Panel 2: Connectivity Beyond the Smart City
Moderated by Alfonso Licata
The evolution of next generation connectivity technology and infrastructure is enabling progress toward a futuristic Smart City vision which will revolutionize urban life. But how will outlying communities and rural areas benefit from this new technology? According to Trading Economics, close to 1 in 5 Canadians live in rural areas. These rural and northern areas often suffer from low performing networks, high-latency connectivity, and prohibitively expensive access, despite being the drivers of economic prosperity in multi-billion dollar industries like agriculture, mining, and forestry. For residents of these areas, internet access is a matter of equality and opportunity for all. In an economy-wide digital transformation, residents and businesses located outside city centres can benefit greatly from high-speed connectivity. This panel will examine the challenges and solutions of extending ultra-speed network connectivity from urban city centres to the rural and northern areas of Canada.