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National
eWell-Being Award Winners Announced
From over 130 entries, 19 finalists across 8
categories battled it out to win a 2008 National eWell-Being Award.
The winning projects covered a wide range of applications of
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), from truant
monitoring schemes to blood transfusion barcode security systems,
video conferencing to communal heating solutions. The winners were
revealed at a glittering gala dinner held at Shakespeare’s Globe
Theatre on Wednesday 30th April.
The Awards, supported by BT and Brother, are
designed to promote the tangible benefits that ICT can bring to
society, the economy and to the environment.
Speaking at the event, Adrian Hosford,
Director Corporate Responsibility for BT said, “We are now seeing
the rewards and benefits of being more sustainable. It is so
encouraging to see people using less energy and capturing the huge
potential for more of society to be actively involved. ICT has a
major contribution to make in these areas and it is a pleasure and a
privilege for BT to give our whole hearted support to the National
eWell-Being Awards.”
Mike Dinsdale, Communications Director of
Brother UK highlighted some of
the challenges faced, saying that “Brother recognises the immense
benefits brought by ICT and the obstacles that the sector is working
to overcome to become more
sustainable.”
“ICT is embedded in today’s society and it
is clear that it can bring immense social, economic and
environmental benefits – nowhere is this clearer than here at the
eWell-Being Awards. Effective use, a combined vision and innovation
are essential to enable us to recognise and learn from the best
examples of better ways of working.”
Since their launch in 2002 by SustainIT, an
initiative of the UK Centre for Economic and Environmental
Development (UK CEED), the Awards have attracted over 600 high
quality entries from a diverse range of organisations in the public,
private and voluntary sectors.
The winners of each category
are:
Better Ways of Working – The Open University
(Flash Meeting)
Building Community Networks – My
Society
Business Applications – AEC
Technology
Environmental Innovator –
veryPC
Improving Public Services – Groupcall
Limited
Independent Living – Disabled Living
Foundation
Low Carbon & Environmental Efficiency –
Teliris, Verdiem, Advice NI – all three entries were Highly
Commended
Reaching the Digitally Excluded – Age
Concern England
To download a copy of the Independent
Newspaper supplement which appeared in the newspaper on 6th May
click here
Better
Ways of Working
SustainIT’s SusteIT
project update
Honey I Shrunk the
Office
Superfast broadband
coming to an exchange near you
Greening
IT
WEEE to Africa
Green Data Centre Wales
Improving
Public Services
iBus wins innovation
award
Largest UK telecare
project gets underway
Reaching
the Digitally Excluded
Senior’s PC in
development
Digital inclusion
Minister sets his stall
Leeds pupils bridging the
digital divide
Better
Ways of Working
SustainIT’s
SusteIT project update
SusteIT – a joint project
between UK CEED’s SustainIT unit, and the Higher Education
Environmental Performance Improvement (HEEPI) project, are running
two free workshops on ‘Energy Efficient Configuration, Cooling &
Power Supply in Data Centres’ at the University of Cardiff (June
19th) and on ‘New Ways of Working’ at the new campus of Queen
Margaret University, Edinburgh (August 21st). Queen
Margaret University achieved the
highest BREEAM rating of any HE development. The morning session
will focus on how a thin client infrastructure has created more
efficient use of space and other benefits. The afternoon will
feature external presentations on the opportunities for more mobile
working and videoconferencing in HE. Although the events are
targeted at universities and colleges, they are open to
knowledgeable outsiders who can contribute to the discussion. See www.heepi.org.uk for further
details. Top
Honey I
shrunk the office
Creating the best spaces for smarter working
is one of the most important practical issues facing organisations
today. How do you do it and how do you get it right? How
do you build the business case and how do you measure success?
With case studies from IBM, Surrey County Council, BT and English
Heritage, the seminar will look at leading edge practice and include
highly interactive workshop sessions to share ideas and quiz leading
practitioners. The event will take place on June 17th in
Guildford. Details are available on
the Flexibility website
Top
Superfast
broadband coming to an exchange near
you
With BT trialling fibre-optic connections to
the home, cable services offering up to 50Mbits/sec download speeds
and all the mobile networks competing to provide broadband
on-the-go, has the UK finally got a network
ready for the 21st century?
BT and other providers that rely on its
wholesale broadband products have not increased speeds yet and have
chosen instead to wait until the arrival of 21CN, which uses an
altogether different technology, to speed up their
connections.
The physical infrastructure of the network
was originally scheduled to be completed and rolled out by 2010,
with new services being offered later, but outgoing chief executive
Ben Verwaayen said the company has changed its priorities, shifting
the emphasis to offering new services at the outset of a gradual
rollout.
More Top
Greening
IT
WEEE to
Africa
Large piles of waste electrical and
electronic equipment (WEEE) are being dumped in developing
countries, seeping toxic chemicals into the water and environment,
under the auspices of the WEEE
directive.
As part of the WEEE directive firms are
urged to find ways for old computing equipment to be reused if
possible. As a result many end up being sent to the developing
world, where they can play an important part in educating local
populations. Sadly not all are put into active use and are
subsequently dumped.
