Q and A: High Speed Internet
and Economic Development

Dr. Robert Gleeson, the director of the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University, is an expert on the role of technology in driving economic growth. Prior to coming to NIU he founded and directed the Carnegie Mellon Center for Economic Development and served as the director of economic development for the Pittsburgh High Technology Council.

What is the economic significance of establishing the fiber optics-based NIUNet?

Creating NIUNet helps ensure that northern Illinois remains a player in the global marketplace. We are seeing global investors putting portions of their operations in key places around the world, and this region is one of the areas they are most interested in. It is one of just a few areas in the country – the world, actually – where there is a lot of population growth and a lot of new wealth being created. By creating NIUNet, we are making the region even more attractive by providing one of the key pieces of infrastructure that those companies demand.

Why is a fiber optic network like NIUNet so important to those companies?

The core of the global economy today is the ability of companies to facilitate creativity in their people. That means that there is a distinct advantage in having employees around the world so that they can bring different viewpoints to the creative process. However, to take advantage of the potential breakthroughs that such a structure makes possible, those widely scattered employees need to interact frequently. To do that efficiently requires high speed networks like NIUNet. For instance, it allows engineers at plants around the world to simultaneously access enormous CAD (computer aided design) files, working together in a way that closely approximates the benefits of face-to-face interaction, which is the heart of the creative process.

Will NIUNet benefit only large businesses?

No. Increasingly, large manufacturers are expecting their suppliers to have this kind of connectivity. So, if you are a fifth tier auto parts supplier, having this kind of connectivity can make or break you. If someone further up the supply chain goes to an online system to download product specifications, you suddenly find yourself faced with the choice of going out of business or relocating your plant to an area that can provide that connectivity. Conversely, if your town is wired with high-speed fiber and neighboring communities are not, you become a desirable destination for those companies. It is one more tool that towns can use to encourage economic development.

Are high-tech businesses the only ones to benefit from these networks?

No. A network like NIUNet will benefit many parts of a community. For instance, it has the potential to improve health care in rural areas because the network can be used to transmit cat scans, MRIs and other diagnostic tests to distant hospitals for analysis, reducing the cost of delivering the highest quality health care to the largest number of people. Schools also will benefit, and that will be an important factor, because companies drawn to a town by a high-speed fiber network also are going to be concerned about local schools and their ability to provide an adequate work force.

Does a project like NIUNet put the U.S. in the forefront of the fiber revolution?

Hardly. Projects like NIUNet merely help the heartland of the U.S. to keep up with the developing world. It sounds like an odd statement, but that is the truth of the 21st Century. In places like China and India they are laying infrastructure in areas that never had such things, and they are starting with fiber optic cable. It is one reason that jobs ranging from software engineering to financial call centers can be easily moved overseas. Installing networks such as NIUNet can help get some of those jobs back.

Is it unusual for a university like NIU to spearhead a project like this?

No. We are a natural agent for this. Our business is the transfer of knowledge, and NIUNet is an extension of that mission. This is an example of NIU pointing the direction for the future of the region. That has been the role of universities since the modern American university was born in the early 20th Century. It is how universities have become such an important part of the American culture.

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