W2i Teams Up With IBM, Intel, Microsoft & OneCommunity On U.S. Digital Inclusion Initiative

The Digital Inclusion Forum will serve as a portal, enabling state- and local-government leaders, as well as industry and institutional stakeholders, to access and share information and best practices on implementing sustainable market solutions to bridge the digital divide in the U.S.

Components of the Digital Inclusion Forum program include:

* An online resource center
* Thought-leadership workshops with local government
* Webinars and surveys
* An awards and scholarship program

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, only 38% of Americans with disabilities have access to and make regular use of the Internet. Further, there is a clear disparity among overall American users based on age, income, race, education and location:

* A disproportionate number of the 68% of Americans that do not use the Internet are elderly and poor (about 29%)
* The median age of non-Internet users is 59
* 25% have incomes under $20,000/year
* 32% of those aged 65 and older now go online, compared to 88% of 18-29 year-olds
* 53% of adults living in households with less than $30,000 in annual income go online, versus 80% of those whose income is between $30,000-50,000, and 91% of adults living in households earning more than $75,000
* 40% of adults who have less than a high school education use the internet, compared to 91% of adults with at least a college degree
* Broadband is available to only 38% of rural Americans, compared to 56% of suburban residents and 58% of urban Americans

National, regional, and local governments, universities, NGOs, and for-profit organizations are conducting research and providing grants to support digital-inclusion initiatives, resulting in sizeable yet fragmented sources of information on the topic. The Digital Inclusion Forum will fill the knowledge gap with a series of interactive informational and educational activities providing local-government leaders and their institutional partners with the resources they need to address the digital divide in their communities.

"For the first time in North America, the Digital Inclusion Forum brings together elected officials, institutional stakeholders, industry, funding organizations, policy makers and regulatory authorities in the cause of bridging the digital divide in local communities," said Daniel Aghion, executive director, Wireless Internet Institute, and co-chair of the W2i Digital Cities Convention.

"In proactively working to bridge the digital divide, we must look beyond the usual focus on low-cost Internet access," said Vivek Kundra, chief technology officer, District of Columbia, and co-chair of the W2i Digital Cities Convention. "Hardware, software, training and content are also critical to solving this puzzle. In the District, we are casting a wide net to harness the best thinking on this subject to develop self-sustaining mechanisms for supporting the appropriate commitment of resources to take on this multi-faceted issue."

"I don't think that there is any way to overstate how important this is for our digitally disadvantaged communities," said Mark Ansboury, chief technology officer of OneCommunity. "The Digital Inclusion Forum will literally transform our digitally disconnected communities, and from an economic development perspective, this provides the key piece of the framework needed to compete in today's global economy."

"Digital inclusion can fuel societal transformation, enhancing workforce preparedness, providing workplace flexibility, and equipping communities with tools essential for economic competitiveness," said Frances West, director, IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center. West points out that a key component of digital inclusion is the accessibility of IT for all people, regardless of their ability, age, literacy, technical proficiency, gender or income: "The success of digital inclusion initiatives in the US depends entirely upon bringing together leaders in industry, government and nonprofit organizations to create a collaborative ecosystem. We believe governments are in a very unique position to achieve these objectives via introduction of and participation in