This article gathers the main insights of the Inspirational Talk for the NGI Sargasso First Open Call Innovators as part of their 9-month Capacity Building Program
How many Internets do we need? and How many Internets do we have? were the two key questions used by Glenn Ricart, Founder and CTO at US Ignite and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, to open his Inspirational Talk on the 17th of October 2023 for the NGI Sargasso first open call beneficiaries who are currently doing our 9-month Capacity Building program as part of the perks of our funding program.
According to Dr. Ricart, we have commercial, scientific, industrial, smart devices, location-specific and single purpose Internets. The difference between them is their application for which they are used. However, they can be components of cooperating ecosystems.
What do we mean by ‘Next Generation Internet’?
During his talk, the reflection about the meaning of ‘Next Generation Internet’ was also very relevant. Ricart explained that for NGI we mean Internets built from “Next Generation Internet technologies”. Some of these technologies are already being tested in research Internets such as the new FABRIC terabit-per-second research network in the US.
From the question What does Next Generation Internet mean?, he moved to another one: What is an Internet? to share his personal definition.
“An Internet is a collaboration with the real world interconnecting great minds, incredible datasets (most real-time), and models that both mimic and have rich interactions with reality” – Glenn Ricart.
He added that models can be people, resources, data, Artificial Intelligence agents, boundary and safety conditions, and personal privacy.
Ricart highlighted the importance of initiatives like NGI Sargasso to shape our Internet of the future, which will be defined by the 90 brilliant projects by top startups, SMEs, researchers, NGOs and foundations from Europe, UK, US and Canada that we will select during our five open calls, the next and third one opening in Spring 2024.
An Internet of trust was another concept discussed during his talk, “generated by equity, data governance, cybersecurity, privacy and community engagement in the new technologies we work with”, said Ricart. Topics addressed in our funding program, including up to €100,000 equity-free funding.
After Glenn Ricart shared his view on what is an Internet and what Next Generation Internet means, our first open call innovators featured a vivid Q&A session and debate, in which interesting discussions arose, such as the differences between open, closed, local, and blockchain verified Internet, and how to create interoperability between them.
More about US Ignite
US Ignite is nonprofit, accelerating the smart city movement – and creating value for an entire ecosystem – by guiding communities into the connected future, creating a path for private sector growth, and advancing technology research that’s at the heart of smart city development.
As a trusted partner, they bring this ecosystem together, successfully pairing financial investment with technical and organizational expertise. Through the public-private partnership (P3) programs they run, US Ignite is a catalyst for communications network advancement, and for innovation in smart city services that are powered by a new generation of technologies.
NGI Sargasso is formed by a consortium with four more partners that we invite you to discover.