Smart Regions

The Djursland International Institute of Rural Wireless Broadband (DIIRWB) was created in order to pass on the experiences and knowledge acquired from building DjurslandS.net, a huge non-commercial wireless landscapenet run by rural people themselves. In a rural area of 300 km², the landscape is now covered by 300 overlapping radio nodes. Due to antenna amplification, each can be reached from settlements at distances up to 5 km.

Physical access issues, such as insufficient computing and telecommunications infrastructure, high costs or unreliable services tend to produce digital divides. To overcome social, cultural, educational, and spatial isolation, the city of Kortrijk/Courtrai has put 8 public internet access points into service in the city centre as well as in the surrounding rural communities. Being a multifunctional and secure platform, PIAPs give citizens the opportunity to consult digital services in their own community for free. The applications offered on the platform are highly accessible.

Norfolk was one of the last areas in the UK to have its exchanges enabled for ADSL. However work had identified considerable demand for broadband from the Norwich area in particular as there are a high concentration of creative sector and knowledge companies. Norfolk Open Link is a £1.35m two-year pilot project to evaluate the impact that mobile technology could have on economic development in Norfolk and the delivery of public services. It provides a broadband wireless network covering a large area of Norwich City  centre and key locations in the rural district of South Norfolk.