Broadband and Economic Development by Bill Coleman

Slide 1: Broadband and Economic Development Global to Local

Slide 2: Agenda • Introduction • What the empirical studies show • Site selectors and broadband • Entrepreneurs and broadband • Local success stories

Slide 3: What is Economic Development? “The process of raising the level of prosperity and material living in a society through increasing the productivity and efficiency of its economy.” Joan Spero and Jeffrey Hart Indiana University

Slide 4: Some say “Build it and they will come.” Who is they, anyhow?

Slide 5: Broadband Vitality Components Providers Community Members Robust Network Subscribers Technology Service Sophisticated Use Offerings Each has an important impact on economic development!

Slide 6: Broadband and Economic Development What the empirical studies show…

Slide 7: MIT/Carnegie Mellon Study Lehr, Osorio, Gillett, Sirbu January 17, 2006 • For the period between 1998 and 2002, where broadband was available by 12/99, communities experienced more rapid growth in: – Employment – The number of businesses overall – The number of IT businesses • These communities also had higher market rental rates. • All data was at the zip code level.

Slide 8: Brookings Institution Study Crandall, Lehr and Litan July 2007 • For every 1% increase in state broadband penetration, employment will increase 0.2- 0.3% per year. • Employment in manufacturing, services (finance, education and health care) in positively related to broadband penetration.

Slide 9: More Brookings • Policy implications – Encourage competition among providers to lower costs • Reform video franchising • Oppose net neutrality

Slide 10: Broadband and Economic Development What Site Selectors Think…

Slide 11: Broadband Site Factors • Broadband is an expected asset, not a competitive advantage – Direct fiber connections – Redundant networks – Competitive services – Reliability measures – Technical talent!!!

Slide 12: Broadband and Economic Development Entrepreneurial Development

Slide 13: Broadband Entrepreneurs From InfoWorld’s Greatest Web Moments • 1994 - Yahoo - created by college students • 1995 - e-Bay – broken laser pointer 1st item • 1997 - Craig’s List – emerged from a list serv • 1995 – Amazon – first office was a garage • 1998- Google – created by college students

Slide 14: Would you lend money to this girl?

Slide 15: Whateverlife.com • Ashley Qualls, 17 year old entrepreneur • Web site has 2.4 M visitors per month • Site ranks 825 of 20.3 M sites • Sells designs for MySpace pages • Employs her mom and several friends • Borrowed $8 to start her company

Slide 16: Attracting Entrepreneurs • Quality of life – Means different things to different people • Entrepreneurial culture and connections • Business support systems • Available broadband – In town? – At the lake? – What about big broadband for power users?

Slide 17: Broadband and Economic Development Successful Local Strategies

Slide 18: Helping Existing Businesses Grow… • Business technology assessments – Todd County through MN Technology Inc. • Subsidizing web page development and improvements – Cambridge • Linking community businesses together through portals – New Ulm retailers – Mankato area manufacturers

Slide 19: Entrepreneurial Development • Youth as web masters for business – Five Small Towns • E-commerce training – U of M Extension – MN Technology, Inc. – MNSCU

Slide 20: Conclusions • High level research and Main Street anecdotes demonstrate that broadband access and utilization increase business success • Business prospects expect broadband services – Choice – Customer service – Redundancy – Technical talent

Slide 21: Community Technology Initiatives Make A Critical Difference Increase knowledge, build a tech savvy community brand & empower economic growth

Slide 22: Bill Coleman Community Technology Advisors bill@communitytechnologyadvisors.com 651-491-2551 Register today for the Blandin Broadband Conference! www.blandinfoundation.org