Several new broadband services for building digital but geographical clustered communities are under developement in the real time home lab in the village of Nuenen. This village has FttH for all inhabitants. Community TV, video contact and new health, fitness, social and sport services are being developed.

Policy Context

Broadband and healthcare, social coherence

Description of target users and groups

Inhabitants of Nuenen, and (later) all cities and villages in the Netherlands

Description of the way to implement the initiative

We started a program "Our Welbeing" in Nuenen together with several large and small partners (Rabobank, Achmea, Philips, but also Close the Gap, Innoventia, OnsNet, WBV Helpt Elkander). The program “Our Wellbeing” is focusing on the community of Nuenen (in the Eindhoven area), where high-speed fiber has been provided into every home - 100 megabits speed (symmetrical). In the program, Rabobank (financial services) works together with Achmea (insurances), Philips (electronics & care services), 2 local companies Close the Gap, Innoventia, with the FttH cooperation OnsNet and the housing association “Helpt Elkander”. We use the internet but also TV, videocommunication, mobile telecommunication and classic channels as the newspaper and seminars, workshops.

Technology solution

Broadband IP technology, Community TV, video communication, health therapy & telemedicine, safety, domotica

Main results, benefits and impacts

One of the applications provided is a ‘digital health check’, a facility that was available from one of the project partners Achmea. Achmea made the Health facility available some five years ago as an extra benefit for insured customers, with a quick check of 5-6 key health items. In Nuenen they now give advice to citizens via video online, and can connect citizens to dieticians and advisors. There is a clear acknowledgement of ‘emotion’ and service delivery in the Rabobank project. The focus on TV and video, as well as the Internet, allows contact with ‘real people’. Rabobank ‘Advisors’ are real people who can provide video advice for mortgages or private banking. Only 1% of all contact with the bank is now non-digital, but that still is 5-6 million calls a year. They also will maintain physical outlets, with local banks being important. They are adding emotion to the Web site with movies (explaining for example how ATMs work), and are sponsoring the national cycle club. The bank therefore focuses strongly on openness and transparency of practice, and is delivering value to communities. Other developments include the ‘Window on Nuenen’ for elderly people in care homes. A screen, which looks like a window, displays activities in the market place where a camera has been installed. They have engaged specialists to assess the impact on the residents. With Philips they are developing a virtual fitness assistant.This will use smart textiles for monitoring the health of elderly people. The avatar will be displayed on a smart screen that functions as a mirror when it is not being displayed. Advice will be given via the avatar. They are considering also linking to real people to give advice – for example using the sponsorship of the cycle club to provide direct access to some of the national cyclists. The project in Nuenen was originally part of Government ‘knowledge neighborhood’ project in Eindhoven that ran into problems – too many Government agency stakeholders at too many levels, and the wrong timescales. Nuenen is a relatively wealthy community, where 96% of residents signed up to requesting high-speed fiber. The digital package costs €59 a month, and includes TV, VOIP telecoms, and Internet access. After the establishment of the fiber there was a significant increase in the purchase of home wireless networks and PCs. Therefore there is business benefit in local ICT businesses supporting the establishment of local networks. Training courses are available, focused in particular at elderly people and other potentially excluded groups.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Track record of sharing

The concept of "Our Wellbeing" and the results of the Community TV and the video communication projects were presented at the ITU Telecom in Hong Kong, december 2006.

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1 - It is possible to involve inhabitants in R&D and innovation projects. Lesson 2 - Social innovation and use of new ICT services can go hand in hand. Lesson 3 - Difficult to commit governement and industy. Scope: Local (city or municipality), Regional (sub-national)