La vallée de l’Ouest de la Nouvelle-Écosse, au Canada, est une région rurale de quelque 5600 km2 confrontée aux défis communs aux régions rurales du monde industrialisé: population décroissante (20 825 en 1998), pertes d’emplois dans ses industries primaires, faible rendement scolaire moyen (49% sans diplôme d’études secondaires en 1996) et un taux de chômage élevé (13% en 1998). Pourtant, lorsqu’ils ont été sondés à la fin des années 1990, les résidents avaient des sentiments très positifs à l’égard de leur communauté et croyaient que cela deviendrait un meilleur endroit pour vivre et travailler au cours des cinq prochaines années. La Western Valley Development Authority (WVDA), un partenariat de développement économique regroupant sept municipalités locales et les gouvernements provincial et fédéral, croyait que cette attitude était une ressource à ne pas gaspiller. En février 2001, WVDA est devenue l’une des 12 municipalités et régions ayant reçu une subvention Smart Community d’Industrie Canada pour mener des projets de démonstration de trois ans dans le cadre d’une stratégie nationale visant à assurer le leadership du Canada en technologie de l’information et innovation.
Planting the Seeds for Change
Over the course of three years, WVDA and its local communities introduced innovations in nearly every critical area for the Intelligent Community. Plans were made to install fiber-optic infrastructure to meet the Valley’s connectivity needs. With a small, dispersed population, the Valley had little hope of attracting private-sector telcos to deploy a network. Nonetheless, with the support of cable TV, power and technology companies, an initial 44-kilometer network was deployed. Other projects focused on Web-enabling public information and services. County library catalogs were put online, creating a new local software company in the process. Nova Scotia is home to Canada’s unique Acadian population — descendents of French colonists who settled there in the 1600s — and the Centre Acadian launched an online genealogy project documenting family histories, which is already playing a role in attracting more tourists to such festivals as the Congrès Mondial Acadien. The Nova Scotia Community College introduced new information technology courses, and a geographical information system called CLICK put 50 years of infrastructure data online, making it possible for workers to use GPS-linked laptops to precisely located underground water, power and sewer systems. Internet kiosks were deployed to 14 sites in the region and have been transitioned to a private-sector company that is adding commercial content in order to sustain the project. Two IT business incubation centers were created that have facilitated the opening of eight IT businesses, and outreach efforts offered training and promotion of Internet and PC literacy for local businesses, community groups and individuals. In all, the demonstration project created over 50 jobs in new industries and produced over C$4 million worth of in-kind contributions from governments and private-sector partners. In a traditional rural economy, WVDA has planted the seeds for major change in how local cultures and economies interconnect with the rest of Canada and the world, to their mutual benefit.
Population: 4,700,000
Top7 2004