The Groupe Intellex editorial ‘Communicating Communications’ (June 2010) makes the point that it is difficult for communities and their local leaders to envisage the transformational impacts of ‘next generation access networks’ because there are so few of them evident in the UK.

Across many continental countries there are many more examples – from large schemes in Amsterdam and Stockholm through to more modest but extraordinarily effective networks in smaller towns and rural locations.  And many of these schemes have been around long enough to show their long-term contribution to economic growth and societal development.

As part of our ‘Race Online 2012’ commitment to raising the levels of on-line activity across the UK, particularly in Northern Ireland, we have designed a series of Study Tours to enable small groups of community leaders to visit overseas locations and discover for themselves the contribution that these ‘Open Access’ networks can provide for economic and social renewal.

The locations are primarily located in other parts of Europe but tours are also planned for North America and the Far East.

Groupe Intellex ‘Community Study Tours’ are designed to be customised to the needs of each community.  They may vary from brief 2-day visits to more-extended multi-location in-depth studies including assessments of the economic and technical aspects of different deployments.

In all tours, however, your delegates will have direct contact with the local project leaders who made the schemes work, and with consumers/citizens, business people and public sector organisations, all of  whom will have direct experience of the benefit of community investment.

We would strongly recommend that each Study Tour should include delegates representing different aspects of their community – health, education, volunteers, businesses, sport, local media etc.

ACTION:

To arrange a discussion on how a Study Tour might be of benefit to your community please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   or call David Brunnen at 0207 55 88 707.

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(C) Groupe Intellex (GINI Ltd) 2010