KC Regional Google Fiber Groups
Google will begin its micro-deployment of the ultra high-speed fiber in the first half of 2012. There is much momentum around how this speed will impact our community, so civic and business leaders are joining forces with tech innovators to brainstorm and develop apps utilizing 1 gigabit of speed.
Mayors Bi-state Innovation Team (MBIT)
Key organizers: Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri
Co-Chairmen/Coordinators: Mike Burke, KCMO, and Dr. Ray Daniels, KCK
Key political officials, civic and business leaders serve on this regional board to collaborate on new opportunities where government, business and public entities can capitalize on Google’s ultra high-speed network. MBIT serves as a catalyst for communication among all KC Google Fiber groups.
Key organizer: NetStandard
Coordinators: Terri Sallaz + Reid Graham
A forum for Kansas City regional businesses, government and academia. The objective is to share information and generate support for metropolitan technology advancement in commerce, increase the IT workforce pipeline and attract new tech talent to the KC region, spurred by the Google High-Speed Network Development.
Google Healthcare Group
Key organizer: KU Medical Center
Coordinator: Steve Fennel
KU Medical Center has a large, well-developed and focused group. Over 60 individuals, mainly from med-tech, tele-medicine or IT departments, as well as all primary medical sectors and specialists at KU Med are meeting regularly. Goal is to engage with Google and various community organizations to support planning and implementation for new ultra-high-speed fiber optic network in relation to the region’s Healthcare IT industry.
KC Google Fiber Company Creation Team
Key organizer: Kauffman Foundation
Coordinator: Cameron Cushman
This group consists of tech entrepreneurs, incubator owners, academia and civic leaders. Its objective is to coordinate the creation and acceleration of 25 new, innovative companies, generating 100 jobs, utilizing Google High-Speed Fiber.
Gigabit City / Live Ideation Session
Key organizer: Social Media Club of Kansas City
Coordinator: Aaron Deacon
Community-wide, open source ideation series of events to move forward the conversation, opportunities and application development afforded by the Google Fiber project.
Key organizer: Think Big Partners / Business Incubator + Accelerator
Coordinator: Herb Sih
Think Big Partners created and is fronting the Gigabit Challenge – a global business plan competition for tech innovators and entrepreneurs where new business ideas and technologies utilizing Google’s gig-speed will be presented.
Crossroads District Group / City Camp
Key organizer: OfficePort KC / TechPort KC
Coordinator: Shaul Jolles
This grassroots effort consists of more than 100 volunteers who worked on the original Kansas City, Mo., submission to Google in early 2010. The volunteers continue to provide input and leadership focused on the Google Fiber project on KCMOmentum.com – a website hosted by the City of KCMO to collect questions, comments, ideas and opportunities for the Google Fiber project.
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