Digital Dorset has received more national recognition after being shortlisted in the prestigious Connected Britain Awards in the Smart Place category.
From helping thousands of Dorset’s digitally excluded residents get online to ground-breaking innovation projects, our work is fast becoming a blueprint for rural areas of the UK and beyond.
Here’s how Dorset Council, and its many partners, is helping to make the county a Smart Place:
Innovation. Our multi-award winning 5G RuralDorset project has trialled several ground-breaking and world-leading research projects to test how 5G tech can boost the economy of rural areas while making them safer places to live and visit. From wheat zapping robots to 5G buoys, the project has made international waves.
Inclusion. Dorset Council provides multiple opportunities to encourage people to come on the digital journey. Our volunteer digital champions support more than 1,000 people every year through a digital hotline and face-to-face sessions. And we’re training a further 1,000 frontline staff across Dorset organisations as embedded digital champions. Our Digital Doorway scheme has also helped hundreds of people get online by providing them with devices, data cards and free training.
Skills. We have launched a new Digital Skills Partnership to identify and fill gaps in skills provision. The partnership brings the county’s private and public sector together to ensure we have the workforce and skills needed for a digital future. The council has also launched a pilot fibre engineer training programme to recognise the growing need for this workforce as more full-fibre broadband is rolled out.
Connecting Dorset. Our highly successful broadband programme has brought cutting edge connectivity to residents and businesses. Dorset is now at the forefront of Project Gigabit and will be the first area in the country to benefit from this government funded scheme to roll-out full fibre broadband to rural areas. We are also setting up fibre hubs at centres like village halls, libraries and schools to open up the benefits of gigabit capable broadband to local communities.
Exploring new opportunities. We have won government funding to investigate other ways we can get rural communities connected. Called the Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator, this project will see us identify all council-owned assets that could potentially be used for wireless and mobile connectivity. This ‘asset mapping’ will make infrastructure roll-out in rural communities more efficient, cost effective while identifying commercial opportunities for councils and mobile network operators.
The Connected Britain Awards 2022 will be announced on 20 September.
I have worked in communications for 25 years, first as a journalist and then in public and private sector public relations. From Southampton originally, I have lived in beautiful Dorset for the last two decades. My passion for Dorset has also turned into a passion for landscape photography. My other great loves are my family and Southampton Football Club.