A consortium of universities, including Duke, N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill, and communities is seeking to improve broadband access.

Called Gig. U, the project was formally announced on Wednesday.

No funding was announced with the project. Rather, the Gig U. effort hopes to build upon high-speed infrastructure that already exists at universities.“Our tactical plan is simple,” said Blair Levin, the director of the effort, in a blog. “Aggregate sufficient demand and then, through an intelligent conversation with current and potential suppliers, as well as a market-based mechanism, create incentives for private capital to deploy next generation networks in a critical mass of university communities.”

The group foresees the following benefits:

Economic growth, investment and job creation;

• An improved platform for research;
• An improved platform for small business development;
• New ways to distribute the benefits of the information revolution to all parts of the country;
• New approaches to health care, education, job training and other critical social needs.

Levin, former executive director of the FCC National Broadband Plan, now works at The Aspen Institute where Gig U. will be based.

 

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