Lincoln Named Smart Gigabit Community

This morning, Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler announced Lincoln’s new designation as a Smart Gigabit Community (SGC), making it part of a network of SGCs connected by shared high-speed technology infrastructure. SGCs to exchange information, conduct research, and develop first-generation gigabit software applications. U.S. Ignite’s Smart Gigabit Community program funded by the National Science Foundation selected…

Photo courtesy of @CityOfLincoln

This morning, Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler announced Lincoln’s new designation as a Smart Gigabit Community (SGC), making it part of a network of SGCs connected by shared high-speed technology infrastructure.

SGCs to exchange information, conduct research, and develop first-generation gigabit software applications. U.S. Ignite’s Smart Gigabit Community program funded by the National Science Foundation selected Lincoln for the program. The initiative is a partnership with the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, ALLO Communications and Fuse Co-Working (FUSE).

“The designation as a Smart Gigabit City further cements our growing national reputation as a hub of the Silicon Prairie,” Beutler said. “We are proving every day that innovation is not confined only to large urban centers. Our success demonstrates again that when we combine world-class infrastructure with innovation, education, and business partnerships, we can produce new economic development opportunities for our community.”

US Ignite, a nonprofit that works to build the foundation for smart communities, started the SGC program in 2015. The program’s goal is to create “living lab” environments for the next generation of gigabit internet applications.

“The goal is for Lincoln to create a Digital Town Square available to students, entrepreneurs and businesses,” Beutler said. “The Digital Town Square will help them develop applications to better compete in the digital economy.”

Entrepreneurship partners in the initiative include FUSE, NMotion Accelerator, Nebraska Innovation Campus, Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship (NCE) and Nebraska Global (NG).

FUSE will provide workspace for the initiative and NG will provide community applications development leadership, angel investing evaluation, and business model assessments for the initiative’s entrepreneurial teams.

“Powered by ALLO with its gigabit fiber network, FUSE is honored and excited to be a key partner of the Smart Gigabit Community infrastructure and team-lead for Lincoln,” said Rena Valentino, FUSE Executive Director. “As a space that already provides collaboration for new ideas and concepts between individuals and teams, it’s a perfect fit. This will bring even more collaboration between private and public entities to spark new concepts and innovation, which is impactful and beneficial for our entire community and eco-system.”

Other partners include the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development, Beehive Industries and TEDx Lincoln.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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