What you need to know:
- Verizon brings 5G Ultra Wideband service to Innovation Hub at Arizona State University.
- With Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband, innovators can develop and test real-world 5G solutions to enhance immersive education, remote learning, virtual reality, data analytics, and more.
- The Hub’s first program, “The Digital Equity Jam”, will let teams develop use cases showcasing how Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband and mobile edge compute can be used to help solve the digital divide.
Digital equity is on the national agenda as leaders aim to
address the digital divide, deepened during the pandemic. And in Arizona where
as many as one million residents, including more than 200,000 students, do not
have regular access to the internet, ASU has been instrumental in leading a
series of initiatives aimed at surfacing solutions to help further close the
digital divide.
The first program to launch out of the 5G Innovation Hub at
ASU will be “The Digital Equity Jam” sponsored by Verizon, AWS and Inseego.
This program kicks off in early February 2022. Competing teams will develop use
cases showcasing how Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband and mobile edge compute can be
used to help bridge the digital divide. Focus areas will include health,
climate, poverty, human rights and education.
The winning team will receive project seed funding, access
to intensive summer entrepreneurship training in partnership with the Clinton
Global Initiative (CGI) and VentureWell, and the opportunity to pitch their
venture to CGI in fall 2022.
“Working with ASU, we have an extraordinary opportunity to
research and develop new 5G-enabled experiences that can improve remote
learning and help bridge the digital divide,” said Tami Erwin, Verizon Business
CEO. “Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband’s super-fast speeds, high bandwidth and low
latency can enhance applications ranging from immersive education to connected
communities. By collaborating with ASU’s researchers, we hope to accelerate the
innovation process and develop technology that will harness the full potential
of 5G and edge compute.”
“We are in the most transformative technological moment
since the early stages of the industrial revolution. And even with the social,
political, and economic impacts that we are still learning to navigate as a
society, there have been incredibly meaningful results from this use of
technology,” said ASU President Michael Crow this morning during a keynote with
Erwin at the Smart Region Summit.
“Who gets educated is no longer socially stratified, we are
able to unleash human creativity in ways not possible before…and so what these
technologies that leverage broadband at the fastest speeds and most advanced
level imaginable allow us to create is an environment in which the person, the
learner, becomes emotionally connected in the story around the learning process
itself. At ASU, we’ve become, with this next phase of our partnership with Verizon,
the furthest at the tip of the spear to be empowered with technology and
continue to improve the ways in which we learn, work and live.”
Additionally, ASU plans to continue testing and deploying a
variety of immersive educational experiences, powered by Verizon 5G Ultra
Wideband and mobile edge compute. Students will be able to enter a Dreamscape
pod where they can experience a Biology class in virtual reality (VR).
Remote students will have access to a VR and web browser
version. 5G use cases being explored will also include a career arcade using
VR, where students can experience a day in the life of certain careers. 5G
applications are also being tested for athlete performance analytics
applications and virtual fighter pilot training.
This engagement is part of Verizon’s broader strategy to
partner with enterprises, startups, universities, national labs and
government/military to explore how 5G can disrupt and transform nearly every
industry.
Verizon operates five 5G Labs in the U.S. and one in London
that specialize in developing use cases in industries ranging from healthcare
to public safety to entertainment. In addition, Verizon is collaborating with
several customers to establish 5G Innovation Hubs on-premises as part of an
ongoing initiative to co-innovate and create new 5G applications.
Verizon’s long-standing relationship with ASU includes
collaboration and support for Verizon Innovative Learning, Verizon’s
award-winning education initiative addressing barriers to digital inclusion and
a key program under Citizen Verizon, the company’s responsible business plan
for economic, environmental and social advancement.
The initiative includes bringing 5G to schools, enabling
more robust, immersive learning experiences via technologies like artificial
intelligence, 3D printing, augmented and virtual reality. Students leverage
technology, social innovation and design thinking through a project-based
online curriculum, developed by the J.Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation
Institute at ASU, to positively impact their communities.
Verizon’s partnership with ASU also extends to Verizon
Innovative Learning HQ, a free next-gen online education portal that includes
content curated by ASU, among other academic institutions, that provides
immersive AR and VR experiences paired with lesson plans. Through Citizen
Verizon, the company is committed to providing 10 million youths with digital
skills training by 2030, among other goals.
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