State Capacity Building:

As Tennessee seeks to develop a more focused effort on technology-based economic development, Connected Tennessee, under the guidance of the state, will compile and maintain an inventory of industrial and business park broadband availability that will be made available to all economic developers in the state.

Technical Assistance:

Working in partnership with specialists from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, Connected Tennessee will offer direct technical assistance to the local technology planning teams that have completed their initial technology plans. Connected Tennessee will also provide cost modeling and infrastructure assessments for local communities and conduct state level surveys in the third and fifth years of the program and county level surveys in the fourth year.

Data Collection, Integration, and Validation:

This project was originally funded for broadband planning activities and two years of data collection. In September of 2010, this project was amended to extend data collection activities for an additional three years and to identify and implement best practices.