure is expected in our communities (i.e. WiFi blankets), but as this kind of infrastructure becomes commonplace, smaller communities especially lose any competitive advantage they may have had from early investments. That is to say, instead of touting public WiFi as an economic development advantage that other places do not have, public WiFi is now going to be increasingly seen as part of the base, required infrastructure--imagine trying to promote your community without a public sewer system in place.

On the other hand, thanks to the small size and low cost of such systems, smaller communities can easily put in exactly the same systems--in other words, you can have exactly the same infrastructure as big cities. Coupled with a desirable quality of life, short or no commutes, good schools, and great recreational opportunities, small towns and cities will measure up pretty well. But you have to have a plan to do this. Do you?