7Bringing advanced communications technologies to rural communities in order to boost economic development is the topic for a conference at Ball State University.

Scheduled for July 16, the inaugural Indiana Interconnect Broadband Conference is expected to attract many of the state's elected representatives, economic development officials, business leaders and educators.

The goal of the conference is to inform, educate and connect rural economic and community leaders with the technologies that will keep them from being left behind in the digital age, said Stephan Jones, director of Ball State's Institute of Wireless Innovation.

"While Indiana has many highly advanced communications technologies, not all parts of the state have access," he said. "By helping rural areas gain that access through either wireless or fiber optic broadband systems, we should be able to boost economic development across Indiana."

The conference runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ball State's Alumni Center, 2800 W. Bethel Ave. It is being presented by the Indiana Department of Commerce in partnership with the Indiana Economic Development Council.

The keynote speaker will be Larry Sargeant, executive vice president for legal affairs for the United States Telecommunications Association. His presentation, "Technology Futures: Broadband Hype or Hope," will review how high performance telecommunications capacity is an essential infrastructure element for economic development.

The conference also will feature presentations from Steve Mayo, assistant vice president for telecommunications at Purdue University; Brian Voss, vice president and chief information officer at Indiana University; and David Bohmer, executive director of media relations at DePauw University. Closing comments will be provided by Tim Monger, executive director of the Indiana Department of Commerce.

The conference is a result of the Indiana Interconnect initiative, which is a collaborative effort between business, government, education and technology leaders to evaluate and improve Indiana's advanced telecommunications infrastructure and level of technology adoption.

For more information about the conference, call (765) 285-1665 or go to www.indianainterconnect.com.