Overview
The Connectivity Innovation Program advances innovation and new broadband solutions, business models, and technologies in order to increase private sector investment and entrepreneurship; drive equity and innovation in the broadband marketplace; and reinforce a thriving research, development, and manufacturing ecosystem to support connectivity innovation in New York.
The Program prioritizes multi-stakeholder collaboration, as appropriate, and innovations that address the deployment challenges of the hardest-to-reach rural areas of the state and low-income areas within the state’s urban areas or other sectors underserved by the current connectivity marketplace. ConnectALL is coordinating with state agencies as needed to identify use cases and implement the Program.
The Connectivity Innovation Program provides financial assistance that will:
- Benefit the development of innovative and new broadband solutions and technologies;
- Deploy innovative broadband technology to rural, low-income, or other areas that would be unlikely to otherwise see such deployment;
- Promote critical private sector investment in such technologies;
- Provide seed funding for the development of such technologies and products;
- Foster collaboration between the academic research community and the business sector for such purposes.
ConnectALL Connectivity Innovation – Mobile Service Request for Applications
The Connectivity Innovation – Mobile Service Request for Applications (RFA) will identify new ways of expanding reliable cell phone service in New York State. The RFA is a key component of the Mobile Service Connectivity Initiative. ConnectALL, through this RFA, will provide up to $5 million in total funding to deploy innovative, scalable solutions that can address gaps in wireless cellular coverage.