Local-government officials and IT professionals, industry thought leaders, equipment and application vendors, service providers and systems integrators meet to explore the issues and opportunities surrounding the planning and deployment of broadband-wireless services and applications for cities and communities. Broadband-wireless project champions from Latin America, Asia, and Europe will join their counterparts in North America for two days of best-practice sharing.
The inaugural Digital Cities Convention kicked off in Philadelphia in May 2-4, 2005. This December's conference provides an unprecedented opportunity to reflect on the state of municipal broadband-wireless planning and deployment in the city that has generated some of the movement's biggest headlines.
"A year and a half later and nine conventions worldwide, W2i is extremely pleased to return to Philadelphia, the launching ground of the Digital Cities Convention," said Daniel Aghion, executive director, Wireless Internet Institute. "Attendees will look back at the major trends and events that have shaped the industry over the past two years while sharing their firsthand knowledge of successful models and valuable lessons learned from around the country and the world."
Program Agenda
Unique to the W2i Digital Cities Convention are two roundtable sessions for broadband-wireless stakeholders, which convene early on the afternoon of December 5:
The second Digital Inclusion Roundtable brings together more than two-dozen nonprofit organizations, digital-inclusion experts and municipalities to identify and rank the metrics associated with successful initiatives. The roundtable is chaired by Anne-Rivers Forcke, IBM WW Human Ability & Accessibility Center.
A Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday evening invites experience-sharing on early concept and RFP design by CIOs and project champions from Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washtenaw County, Michigan. The audience of local-government officials and IT professionals is invited to grill the panelists on the issues and opportunities they have encountered.
On Wednesday, December 6, local authorities and project champions representing implementations from Alexandria (VA), Aurora (IL), Houston, Macedonia, Maryland, Philadelphia, Stockholm, and Taipei City, among others, will sit side by side with industry experts and a representative from the FCC on four panels examining:
the range of citywide applications enabled by broadband wireless,
overlapping Wi-Fi, WiMAX and cellular networking technologies,
the diversity of public-private partnership models and actors, and
the role of nonprofit-organization to spur digital inclusion.
To pay tribute to local governments implementing broadband-wireless deployments for their communities, W2i presents the second annual Wireless Communities Best Practices Awards at a special ceremony sponsored by EarthLink. Jury Chair Costis Toregas, who Chairs the National Academy of Public Administration standing panel on Social Equity in Governance, will lead an interactive discussion among the finalists:
City of Granbury, Texas, USA
Basque Government, Spain
Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden
Town of Knysna, South Africa
National e-Mexico System, Mexico
OneCommunity, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Paris Local Transport Authority (RATP), France
Rhode Island Wireless Innovation Networks (RI-WINs), USA
Taipei City, Taiwan
PhilaVoice Portal, Philadelphia, USA
Additional proceedings at the Digital Cities Convention include:
Industry keynote addresses delivered by BelAir Networks, IBM and Motorola;
A day-long practical training seminar for local authorities and IT professionals hosted by NetLogix and W2i;
A videograher interviewing participating CIOs, project champions and industry thought leaders; and
A Technology Showcase of 20 leading technology and application vendors and systems integrators.
For full program details, please visit: W2iDigitalCitiesConvention.com/12062006/
Private-Sector Endorsements
In addition to ongoing cooperation agreements with international-development organizations, such as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and CIFAL Atlanta, the W2i Digital Cities Convention is endorsed by the WiMAX Forum and has secured the early sponsorship of BelAir Networks, IBM, and Motorola; Cisco Systems, EarthLink, Firetide, LastMile Communications, PacketHop, Simdesk Technologies, SkyPilot Networks, Strix Systems, Tropos Networks, and Wavion.
"The deployment of metro broadband systems provides a tremendous opportunity for municipal governments and public-safety agencies to significantly improve service delivery and increase organizational efficiency," said Michael Howse, president and CEO of PacketHop. "PacketHop is very excited to work with W2i to promote the benefits of mobile-mesh networking solutions that enhance communications among municipal workers, first responders and local communities."
