Discover how WiFi4EU is a great success in the main cities of the outermost region of Madeira.

Thanks to the European Regional Development Fund, Catalonia built a fibre backbone to connect over 400 government and local administration sites across the region. By offering the network’s extra capacity to the market, this ‘open network’ allows local operators to compete to use the infrastructure and deploy services to under-served rural areas. “We have generated an ecosystem of over 80 local operators to promote competence and competitiveness in these local areas with very high-quality services”, explains David Ferrer, Catalonian’s Secretary of Digital Policies, in this video interview.

In this video, Jouke Velstra, Director and Senior Consultant at Acacia Water, explains how the EU-funded ‘Farmers measure water’ project combines high-speed rural broadband and state-of-the-art sensors to help farmers and water authorities in the Netherlands to better manage water usage in the face of climate change. Through rapidly relaying data on soil moisture, temperature and salinity, farmers and water authorities work together to keep crops healthy, improve water and soil quality, and reduce water waste.

Bavaria’s State aid scheme is bringing gigabit-capable infrastructure to businesses, households, hospitals, educational and public institutions, in more than 420 rural municipalities. The scheme aims to bring Bavaria’s overall high-speed broadband coverage to 99%, with gigabit access throughout Bavaria by 2025. For rural areas, State funding has improved coverage (of at least 30 Mbps) from 27% to over 92% in the last seven years, notes Bavarian State Minister for Finance and Regional Identity, Albert Füracker, in this video interview.

The projects applying for the European Broadband Awards 2021 will be assessed by a jury composed of five European broadband experts with comprehensive experience. The jury will select the finalists and the winners in each of the five award categories. The jury members are: Per-Olof Gustafsson from Sweden, Ferenc Kneisz from Hungary, Filip Meuris from Belgium, Eglė Misienė from Lithuania and Nicos Ioannou from Cyprus.

Litovel, a hidden gem of Moravia located about 200 km east of Prague, is one of 312 municipalities that has used a WiFi4EU voucher in Czechia, demonstrating great dedication to the country’s recently approved strategy for digital transformation (under the name of Digitální Česko, Digital Czechia).