An open-air lab

TITULO An open-air lab to test a complete digitalization process in a mountain valley LIVING PIEMONTE SUSANNA LONGO Regione Piemonte 7 May 2009

Summary The concept of Living Labs The background of Regional Innovation Policies The approach to Living Lab in PIEMONTE The case of Valli Orco & Soana project

Living Labs User-driven open innovation ecosystems based on a business – citizens - government partnership Enable various stakeholders (users, SMEs, large companies, research actors) to take an active part in the research, development and innovation process at all stages

Living Labs User-driven open innovation ecosystems based on a business – citizens - government partnership Aim at bridging the gaps between : Technology ideation and development Market entry and fulfilment

Living Labs User-driven open innovation methodologies can improve the efficiency of the innovation process and contribute to better take-up of R&D results, hence improving competitiveness and growth of European industry European Dimension : ENoLL, the European Network of Living Labs. More than 100 living labs from all across Europe, to share knowledge and experiences.

Piemonte facts & figures 4,4 million inhabitants 8 Provinces 1.206 Municipalities 43,3% of the territory is covered by mountain

Piemonte facts & figures € 124 billion GDP ( 8,1% of national total) 1,8% of GDP invested in R&D 1st Italian region for private investment in R&D Over 200 private and public R&D centers, 380 laboratories, 4 universities, 6 science and technology parks The regional Government recognizes research and innovation as a crucial factor in fostering local development . In 2005 a dedicated regional Authority was founded and in 2006 the first Law for Research and Innovation was approved, aiming at organizing, promoting and coordinating the regional R&I system

Regional R&I System – The rationale Public policy should be limited to areas where market dynamics alone are seen to be unable to promote innovative products, processes and services Bottlenecks in the innovation process : the users’/consumers’ needs understanding: the transfer of R&D results into new products and services which could be appealing for the markets the cost of internal R&I activity the difficulty for enterprises in relating with researchers

Living Labs in PIEMONTE The approach to living labs in Piemonte is focusing on 2 complementary contexts: Local communities and digital divide spread of innovation in isolated area SMEs and Innovation Clusters innovation development and experimentation in vertical domains

Innovation Clusters Piemonte Region is now launching 12 new innovation clusters , based on the key sectors of the Regional competitiveness. According to the EU legislation innovation clusters: will be groupings of independent undertakings operating in a particular scientific and technological sector are designed to stimulate innovative activity by promoting intensive interactions , sharing of facilities and exchange of knowledge and expertise.

Innovation Clusters Total number of companies: 655 Large companies: 16% SMEs: 61%

Innovation Clusters Enterprises in Piemonte innovation clusters will have the opportunity to benefit from 54M euros in the next 5 years to access innovation services and support innovation activities , among which: access to technology crowd sourcing international network support to user-driven innovation projects addressing the start-up phase of innovation and the final phases closest to the market

1. Technology crowdsourcing Access to crowd sourcing international network: Making use of external knowledge to complement own competencies Getting the best talent from a wide network to carry out each task Synergic effects from combining competences, possibly cross-disciplinary

2. User-centered innovation Supporting R&I projects that will: Focus on user pull (vs. technology push) – producing what sells, rather than selling what is produced Directly involve the user in the innovation process – either through observation processes, toolkits, user panels, or letting them do it themselves Invest on understanding consumer needs, in order to develop solutions that are more specifically targeted. Revenue-enhancing activities (vs. cost-cutting activities) by developing solutions that meet user needs.

THE CASE OF VALLI ORCO & SOANA A Pilot Project on integrated technologies for sustainable development in a mountain area with high risk of digital divide

BroadBand in Piemonte Thanks to the agreement between Regione Piemonte and TELCO operators, by Dec 2008 96% of regional territory was covered with broadband connectivity The Mountain Valleys Orco & Soana are placed in that 4% of territory which was excluded from the interest of TELCO operators and became therefore a PILOT CASE in the overcome of Digital Divide.

The trial area 11 small municipalities 616.06 km 2 8,300 inhabitants (density: 13.5 inh/km 2 ) about 15,000 tourists every year The trial area has been selected in order to maximize the transferability model into other regional areas, even with a different size.

