Cape Cod Technology Council to use $136,500 John Adams Innovation Institute grant to empower technology, commerce, community; Town of Orleans to become pilot site model for community-based wireless access
In October 2005, The Cape Cod Technology Council, in partnership with The Orleans Chamber of Commerce and funded by a grant from the Regional Priority Fund of John Adams Innovation Institute launched Unwired Village, Orleans. The goal of the project is turn a large portion of Orleans into a wifi hotspot, bringing the lower Cape into the forefront of telecommunication technology and providing a regional base for economic growth AND to research and pilot a community wireless access model which can then be deployed as a regional solution.
Unwired Village has three main objectives. First, it will create broadband wireless “clouds” over a large portion of Orleans, including its business districts, enabling anyone with a wireless device to connect with the Internet. Secondly, it will conduct research to measure the use, dynamics, and impact of the project on the community. Finally, it will develop a blueprint for replicating the Unwired Village solution in other communities, including technology standards, education and outreach, branding, and a sustainable business model.
“This investment will build important regional capacity in broadband services in the lower Cape,” said Patrick Larkin, the Director of the John Adams Innovation Institute. “It will also serve as a pilot project, helping to develop a working model on how to create an effective community WiFi program.”
“Orleans is the perfect Cape community in which to pilot this project,” said Kyle Hinkle, Executive Director of the Orleans Chamber of Commerce. “Geographically, there is a high concentration of mixed use applications in a small area intertwined with public open space; there is a healthy proportion of businesses that fit the creative and innovative clusters; and the project is in line with the Town of Orleans Village Center portion of the Comprehensive Plan.
“Wireless access is rapidly becoming part of the business and social infrastructure of our daily world. It is part of the competitiveness requirements for a region.” said Teresa Martin, Executive Director of the Cape Cod Technology Council. “We are especially excited about this project because it isn’t just a one-of-a-kind pilot project. Its long term goal is to build models that can be easily and economically duplicated and deployed by a variety of local entities.”
Unwired Village is funded by a grant from The John Adams Innovation Institute, the economic development arm of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The Innovation Institute makes strategic investments to attract research dollars, builds strategic alliances, and advances commercial activity in each region of the state. The MTC is an independent economic development agency, chartered by the Commonwealth to serve as a catalyst for growing the state’s innovation economy.
The Cape Cod Technology Council is a non-profit organization that promotes technology and businesses on the Cape, Island, and Southeastern Massachusetts.
The Orleans Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit business league dedicated to strengthening, promoting and supporting the economic stability, environmental sensitivity, cultural richness and social needs of Orleans, MA.