However, Brent Council in London has hit
on a way to comply with the European WEEE (Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment) directive for the responsible disposal of
computer hardware, while also helping parts of the world in need of
a technology boost.
The council has been giving its old
computers and equipment to Computer Aid International, which then
distributes them to schools and hospitals in Africa.
So far the council has donated
more than 500 PCs, laptops and monitors that Computer Aid
International arranges to be wiped of all data, free of charge,
before shipping them to Africa.
More
Top
Green Data
Centre Wales
Next Generation Data, experts in data centre
design, construction and management, has invested up to £200million
to create one of Europe’s largest
and most technically advanced data
centres.
The announcement was made by Ieuan Wyn
Jones, Minister for the Economy and Transport, who described it as a
strategically important investment that would bring long term
benefits to Wales and the Welsh
economy.
The Minister described the investment as
being a critically important addition to the IT and telecoms
infrastructure in Wales.
“A data-centre of this size and capacity
will not only support Welsh businesses to remain competitive in a
global economy but also has the capacity to act as a catalyst in
attracting new business.
“The new centre will be of particular
interest to our growing financial services sector, offering business
continuity while also providing our SMEs with cost effective access
to high quality, robust and secure data-centre services.” Top
Improving
Public Services
iBus wins
innovation award
The Transport for London iBus project was designed and
implemented in response to the growth in the number of buses in
service in London. iBus gives accurate
vehicle location information enabling on-board real-time passenger
information and more effective service control, as well as providing
a more reliable expandable radio system and platform for future
development.
ITS (UK) President Steven Norris, who
presented the award at Painter’s Hall in the City of London, praised
iBus in the ‘Area Wide Schemes’ category for its on-board ‘next
stop’ audio visual displays and announcements that make bus travel
much easier for everyone, including visually or hearing impaired
passengers, or those with learning
disabilities.
More
Top
Largest
UK telecare
project gets underway
The £31m programme will cover 6,000 citizens
and run for a minimum of two years.
The aim of the demonstrators will be to show
that people with more complex health and social care needs and are
at risk of hospital admission can be helped to maintain their
independence, achieve significant gains in quality of life and
reduce unnecessary acute hospital and care home use. The Programme
run by the Department
of Health will target people with critical long-term
conditions such as diabetes, heart and chest problems and the
elderly and the frail.
"Improving care with new scientific advances
is vital if the NHS is to continue to offer the very best services,
but this innovation must be at the frontline of the NHS to help
people manage their conditions better themselves," said Health
Secretary Alan Johnson.
More
Top
Reaching
the Digitally Excluded
Senior’s PC
in development
Microsoft UK is developing a
"senior PC", which will have a simple interface and be aimed at
older users.
The PC will come with software that allows
users to manage prescriptions as well as simplified tools for
everyday use, such as managing photos. The machine, which it is
developing in partnership with charities Age Concern and Help the
Aged, is one of several projects the firm is working on. The plans
were unveiled at a Digital Inclusion conference in London.
Speaking at the National Digital Inclusion
Conference in London, Microsoft's head of skills
and economic affairs Stephen Uden laid out the firm's vision for
closing the digital divide.
"Reaching most of the final third will mean
that we have to throw out the rule book. We will only solve these
issues by taking risks and trying new things," he said.
"Some of the projects we are working on will
work. Others will fail," he said. Top
Digital
inclusion Minister sets his stall
New Minister for Digital
Inclusion Paul Murphy has appealed for public, private and third
sector support to help reach the final third of UK citizens who are
digitally excluded.
Under the Digital Inclusion Strategy,
produced by minister, the 17 million Britons currently without PC
access at home or at work will be able to get
online.
While no official time table for the plan
has been announced, Murphy hopes the strategy will be rolled out
this summer and will be completed by 2010, in line with existing
E.U. plans to bridge the gap between those on- and
offline.
“Technology and the internet
are now woven into the fabric of our society. However, we cannot
ignore the fact that those who are socially excluded are much less
likely to have access to and to benefit from technology”,
said Mr Murphy.
More Top
Leeds pupils
bridging the digital divide
Education Leeds has been awarded a £1.8m
government grant to distribute around 2500 laptops to 11 to
16-year-olds in Leeds whose
families wouldn't normally have access to a computer. 400 of the
city's looked-after children have already received their computers
and special training from Education Leeds' partners Stone Computers
on how to get the most out of the
machines.
Chris Edwards, chief executive of Education
Leeds, said “This technology will give these young people access to
many new and exciting ways to learn.
“Technology is an incredibly powerful tool
which is playing an important role in raising standards. It can be
applied across every aspect of the curriculum, providing greater
opportunities for learning and developing new skills.”
The project is part of the government
sponsored ‘Computer for Pupils’ initiative, which aims to help
secondary school children and families from disadvantaged areas to
improve their education and life skills by putting a computer into
the home. Top
About
SustainIT
SustainIT
is an initiative of The UK Centre for Economic and Environmental
Development (UK CEED), an independent, entrepreneurial research
foundation. It conducts research on, and provides good practice
examples of, synergies between ICT and sustainable development.
For more information visit www.sustainit.org or contact us
on +44 (0)1733 311644.
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