Smart Communities

The Smart Communities Project in Central Alberta submitted a Letter of Intent on August 5, 1999. Our project was one of five Alberta projects shortlisted by Industry Canada. Though we didn't receive the $5,000,000 prize, the process helped us focus on an Information Highway strategy for Central Alberta. It also started us on the way to building these important projects. They include:
The Urban Community Access Program (CAP) project for Red Deer. This was undertaken by the Smart Communities planning group, and the successful proposal resulted in 23 public access sites in Red Deer. You can download the Urban CAP proposal, in Word '97 format, here. Urban CAP information is here. For more information on the Red Deer Urban CAP Project, please contact Dan Newton, IT Manager at the City of Red Deer. On May 1, 2000, John Manley, Minister of Industry, announced the grant winners from the first round of Urban CAP. CAEP's proposal for 23 public Internet access sites in the city of Red Deer was successful - we will receive $307,000 in matching funding.	The Industry-Education Portal of the Central Alberta Economic Partnership (CAEP) was made possible by Smart Communities planning and grants from Telus and Alberta Economic Development. The portal is at http://ie.centralalberta.ab.ca. The Project Team contains representatives from the following organizations: Alberta Economic Development Industrial Research Assistance Program Red Deer College Red Deer Public Library Robco Cabinets
RedNeT is a partnership to build a fibre-optic network in the City of Red Deer. It was also planned by many of the participants in Smart Communities planning. The RedNeT partners include: The City of Red Deer Red Deer Public Library Red Deer Public School Division Red Deer Cathoic Regional Division David Thompson Health Region Here is a presentation made to the 2001 Netspeed Conference in Edmonton by Dan Newton and Dean Frey.	The people involved in Central Alberta's Smart Communities planning have been involved in planning for The Alberta SuperNet. This project will transform Central Alberta and the rest of the province, by connecting every community to a fibre-optic network. Central Alberta is the focus of the very first stages of the SupeNet, with Segment 7 (Rocky Mountain House to Red Deer) being the first part of the network to be tested (late 2002, early 2003). More information here: The Alberta SuperNet (Province of Alberta) Axia SuperNet portal CAEP presented two SuperNet Awareness Workshops, in Rocky Mountain House in February 2002, and in Trochu in October 2002. Here is a presentation made at the Trochu workshop.
And the Winner is... Calgary! On May 11, 2000 John MacDonald, Chair of the Smart Communities Selection Committee, made the announcement of the 12 winners in the Smart Communities Demonstation Project competition. Though Central Alberta did not win the competition, we're forging ahead: here is the press release explaining future plans.	You can download our Smart Communities Letter of Intent in Word '97 format here. A summary of the Business Plan, also in Word '97 format is here. For more information on Smart Communities, go to Industry Canada's website.
The Smart Communities Project has been undertaken by the Central Alberta Economic Partnership (CAEP). For more information on Central Alberta's Smart Communities projects, please contact the Project Leader, Dean Frey, Director of Red Deer Public Library.
Net2001 Here is a presentation Dean Frey made to the CANARIE Net2001 Conference in Calgary.	Smart2000 This excellent conference is now over - the Central Alberta team was very well received, learned alot and met some great people from around the world. Here's the Powerpoint presentation Mayor Surkan and our panel made on the final day of the conference.