The Pilot Project Main objectives: Convert the area into a “digital territory”: an open-air lab Trial digital convergence and its sustainability Develop a replicable model to overcome digital divide 11 small rural municipalities have been provided with: wireless broadband connectivity multimedia User-Generated Content system for IP-TV IP-radio and blog innovative services

Partners “ A business – citizens - government partnership” The heart of the innovation model is the cooperation set-up among public and private players , involved in the planning, set-up and experimentation

BROADBAND NETWORK SERVICES CONTENTS MAIN OUTPUTS PILOT USERS: Public Authorities, schools, businesses, citizens as test users for emerging technologies and experimental services

NETWORK: Architecture existing assets owned by local organisations underutilized dark fibre TV-radio trellises wireless technologies HiperLAN, Wi-Fi, DVB-T and DVB-H For the delivery of broadband services, the project exploited the convergence of: A pervasive broadband wireless network with ADSL-like connection speed. (at least 2Mbps downstream and 512kbps upstream)

NETWORK: Architecture (2) Pre-existing Optical fibre backbone, connecting the electricity supplier stations to the regional backbone (Wi-PIE) Pre-existing TV-radio trellises

NETWORK: Architecture (2) Pre-existing Optical fibre backbone Wireless connection fibre to pre-existing trellises Wireless contribution network

NETWORK: Architecture (2) Pre-existing Optical fibre backbone Wireless connection fibre to pre-existing trellises Wireless contribution network Wireless access areas

Trellis wireless bridge and wireless equipment: minimal impact Radio equipment on trellises Receiving equipment near users

The network is used to deliver traditional internet services (web, e-mail, news, e-commerce...) together with innovative services such as: VoIP; hot-spot Wi-Fi; remote monitoring of environmental data (dams, rivers, landslides, weather, seismic monitoring) high quality webcam streaming for tourist purposes digital television and digital radio broadcasting on IP and DVB-T/H SERVICES

SERVICES The network is used to deliver traditional internet services (web, e-mail, news, e-commerce...) together with innovative services such as: VoIP; hot-spot Wi-Fi; remote monitoring of environmental data (dams, rivers, landslides, weather, seismic monitoring) high quality webcam streaming for tourist purposes digital television and digital radio broadcasting on IP and DVB-T/H

Pilot users’ groups Broadband connectivity provided to 45 distributed points: PA buildings churches, libraries, tourist offices Gran Paradiso National Park facilities Small local businesses, hotels, restaurants schools; post offices; astronomical observatory Civil Protection offices 9 hot-spots for tourists and nomadic users (more than 80 registered users; 810 accesses in 6 months) 1 alpine refuge has been selected to test innovative services (seismic and weather monitoring; webcam streaming; hot-spot Wi-Fi)

Broadband & innovative services at 2217m a.s.l.

web 2.0 technologies For the active participation of the local community, an integrated multi-channel platform was developed, in order to collect User Generated Content TV RADIO BLOG A a local editorial staff was trained by professionals on audio-video digital content production. The formats is based on episodes. www.orcosoana.tv

CONTENT: channels Main channels for the local content delivery: TV digital TV channel, transmitting local content provided by a TV local network as well as by RAI (national public network). The TV is transmitted on DVB-T channel (digital terrestrial television); Web channel (NetTV, IPTV); DVB-H channel (mobile and palmtop). Piemonte will switch over to Digital Terrestrial Television by 20 may 2008!

Main channels for the local content delivery: CONTENT: channels Radio digital radio channel transmitted on the web, providing music 24/24 and local information. OBlog Online digital community

Usage and results In 1 year of experimentation: 20 citizens trained to produce contents for TV and radio One local secondary school run a journalism course and was provided with a radio-laboratory to produce contents The TV collected more than 70 episodes The radio collected more than 30 episodes and music 24/24 The blog had 70 registered users, 150 posts, 40 comments

TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICAL PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY

A sustainable model The overall design of infrastructure, services and content production follows the principles of: technology convergence re-usability sustainability The network and services experimented are now becoming patrimony of the area and will be managed by a local business operator . CALL FOR TENDERS IN DEC 2008 For the network management and the broadband services delivery (10 years authorization).

Technology integration and complementarity innovative + “traditional”, wired + wireless technologies to deploy connectivity in very remote areas which, would be cut off from TELCOs’ commercial offers. Re-use of existing facilities (trellises, under-utilised optical fiber, …) to produce the lowest environmental impact and cost for the local community development and experimentation of innovative services to make a concrete and valuable use of the network Local community direct participation Local bodies and users were involved throughout the whole project development, thus contributing to the network and services design, set-up, experimentation and improvement A sustainable model

Next Steps Switch into a commercial service By June 2009 a local operator will be selling broadband services to the different categories of users (citizens, enterprises, local PA premises, schools, …) The implementation methodology and the Call for tender will become a model for digital divide public interventions in Piedmont mountain communities The site has become a living lab for Piedmont, ensuring: Direct involvement of different categories of final users Future experimentations of new technologies and services An existing wireless infrastructure A stable cooperation set-up with local actors

Contacts Ministry for Research, Innovation, Industry and Energy P.za Castello, 165 - 10122 Torino Regione Piemonte - Bruxelles Liaison Office 62, Rue du Trône - 1050 Bruxelles THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! [email_address]

NETWORK: node Open source based multi-standard professional equipment 2 or 4 radios operating at same time on different frequencies (2.4/5.6GHz) and standards (802.11 a/b/g/h) A standard “mil” case for simple installation and “unattended” service

An open-air lab

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