On October 9th, a conference will be held in Brussels where experts will discuss about "Improving the deployment of innovative broadband networks in European regions”. This event, addressed to all stakeholders, will bring together members from industry and academia, as well as European institutions, in order to provide a strategic overview of the existing opportunities for fast deployment of advanced access infrastructures, particularly broadband and next generation ICT networks.

The Congress "Improving the deployment of innovative broadband networks in European regions”, taking place in Brussels on October 9th 2009, will specially be focused on encouraging regional and national stakeholders to think strategically about the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) expansion, especially of broadband networks, as a means to achieving productivity gains and accelerating economic recovery.

ICT is one of the keys to open the Information Society door to Europe’s under-served regions, such as rural and remote areas. The deployment of the most innovative broadband networks can be a competitive advantage for these Regions and effectively contribute to accelerating its economic growth and reducing the digital divide.

The event will offer a strategic view on existing opportunities for rapid deployment of advanced access infrastructures, particularly wireless broadband and next generation networks.

Through a practical approach, the conference will provide scenarios, case studies and business models to promote discussion on:

• New opportunities for growth in European regions through research and development (R&D) investments related to ICT
• Efficient use of Structural Funds (SF) for the definition of policies and forward thinking plans for broadband services
• Establishing successful links between EU recovery plans and broadband expansion
• Successful ICT regional strategies in SF programming

The event is being organised by the project SFERA ('Structural funds for European regional research advancement') funded under the FP7 Specific Programme Cooperation, the European Regional Information Society Association (eris@) and the European Broadband Portal with the support of the European Commission, the Integral SatCom Initiative (ISI) and the eMobility European Technology Platform (ETP).