I entered the Minneapolis Convention Center with a mixture
of curiosity and excitement. The
occasion was the 2012 Tekne Awards; the Minnesota High Tech Association’s
version of the Academy Awards for technology entrepreneurs and innovators. And as I entered the Convention Center I was handed
a badge and steered toward a reception area upstairs designated for the award
finalists. In the ballroom below were
approximately 1,000 guests in a festive mood from all across Minnesota’s high
tech industry. I knew this was going to
be a fun evening.
As I climbed the stairs to reach the reception area I
noticed everyone shared the same badge as me with the word “Finalist” on
it. Slowly as my eyes focused I began to
see friends and colleagues I have either known or have gotten to know over the
past two years. For you see, in 2010 the
Blandin Foundation was awarded a multi-million dollar grant from the National
Telecommunications Information Administration to coordinate a large, statewide
initiative designed to promote broadband adoption all across rural
Minnesota. Known as the Minnesota
Intelligent Rural Community (MIRC) project, this unique initiative brought
together more than 20 different organizations, institutions, agencies and rural
communities to focus their efforts on increasing broadband adoption among Minnesota’s
rural residents, as well as rural businesses. And it was this initiative,
spearheaded by the Blandin Foundation that was a finalist for the 2012 Tekne
Award in the category of “Innovative Collaboration.” As a broadband researcher for many years the
Blandin Foundation tapped me back in 2010 to serve as the project’s evaluator
over the next two years. In other words it was my job to document all the
activity by this large group of partners all across the state and at the end of
the 2-year effort to examine the impact and consequences of their work.
To state that the scope of the project was comprehensive is
an understatement, as the project strategically targeted key groups of
non-adopters. For those low-income rural
residents who couldn’t afford a computer, our partner PC’s of People secured,
refurbished and distributed over 2,000 computers to needy rural families. The average annual household income among
those receiving these computers was $12,145, with over 35 percent having an
unemployed head of household. After all,
for many Minnesota businesses today you can’t even apply for a job without
being able to submit your application online. And if you are thinking, about
the unmet computer literacy and training needs of many rural residents, our
partners at DEED, U of M Extension, MnSCU and the Minnesota Renewable Energy
Marketplace delivered more than 31,000 hours of training and technical
assistance, both online and across rural Minnesota.
More than 2,000 rural businesses were provided training;
over 6,000 rural businesses were reached; and direct technical assistance was
provided to more than 60 small rural businesses by our partner at the U of M
Extension. Over the two years U of M
Extension not only provided this important technical assistance, but with more
than 60 percent of all major purchases beginning with a web-search today, they
helped rural businesses understand the importance of managing their “digital
tele-presence” in today’s economy. This was all bolstered by the efforts of the
nine rural Regional Development Commissions providing outreach and media
information all across their respective rural regions. As I noted, this was a remarkable coordinated
effort with a broad scope across an even broader geography we call Greater
Minnesota.
And what was the consequence of all of this time and effort?
Well beginning with over 4,000 baseline surveys conducted back in 2010, we have
tracked the growth in broadband subscriptions from quarter-to-quarter,
regularly reporting our progress to the National Telecommunications Information
Administration. With a goal
of achieving 38,000 new broadband subscriptions across rural Minnesota within
the 2-year period, the current count now stands at 40,496.
