Bristol’s B-Open project has been nominated for the 2012 NextGen Challenge awards – the competition for those engaged in the race to upgrade the UK’s broadband networks. If you haven’t yet booked your place at the NextGen conference there is still time.
The independent judging panel is now considering the entries and the short-listed finalists will be announced on 29th September. The winners will be announced and trophies presented at a prestigious dinner inside the Houses of Parliament on October 8th.
The Connecting Bristol project has been nominated in the category for Urban Network Enterprise. Bristol City Council was already ahead of the game in 2004 and now, by extending its already extensive network to provide free wifi into public spaces, it is showing Local Authorities throughout the UK the economic and societal benefits of integrating Admin, Health, Security and Education Networks and extending these to help grow the wider economy.
NextGen Challenge organiser, David Brunnen, said,
“We are delighted to see this project being recognised in this competition. Many people do not yet realise that we are all heading at speed towards a fully digital economy but across the country our development capacity at work or at home is inhibited by the current digital deficit and shortcomings in infrastructure investment.”