Description
The Isle of Wight is a fascinating place with a strong sense of community and a real heritage in the telecommunications industry stretching back to Marconi in the late 1890’s.
Today the Island has some of the most deprived areas in the country, with one of the oldest populations and below average educational attainment amongst its young, yet is still seen as a great place to grow up, for holidays and as a destination for digital companies seeking a great balance of work, lifestyle and affordability.
The Challenge
The Council has a real desire for the Island to grow its digital economy, and to incorporate digital thinking into it’s broader regeneration strategy. This is underpinned by its vision to be a ‘Gigabit Island’ with everything and everyone connected to ultra-high speed networks, bringing new services and opportunities for the benefit of all its citizens.
What did Perform Green Deliver?
Perform Green were asked to gauge the Island’s digital readiness and develop the digital strands of its regeneration programme in close collaboration with the community. We started our engagement by helping to shape the Digital Solent Conference, held in Cowes in November 2017, in which over 150 people engaged in innovation sessions that identified creative proposals and collaborations across a broad range of the Island’s challenges.
The outputs from the event, plus a series of interviews with key stakeholders, were woven into a Digital Readiness report submitted in December, and Perform Green have also worked with the council and local business to seek additional investment from central government to help realise that vision (DCMS 5G testbed and Local Full Fibre Networks).
We were engaged in delivering the digital regeneration strategy.
We went on to develop the Outline Business Case for a 5G Neutral Host and other wireless infrastructure, quantifying the benefits from the transformation of services
Award Winning
The Isle of Wight’s digitalisation programme has been deserving of the best Smart Island prize. This is the long-term strategy that this British Isle is leading and which aims to involve all productive sectors, in order to become the driving force of the economic development of the territory. The programme focused on sectors such as health, industry, and education, among others.
The Isle of Wight’s digitalisation programme won the title of the Smart Island in 2018. Perform Green is proud to have helped them on their journey to achieving this accolade.
“As a new client of Perform Green I have been impressed by the knowledge and skills they have brought to bear in addressing the Digital challenge and opportunity we face on the Isle of Wight. Their solution based approach, speed of response and quality of output has been of highest quality and I wouldn’t hesitate in inviting them to quote for future work with the council”
Chris Ashman, Director of Regeneration – Isle of Wight Council
