WICHE’s Technology and Innovation unit focuses on access to advanced broadband networks in education and health care and its work involves advocacy, information sharing, and facilitating partnerships. Examples of recent work include:
- Organized the first summit on broadband access for minority-serving institutions in the West . Published Can You Hear Us Now? which suggested new directions for federal and foundation funding agencies.
- Contributed to white paper, Unleashing Waves of Innovation: Transformative Broadband for America’s Future
- Serving as leading member of higher education coalition providing comments to federal funding agencies on stimulus funding for broadband.
- Working closely with Internet2 to extend broadband to the broadest education community – K12, higher education, science and cultural organizations, libraries, etc.
- Briefings to Western Governors’ Association.
- Strategizing with regional higher education networks on pilots to reach un-served and underserved institutions and regions in the West.
- Currently working with regional aggregators for research and education broadband in the West to develop proposals for ARRA broadband funding. See Overview of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Broadband Provisions.
- Advocacy for broadband for education, such as the November 2009 set of recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
