BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.
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Broadband Drives Innovation By Dr. Bruno Lanvin / Executive Director ECI, INSEAD (Excerpted from "Te State of Broadband 2013: Universalizing Broadband," a report by the UNESCO Broadband Commission.) Successful innovation is based on a complex ecosystem in which investments in R&D; take place against a background of efcient infrastructure, talent and a socioeconomic environment rewarding creativity and risk as paramount. Where such an ecosystem is lacking, investments in R&D; do not generate their full returns. Indeed, the "middleincome trap" risks becoming a "middle innovation ranking trap": Many emerging economies that had made spectacular progress in innovation rankings over the last few years have proved unable to maintain their rates of progress, despite continuing or accelerating investments in R&D.; Ecosystems of innovation do not happen overnight. Efcient fnancial, educational, legal and regulatory frameworks are needed, which typically take more than a generation to build. Broadband could generate "innovation-as-aservice" in ideas across emerging economies via telepresence, crowdsourcing and remote collaboration. Innovators can also reach venture capitalists in other regions more easily. Innovation is a four-faceted mindset, involving people, ideas, fnance and market. Yet history often provides accelerators that have proven benefcial to innovation. Broadband is one such accelerator, driving rapid change across these four pillars of innovation. Broadband deployment can accelerate innovation by promoting academia-business alliances, leadership across borders, metrics and local dynamics. For people, ubiquitous broadband will beneft frst and foremost the education sector by contributing to the detection, stimulation and blossoming of talent. Combined with cloud computing, broadband could generate "innovation-as-a-service" in ideas across emerging economies via telepresence, crowdsourcing and remote collaboration. Broadband also improves fnancing by allowing innovators to reach venture capitalists in other regions more easily. Broadband enables frms and individuals to "move beyond mere Web presence" and reach consumers worldwide through secure platforms, interactive virtual shop windows, and local and targeted advertising. In Rural Areas, Broadband Adoption Is Key Adoption is the most important – and possibly the only – variable that relates broadband to rural economic growth in the United States, according to a new study, "Broadband's Contribution to Economic Health in Rural Areas," by Brian Whitacre of Oklahoma State University, Roberto Gallardo of Mississippi State University and Sharon Strover of the University of Texas. Using FCC broadband adoption data, National Broadband Map infrastructure data and various measures of economic outcomes, the authors compared rural counties with counties that were similar in other ways except for broadband availability or adoption. Tey found the following: • In counties with levels of broadband adoption above 60 percent, median household income grew faster and unemployment was lower compared with similar counties below this threshold. Where broadband adoption was below 40 percent, the number of frms and employees grew 3 percentage points less than in similar counties. • In counties with broadband availability above 85 percent, income for nonfarm proprietors grew 5 percent less than in similar counties. Tis suggests that consumers may use e-commerce sooner than local businesses do and that the frst efect of rural broadband is to give consumers nonlocal options for shopping. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | www.broadbandcommunities.com Rural residents beneft, but local businesses may be at least temporarily disadvantaged. • Download speeds greater than 10 Mbps appear to increase the percentage of creative-class workers and reduce the poverty level. However, average download speeds less than 3 Mbps are associated with marginally higher growth rates in median household income. • Finally, increasing the number of broadband providers in an area does not by itself appear to afect economic health. Te authors recommend shifting the focus of rural broadband policy toward encouraging adoption in areas where broadband is now available. | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 105