Dr. Fiona Ashmore (The University of Lincoln), as a representative from CORA project, was invited to act as one of the five jury members for the European Broadband Awards 2018 organised by the European Commission, DG Connect.
Fiona was mainly responsible for assessing and selecting the finalists and the winning project in the category 1 on “Innovative models of financing, business and investment”. Further award categories are: Cost reduction and co-investment in a future-proof infrastructure, Territorial cohesion in rural and remote areas, Socio-economic impact and affordability, Openness and competition.
After several rounds of evaluation and discussion by the jury members and the European Commission, one winner has been selected and awarded in each of the categories. The winner in category 1 is project Michaelston-y-Fedw Internet Community Interest Company from UK. The project gained start-up capital from the local community. It provides broadband to a small region. Any profits generated by the broadband services are reinvested back into the services and infrastructure, or in further community-level projects, identified by the shareholders of the community interest company. This project is an excellent example in its pursuit of future-proof technology solutions.
Check the photos and the video from the Award Ceremony as well as more information about the European Broadband Awards. Projects from all over Europe applied for the awards. The jury of broadband experts selected 15 finalists. The five winners were announced and awarded by the European Commissioners Corina Creţu (Regional Policy) and Mariya Gabriel (Digital Economy and Society) at the award ceremony on 19 November 2018. The projects participating in the awards as well as further examples from EU also featured in the good practice database.
Photo: Fiona Ashmore (right) with jury members and Commissioner Gabriel (third from right)
© European Union, 2018 Source: EC – Audiovisual Service, Author: Basia Pawlik
