Dorset Council’s volunteer digital champion service is ten years old and to celebrate is holding a ‘get online’ roadshow. During national ‘Get Online’ week (16-20 October) the council’s volunteers will be manning stalls in Sherborne, Bridport, Wool and Wimborne and anyone needing help to navigate the digital world are urged to come along. The volunteer… Read more Ten years of getting Dorset online
A free training programme that has recruited an army of special advisors to help thousands of Dorset’s residents get online has scooped a prestigious national award. Dorset Council’s ‘Embedded Digital Champion’ initiative has won the acclaimed ‘Digital Skills’ title at the Connected Britain awards in London last night. The award recognises the feat of training… Read more Dorset Council digital skills training programme wins national award
An international team of digital innovators led by Dorset Council has secured millions in government and industry funding to develop the tech to power cheaper, greener mobile networks in future. The £7m Dorset Open Network Ecosystem (DONE) project will build on the connectivity work already undertaken by Dorset Council and partners through the multi-award winning… Read more Big name innovators to do ground-breaking work in Dorset
A rural school has been transported onto the ultrafast broadband highway thanks to Dorset Council’s ‘Fibre Hub Connectivity in Rural Dorset’ project. Stalbridge Primary School, near Sturminster Newton, is one of dozens of rural schools and community buildings being connected to some of the fastest internet speeds in the country. The council was awarded funding… Read more Rural school transported from the country lane to the ultrafast highway
An international delegation from Colombia visited Dorset recently to learn how digital connectivity can revolutionise rural economies. The South American dignitaries were invited to meet Dorset Council and learn from the success of the ground-breaking £9m 5G RuralDorset project. The visit was organised by one of the 5G RuralDorset’s private sector partners, the Satellite Applications… Read more Colombian delegation visits Dorset to discover how digital connectivity can transform rural economies
Dorset Council is opening the doors to digital again thanks to an innovative and environmentally friendly way of raising funds for its digitally excluded residents. From now and until 2025, money raised from recycling old council laptops will be invested in the Digital Doorway scheme, which buys devices for people in need. This is expected… Read more Opening the doors to digital thanks to innovative £100,000 recycling scheme
A free training programme has now recruited and trained 750 special advisors to help Dorset’s digitally excluded residents get online. Called the ‘Embedded Digital Champion (EDC)’ programme, the Dorset Council-run course aims to train 1,000 of the county’s frontline workers by 2023. This is to help make sure no one is left behind in an… Read more Hundreds more people are helping to get Dorset residents online
Dorset’s future as a place to do digital business will be showcased when local companies and industry leaders come to the Festival of the Future. They will be speaking at the at the Dorset Innovation Park in Winfrith on Wednesday 12 October, when the festival highlights the career opportunities in the digital sector. The event… Read more Festival to show Dorset is a place to do digital business
A project to demonstrate how digital can make towns more ‘smart’ places to live and work has been tested in Weymouth. The results of the test will be unveiled at this year’s Festival of the Future, the annual event run by Dorset Council, with special guest and renowned urban designer Wayne Hemingway. Spearheaded by the… Read more Weymouth demonstrates what the future might look like
Families in Ferndown will discover how digital can benefit their lives at a special event being hosted by Dorset Council next month. The Festival of the Future will be coming to The Centre in Tricketts Cross on 11 October, when the focus will be on the family. Volunteer digital champions will be on hand to… Read more Families in Ferndown to find out about their digital futures
From self-driving tractors to 5G connected buoys, the future of the countryside will be put under the spotlight at Dorset Council’s Festival of the Future. The festival will launch on Monday 10 October at Kingston Maurward College in Dorchester when the focus will be on the innovation that’s set to revolutionise farming practices on land… Read more Festival to focus on the future of land management
Bridport residents and businesses can find out how digital technology can change their lives for the better at a special event next month. Dorset Council’s annual Festival of the Future will be in the town on 13 October to highlight the latest full fibre roll out plans in the area, the help available to get… Read more Bridport residents and businesses invited to discover the benefits of digital
Thousands of Dorset school children have taken part in the county’s first ever Coding Day. Organised by Dorset Council, BCP Council and Barclays Digital Eagles, Dorset Coding Day brought together 43 schools across the county, from Christchurch to Beaminster and from the north in Gillingham to the coast of Portland. In addition, 25 local tech… Read more Breaking the code to a successful digital future
For the second year in a row the ground-breaking 5G RuralDorset project has been honoured with an award at this years’ Connected Britain conference in London. Read more here
A five-day festival will be staged at locations across Dorset next month to showcase the county’s exciting digital future. Dorset Council’s Festival of the Future is back for the third year running and it will be a hybrid event where people can attend in person or take part virtually. Held from 10-14 October, #FutureFest22 will… Read more Festival to showcase Dorset’s innovation and digital future
As the ground-breaking and multi-award winning 5G RuralDorset research and development project draws to a close, attentions have turned to the legacy that the project’s work will leave for the people of Dorset. Read more here.
