A Central Illinois regional summit will convene Wednesday on the University campus to discuss opportunities for rural Illinois to invest in private and public broadband and high-speed Internet, among other topics. The event will take place at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), 1205 W. Clark St., from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

National and statewide leaders and elected officials to be featured at this summit include Rep. Connie Howard (D-Chicago) the sponsor of legislation creating the Illinois Century Network, Sen. Mike Frerichs (D-Champaign), Rep. Naomi Jakobsson (D-Urbana) and Kevin Johnson of the office of U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson (R-IL).

Representatives of two broadband projects in central Illinois, the Illinois Century Network and Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband will share details and progress about the ways these investments can impact everyday lives.

Relevant companies that have made an impact by investing in broadband will also participate in the summit, including AT&T, Champaign Telephone Company, Comcast, Consolidated Communications, and Frontier Communications. Each representative will emphasize how their investments in broadband can benefit citizens and communities.

A research symposium featuring Broadband Researchers will precede the summit from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday. In addition, the Governor’s Broadband Deployment will meet from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday at the NCSA. Two additional sites for the BDC meeting will be held in Springfield and Chicago. Both days events will be streaming live on the PCI’s website.

For more information, visit “www.broadbandillinois.org”:www.broadbandillinois.org. Registration is available at “http://broadbandillinois.org/calendar/1”:http://broadbandillinois.org/calendar/1.