Shannon Development is the Government Company responsible for regional development in Ireland’s Shannon Region. With its mission statement “Pioneering Regional Development in the Knowledge Age” the company is synonymous with innovation and in particular the development of new economic development tools.

Shannon Development is committed to dispersing economic development across the Region and has implemented specific programmes tailored to the needs of individual towns and communities. These include the Shannon Development Knowledge Network, where world class technology parks are being completed in key towns such as Tralee, Thurles, Birr and Ennis.
Shannon Development has also worked to identify solutions that meet the needs of smaller towns and villages. One such solution is the e-Towns initiative.

E-Towns
e-Towns is a Shannon Development initiative to develop a “21st century model” for the ongoing and future development of smaller communities in the Shannon Region.

Its primary aim is to help disperse economic activity and job creation to smaller population centres (by stimulating the development of a complimentary enterprise culture based on the relocation of established urban micro businesses).

A number of pilot locations have been identified in the Region these include Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, Cappamore, Co. Limerick, Tarbert, Co. Kerry and Newport, Co. Tipperary.

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Proposed Approach
E-Towns is a combination of five key strands that when combined can provide the catalyst for the development of smaller towns:

	Partnership with the community and the local authority
	Provision of tailored work-life accommodation through public private partnerships
	Delivery of a scalable broadband
	Provision of community animation and training
	Establish best practice for physical town renewal

Partnership
e-Towns is a “communities first” programme, with representatives from each town involved in the decision making process from site selection to training and website development.

Each participating town will have a tripartite group with representatives from the community, the Local Authority and Shannon Development that will be responsible for co-ordinating and implementing the programme.

Work-Life Accommodation
The “Courtyard” will be a small-integrated complex of workspace and residential accommodation, consisting of a combination of detached, three storey and town houses, as well as “wired” office space.
The work-life accommodation will be available for sale and targeted specifically at established micro businesses within the traded services sector e.g. graphic design, consultancy, web design, publishing and professional services.

Up to 10 businesses will be targeted for each e-Town location with the long term potential of generating significant employment and added value.
The “Courtyard” development will be funded under a private public partnership.

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The Town Plan
A key element in physical town renewal and development is the “Town Plan” which normally addresses and highlights issues related to infrastructure, zoning and planning, providing a framework and blue print for the future growth of the community.

The e-Towns project recognises the importance of such a "Town Plan", if the overall objectives of the project are to be delivered. Working in conjunction with the Local Authority, e-Towns provides the resources to complete such a plan for each location.

Animation and Training
The opportunities offered by advances in telecommunications and information and communications technology (ICT) are also being addressed in the project.

A portal website is being developed for each location, along with training for 12 community mentors who will be available on a voluntary basis to give businesses, community groups, organisations and individuals the tools and support necessary to access the internet.

Telecommunications Access
Widespread access to broadband communications is an essential enabler of economic growth. While all telecommunications providers have long-term plans for the roll out of broadband services nationally, available solutions currently gravitate towards the more densely populated urban centres where infrastructure/customers already exist.

For the e-Towns project to succeed each location will need a scalable broadband solution in place. Working in conjunction with the community, Shannon Development will identify and implement a commercial broadband solution that will ensure access to minimum terrestrial broadband services such as ADSL.

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Project Funding
The e-Towns initiative is supported by the Southern & Eastern Regional Assembly, under the Regional Programme of Innovative Actions.

The Assembly was established by the Government of Ireland to promote co-ordination of the provision of public services, monitor the general impact of EU programmes of assistance and manage the Regional Operational Programme for the South & East Region.

Contact
For further information please contact:

e-Towns Programme Manager
Shannon Development
Town Centre
Shannon
Co. Clare

Tel: 061-361555
Fax: 061-360975
E-mail: info@shannondev.ie
www.shannondev.ie

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