{"id":62484,"date":"2018-09-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foxtail\/2018\/09\/25\/1-6-million-to-connect-unconnected-americans-our-nsf-wins-competition-grand-prize-winners\/"},"modified":"2022-10-27T13:31:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T20:31:50","slug":"1-6-million-to-connect-unconnected-americans-our-nsf-wins-competition-grand-prize-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/mozilla\/1-6-million-to-connect-unconnected-americans-our-nsf-wins-competition-grand-prize-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"$1.6 Million to Connect Unconnected Americans: Our NSF-WINS Grand Prize Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

After months of prototyping and judging, Mozilla and the National Science Foundation are fueling the best and brightest ideas for bringing more Americans online<\/i><\/h2>\n

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Today, Mozilla and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are announcing the grand prize winners in our Wireless Innovation for a Networked Society (NSF-WINS) Challenges<\/a> \u2014 an audacious competition to connect millions of unconnected Americans.<\/p>\n

The grand prize winners are as novel as they are promising: An 80-foot tower in rural Appalachia that beams broadband connectivity to residents. And, an autonomous network that fits in two suitcases \u2014 and can be deployed after earthquakes and hurricanes.<\/p>\n

Says Mark Surman, Mozilla\u2019s Executive Director: \u201cWe launched NSF-WINS in early 2017 with the goal of bringing internet connectivity to rural areas, disaster-struck regions, and other offline or under-connected places. Currently, some 34 million Americans lack high-quality internet access. That means 34 million Americans are at a severe economic, educational, and social disadvantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow \u2014 after months of prototyping and judging \u2014 Mozilla and NSF are awarding $1.6 million to the most promising projects in the competition\u2019s two categories. It\u2019s part of Mozilla\u2019s mission to keep the internet open and accessible, and to empower the people on the front lines of that work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Says Jim Kurose, head of the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) at the NSF: \u201cBy investing in affordable, scalable solutions like these, we can unlock opportunity for millions of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NSF-WINS \u2018Off the Grid Internet Challenge\u2019 $400,000 grand prize winner is…<\/b><\/h2>\n

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HERMES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HERMES<\/b> (High\u00ad-frequency Emergency and Rural Multimedia Exchange System) by Rhizomatica in Philadelphia, PA.<\/p>\n

When disasters strike, communications networks are among the first pieces of critical infrastructure to overload or fail.<\/p>\n

HERMES bonds together an assortment of unexpected protocols \u2014 like GSM and short-wave radio \u2014 to fix this. HERMES enables local calling, SMS, and basic OTT messaging, all via equipment that can fit inside two suitcases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an emergency, you want to be able to tell people you\u2019re okay,\u201d the Rhizomatica team says. \u201cHERMES allows you to tell anyone, anywhere with a phone number that you\u2019re okay. And that person can respond to you over text or with a voice message. It also allows someone from a central location to pass information to a disaster site, or to broadcast messages. We can now send a text message 700 miles through HERMES.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about HERMES\u00bb<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

The NSF-WINS \u2018Smart Community Networks Challenge\u2019 $400,000 grand prize winner is…<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Southern Connected Communities Network<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Southern Connected Communities Network (SCCN) <\/b>by the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, TN.<\/p>\n

Many communities across the U.S. lack reliable internet access. Sometimes commercial providers don\u2019t supply affordable rates; sometimes a particular community is too isolated; sometimes the speed and quality of access is too slow.<\/p>\n

SCCN leverages infrastructure and community to fix this and bring broadband to rural Appalachia. SCCN uses an 80-foot tower that draws wireless backbone from Knoxville, TN via the public 11 GHz spectrum. The tower then redistributes this broadband connectivity to local communities using line-of-sight technology. This tower is owned and operated by the local residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you live in the rural South, your kids\u2019 education, your next job, your healthcare, and your right to a political voice all are limited by slow, expensive, unreliable, and corporate-controlled internet connectivity \u2014 and that\u2019s if it exists at all,\u201d says Allyn Maxfield-Steele, Co-Executive Director of the Highlander Center. \u201cSo we\u2019re claiming internet like the human right it has become. We\u2019re building a local digital economy governed by us and for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about Southern Connected Communities Network\u00bb<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

~<\/p>\n

In addition to these two grand prize winners, Mozilla and the NSF are awarding second-, third-, and fourth-place prizes in each category. The winners are:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Off-the-Grid Internet Challenge<\/b>:<\/b><\/h2>\n