Good move by city to make Mind Over Machines' Tom Loveland the volunteer "Google czar" charged with pulling together a proposal to bring Google's gigabit fiber to Baltimore. He'll have a full two weeks; the proposal is due March 26.
What ought to be on Loveland's list? As he notes in Gus Sentementes' story, gimmicks like Topeka pretending to switch its name to Google, Kansas, (or the mayor of Duluth jumping into Lake Superior) aren't going to win the project. For Baltimore, getting Under Armour's backing is good. But Loveland needs to get many more people invovled for a killer proposal.
Some thoughts:
-- Get Hopkins and University of Maryland medical center to submit detailed descriptions of how gigabit fiber can transform their care with easier sharing of 3D radiology imaging, long-distance diagnosis, leaps in electronic medical records etc.
-- Talk to Erickson Retirement Communities, which is a leader in electronic medical records and might have some ideas.
-- Get George Soros and his Baltimore foundation involved. There was some buzz about this a couple weeks ago but it seems to have died down.
-- By all means talk to tech transfer offices at local universities, especially to Aris Melissaratos at Hopkins.
-- The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is growing rapidly under Dean Yash Gupta -- it's basically an educational startup, with enormous resources. Have Carey propose to serve as a permanent, local brain trust for the Google project, with profs and students figuring out how to wring the most out of the project as it develops.
-- You're not going to get Google's attention without showing how the project will help challenged schools and neighborhoods. Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso is on board, but he needs to show Google, not just tell it, how gigabit fiber will make a difference.
-- Other ideas?
UPDATE: Loveland and the other Bmorefiber brains have already thought of all this stuff, of course. Email from Loveland: