We advise national and local Government, urban and rural organisations on ways to develop their digital infrastructure to promote economic development and digital inclusion.
We emphasise the opportunity that comes from the development of what we call transformational digital infrastructure. This goes beyond service-focused concepts like “fibre to the premises” or “superfast broadband”, which should be seen as outcomes rather than goals. Too often there is an assumption that once fibre is in place the economic and social benefits will naturally follow, that all we need is great wifi. A transformational digital infrastructure lens emphasises the benefits that come from engaging smaller businesses and public sector organisations in building an open, shared infrastructure.
CBN has many years’ experience of delivering projects that shape urban and rural areas through innovation.
We are fully independent and can offer public and private sector clients an objective view.
We specialise in developing innovative collaborations between public, private and community organisations, drawn from primary experience of working in each sector.
- Network strategy – showing the vision and strategic context
- Background data – Mapping existing networks, service providers and capabilties, assessing demand for services
- Evidence of need – designing and carrying out surveys and facilitating workshops with local stakeholders to demonstrate demand
- Project scoping – tightly defined objectives and workplans for partners
- Identifying match funding
- Demonstrating economic, social and environmental benefits of improved broadband
- Commercial case and market engagement – assessing what the market will deliver
- Procurement – advice on how to get the best value for money
- Delivery – risk, governance, project management, structure, milestones
In 2010 we coined the term: ‘Transformational Digital Infrastructure’ because we wanted a way to talk about the kind of digital infrastructure that we need, distinct from ideas like ‘superfast broadband’ or ‘full fibre’.
There are three key elements in the thinking:
- Infrastructure not service. It's about the infrastructure we need, not the services - like broadband - that run on it. This is important because a fully open infrastructure offers the opportunity for businesses and public sector to capture more of the value chain and to innovate.
- Nodes as well as links. Digital infrastructure needs nodes, hubs and exchanges as well as the links between them. By developing new, neutral hubs we create the opportunity for new hotspots for digital businesses.
- Opportunity not roll-out. The Internet wasn’t planned, it grew. It’s made up of many different networks that share a common protocol. You don’t need permission to add to the Internet or create new services that use the protocol. And what you add is shared. Likewise our thinking focuses on taking opportunities: to invest, to innovate without permission; and to sew the resulting parts together to make a shareable whole.