Name of the project and Sub-Objective of the PEOPLE project

NUENEN NETWORK / ONS NET NUENEN

Social & E-inclusion (SO4)

The project

´Ons Net Nuenen´ is a unique cooperation between citizens of three villages: Nuenen, Gerwenand Nederwetten. The members of the Cooperative Ons Net (the citizens) own for 95% the

infrastructure of the glass fibre network in their villages and it is ruled by democratic principles.

8.500 homes in Nuenen are connected to the fibre network (copper and coax). There is a 90% take up rate for fibre. Not only the citizens of the community but also all schools, churches,

general practitioners, town halls, sport clubs, home care institutes, nursing homes are Connected.

Objectives of the project

• Discover the (broadband) needs of the citizens;•Integration of broadband services in daily life of the citizens and in the

community to improve the social cohesion and longer independent living of the elderly: Home entertainment, Home monitoring, Home care, Comfortable life

style;• Solve barriers for implementation of all kind of broadband services by the mains of a different approach: develop a bottom up approach where citizens are leading

and to develop a value chain innovation instead of product innovation.

Beneficiaries (involved & concerned)

Citizens of 3 villages, 3 municipalities and all kind of social organisations which offer services in the community such as housing organisations, nursing homes, voluntary organisations, etc. Users of the real life home lab are: banks, universities, industry,

hospitals, housing organisations, authorities, health insurance companies, telecoms, publishers, elderly organisations and churches.

Results of the project (1)

A bottom up approach was used to discover the (broadband) needs of the elderly people in a Real Life Home Lab. A user feedback committee was installed, workshops with citizensgroups, especially with elderly were organised, communication took place on a street andarea level and an “Us” feeling was created. Unity within the community was enabled;A Meeting and demonstration place was developed and this has been and still is animportant facility in the process; The fiber network started with 3 basic services: telephone, television and internet.

Results of the project (2)

After that a new Eco system has been developed to improve the quality of life. This consists of Ons Net (the cooperative organisation for the fibre infrastructure) and Our Well Being (a special entity for developing broadband services). This brings prosperity to the individual and his society. It is designed by and use by the local community; The Industry is invited to participate and to deliver products and services; The local, regional and national authorities support the initiative; By now there are 8.500 homes connected to the fibre network;

Results of the project (3)

The Technical University of Eindhoven did a survey in 2007 in Nuenen to get more insightsabout the benefits of the fibre network for fibre users. One of the important results was thatthe fibre network provides a good contribution to social capital and broadband services havean improtant local dimension. Fibre users with a higher income and high education levelbenefit from a fibre network. But even fibre users with lower incomes and a low educationlevel benefitted over-proportionally from the fibre network.

Strengths of the project (1) People are enthusiastic and feel responsible and have more grip on broadband services in

their municipality. They are leading in the development of new broadband services andactivated to participate by the cooperative model and the real life home lab;

The focus is on “using things” instead of “using a computer”. The television and telephone,a home trainer, a weigh scale are recognisable things for instance. And the smart

technologies in these things together with the internet connection make the use of thesethings more comfortable, easier and enables an easier contact with people with the same

interests and makes it possible to share results and experiences with them;

Strengths of the project (2)

Elderly learn how to use the internet in the internet centre in the nursing home and aregetting help of volunteers in the villages;

All the social organisations in the community are connected also.

Success factors of the project

There are seven pillars of success (not one factor can be left out):1. “us” feeling;

2. 3 basic services;3. The business model;

4. Local services: consumer generated and community generated (Home lab);5. Communication protocols;

6. Customer care;7. High quality and reliable network.

Problems encounteredCompanies which offer E health and E inclusion ICT systems and applications (Telecare,

telemedicine, telehealth services) are not using open source systems and platforms. Therefore the interconnectivity is a problem.

A lot of services are developed for health care an people with deficits and special needs. A lot of elderly do not see the benefits of it at the moment, because they are not feeling sick or vulnerable. May be in future they will use these services. Therefore just a small group use

these services, and the costs of it are very high. To scale up broadband services, it is important to start with services which improve well-being and prevent people from being sick or from

loneliness.

Conclusions (for the future) IFibre networks are important for the development of social capital. The demand driven

methods and organisation structure of Ons Net Nuenen and Ons Well being lead to a high rate of fibre users and the development of services which contribute to the social cohesion

and longer independent living of elderly.There is an important local dimension in broadband services to improve the social cohesion

and include also vulnerable people with low income and low education.After the existing three basic services (Triple A services), firstly the development of new

services must be aiming at improving the well-being of citizens and the social cohesion in the community.

Conclusions (for the future) II

This is necessary to reach a big group of citizens in the villages and to stimulate an active social participation. Therefore an open web based communication platform has to be developed with open source communication protocols and web based

applications which are accessible on the public internet.

Replication of the project

Municipalities together with social organisations (NGO’s), volunteer organisations, citizens unions and private companies.