More than 7,000 Dorset homes and businesses will be the first in the country to receive next generation broadband through the government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit programme. The government has awarded the contract to Blandford-based Wessex Internet to deliver the roll-out which takes in parts of north and east Dorset. It is expected the first… Read more Thousands of Dorset premises to get future-proof broadband
The multi-award winning 5G RuralDorset project has won more national recognition for its internationally ground-breaking work. Led by Dorset Council, the government funded research programme won more plaudits when it was highly commended in the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) awards in the Future Places category. Since it was launched in 2020, the 5G team and… Read more Ground-breaking 5G RuralDorset project wins more national recognition
Dorset’s first-ever live and interactive coding day for children will be held this September and schools across the county are being urged to take part. Held on 15 September during National Coding Week, the Dorset Coding Day is for children in years 5, 6 and 7 and aims to inspire future Bill Gateses and Ada… Read more Dorset’s first dedicated coding day for school children to be held this autumn
A pioneering Dorset project has been awarded funding to conduct cutting edge research with the world’s leading wireless technology innovator. Read more here
5G RuralDorset project partner JET Engineering System Solutions has successfully deployed and demonstrated a live streaming underwater 4K camera on one of its 5G connected buoys. Read more here
Dorset Council’s army of volunteer digital champions is growing to help meet the growing digital skills need in the county. Six new recruits have come on board to join the council’s team of digital champions to help even more of the county’s residents get online. Research has shown that nearly a third of Dorset’s residents… Read more Dorset’s army of volunteer digital champions is growing
Schools, libraries and a visitor attraction in Dorset are set to be among the first in the country to benefit from next generation full-fibre broadband using the government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit funding. Dorset Council has been awarded nearly £900,000 to oversee the project and Blandford-based Wessex Internet has secured the contract to deliver the… Read more Dorset centres among the first to benefit from £5 billion Project Gigabit
The 5G RuralDorset project has extended its Government-funded trials looking to support vulnerable independent people (VIPs) in their own homes. Read more here.
A free training programme has been launched to recruit an army of special advisors who can help Dorset’s digitally excluded residents get online. Open to any organisation in Dorset which works directly with residents, the new programme will train people who can champion online services to their users and customers. Called the ‘Embedded Digital Champion’… Read more New training programme could help thousands more get online
A new film shows how a research project funded by central government and industry has benefited people in Dorset. Read more here
Dorset Council has been awarded £500,000 to spearhead a new pilot project to look at ways of boosting mobile digital coverage. Joining forces with partners Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Hampshire County councils, this new ‘Wessex Digital Infrastructure Accelerator’ scheme will examine how online mapping technology can help speed up the rollout of connectivity. The… Read more Dorset Council launches new project to help speed up mobile rollout
Fourteen Dorset libraries have begun an exciting new chapter after benefiting from some of the country’s fastest internet speeds. Thanks to £200,000 of government funding, these libraries – from Ferndown in the east to Bridport in the west, and from Swanage in the south to Blandford in the north – now have the fastest possible… Read more Exciting new chapter for libraries as they upgrade to gigabit-capable broadband
Dorset Council has been awarded £20,000 towards developing a pilot training programme for fibre engineers and help boost broadband provision in the county. Nationally 63% of premises now have gigabit capable broadband whereas in Dorset the figure is just 15%. One of the factors affecting this is a lack of fully trained fibre engineers. It is estimated in Dorset… Read more Engineering a solution to help bridge Dorset’s digital divide
World firsts are rare. Yet for the second time in recent months, the 5GRuralDorset project has found itself at the cutting edge of telecommunications research. Read more here
