But even in an era when technology facilitates change seemingly overnight, Northeast Ohio has tremendous resources and a terrific opportunity to reinvent itself as a leader in the 21st-century knowledge economy.
To compete in an economy powered by high-speed Internet, known as broadband, we have to migrate our systems away from the notion that physical assets and blue-collar skill sets will fuel our competitiveness. We need to align our resources around the skills that lend to the manufacture and distribution of very different products — information and knowledge. It is these new skills, and the ability of business and government to adapt and innovate with the latest technology tools, that will drive job creation.
The good news is that Northeast Ohio has a key advantage. In fact, the region is many years ahead of its U.S. peers and much of the world. Since 2003, we have been quietly building one of the largest and fastest private communications networks in the world, to serve as the foundation for Cleveland's potential resurgence for innovation and transformation — a high-speed, regional, fiber-optic broadband array run by nonprofit OneCommunity.
In February, we launched a $13 million construction project that creates 200 jobs and expands connection to 22 counties across Northeast Ohio as part of a national pilot project that will link more than 100 hospitals on a single, high-capacity, community network. This enables the sharing of electronic medical records and images across health systems to improve health care services and reduce costs. That means specialists from the Cleveland Clinic or Summa Health will be able to see rural patients via two-way video, while wireless devices instantly send readings and images for diagnosis and treatment. We're poised to lead the world in adapting to and adopting “telemedicine.”
In March, a coalition led by OneCommunity was awarded $18.7 million over two years for a national pilot project aimed at reducing the “digital divide.” The grant creates more than 100 direct jobs and will build capacity to train and equip citizens in Cleveland, Akron, 10 rural counties in Ohio and cities in three other states. This will enable 26,000 households that successfully complete the program to access better jobs, education, health care and government services.
Leaders from dozens of countries have visited Cleveland to learn more about our collaborative and innovative approach. In turn, we've visited and advised numerous U.S. cities, not to mention governments worldwide, including China, South Korea and Australia.
As a primer on the urgency of our opportunity, we recently spoke with Mayor Maeng of Seoul, South Korea, considered the world's most digital city. Citizens can access literally hundreds of government services for their families or businesses online, with just a TV remote control (no computer needed). With this incredible digital infrastructure in place, Seoul is now aligning its educational and innovation systems to leverage this platform so it can become a leader in a global, knowledge-based economy.
They're not there yet, but we should be very afraid. Our kids are going to compete for jobs with kids from South Korea and other digitally advanced regions. Their collective tools and skills are bringing talents and innovations here to compete in our very own marketplace. The United States — widely regarded as having one of the slowest and most expensive broadband infrastructures of the industrialized world — is at a great disadvantage.
Fortunately, we in Northeast Ohio have a digital platform for collaboration and innovation that is almost unparalleled. We have an amazing leapfrog opportunity in front of us. We need to rally, to embrace our leadership position in this arena and launch an offensive.
It's essential that we work together to further develop a regional vision for collaboration and sharing of resources leveraging our platform to make the Cleveland area a world leader, as we were a century ago during the second Industrial Revolution. But the question remains, can we adapt our culture and skills, align our resources, and apply our unparalleled work ethic to lead the information revolution?
Time will tell, but we have no excuses. Unlike our peers across the country, we have nothing for which to wait. Our moment is here. Let's take the lead on broadband as a community imperative and make the choice to compete and become a global leader again.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Scot Rourke
Quelle/Source: Crain's Cleveland Business, 16.08.2010
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