Wireless technology was pioneered right here, as a way for oil and gas companies to communicate with their production rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Lafayette's entrepreneurs drive our economy, and as we move into a technology-driven economy, our local technology leaders and the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise stand to continue our growth far into the future. This ability to embrace and apply technology became clearly evident in 2005, when Lafayette voters approved the financing needed to extend fiber connectivity to every home and business within the city,” LEDA

"Lafayette is on the verge of the biggest technology utilization explosion it has ever seen. With broadband services available to virtually all businesses and home offices, we are going to have the opportunity to realize the rewards of a community wide participation in the knowledge based economy. Lafayette has maintained a very resilient stance during the global slowdown. If we continue to look forward and embrace these new technologies we will continue our record of outperforming the rest of the country,” Chad Theriot, Computers For Business Management

Lafayette's Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) initiative has been a key component of City-Parish President Joey Durel's administration. In 1999, Lafayette Utilities System (LUS) upgraded its electric grid monitoring technology by deploying a 65-mile, 96-strand fiber optic network around the city. This fiber optic backbone has also been used to provide communication services to businesses, government and educational entities. Beginning in 2008, LUS Fiber, a division of LUS, began extending this network directly to every home, business and school, creating the city's only 100% fiber optic network. This powerful network will be composed of more than 83,000 miles of glass fiber in the city alone. This powerful communications infrastructure will deliver enhanced cable TV, crystal-clear phone service and the fastest Internet speed for improved quality of life and greater opportunities for economic development.

Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise (LITE) is a 3-D immersive visualization and high-performance computing resource center hosting clients in commercial industry, government and university sectors. LITE's leading-edge facility features a comprehensive set of advanced visualization systems and a massive high-performance computing system. Conceived as a magnet for economic development, LITE's advanced facilities and staffs of industry experts are available to your business or organization to help transform the process of innovation and accelerate the time to discovery.

Today, LITE's diversified client base includes private sector and federal and state funded research projects. LITE is involved in simulated burns to better understand how fires spread and how to fight them; radio frequency transmissions through dense objects; an educational application for the classroom; post-production work for a movie production company; training projects for both the U.S. Army and the state using simulation models; coastal restoration initiatives and other exciting data visualization projects.

While the bulk of LITE's clients to date have come from the health and medical, architecture and construction, film and entertainment, and oil and gas sectors, LITE is eager to work with any industry.

LITE is a $27 million, 70,000-square-foot facility located at the Research Park of the University of Louisiana Lafayette. LITE is governed by a Board of Commissioners. More information regarding LITE can be obtained at http://www.lite3d.com/; or by calling 337.735.LITE; or by emailing learnmore@lite3d.com.

"With an already impressive success rate, the Lafayette Entertainment Initiative (LEI) was created under the leadership of City-Parish President Joey Durel to share our community's next-generation resources with the global entertainment industry. Emerging as one of the largest municipality-owned, fiber-optically connected communities in the United States and home to one of the most advanced publicly owned, 3D immersive technology and super- computing environments in the world, Lafayette is positioned as a city of true innovators.

By coupling these forward-thinking community resources with our online systems for scouting locations, accessing labor pools and other physical as well as virtual production infrastructure, the Lafayette Entertainment Initiative successfully serves the industry today, with an eye on anticipating the needs of the creative industries tomorrow.

An initiative of the Lafayette Consolidated Government in partnership with the Lafayette Economic Development Authority & the Lafayette Convention & Visitor's Center, LEI is managed by Believe Entertainment, LLC."

Nonprofits are innovating too!

Community Foundation of Acadiana is acting as an innovator in our community. By raising the profile and impact of giving in our community, they are changing the community for the better.

2009 marked an exciting year for the greater Lafayette community as a plan was unveiled to have private donors enable the Community Foundation of Acadiana to own develop the Horse Farm into a public space. While plans are still developing, the optimism about the power of giving to transform Lafayette is very high.

The Horse Farm was only the most visible way that the Foundation and the nonprofit sector as a whole were innovating to build a better community. Community Foundation of Acadiana is also set to unveil a web-based community tool in 2010 which will educate and empower Acadiana donors to make smart giving decisions.

At the heart of this innovation in giving is the idea that supporting the causes that matter to each one of us builds a stronger community. The Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce is committed to working with the business and nonprofit community to build a stronger Lafayette.

"While it's a great time to be working in the Technology industry in general, it is even more exciting to have our company headquartered in Lafayette. With easy access to several providers of high speed bandwidth that is unique to Acadiana and a tech-savvy business community willing to embrace new and innovative technology, iConvergence is in a great position to implement Unified Communications solutions that enhance profitability and streamline business processes that help our customers connect, communicate and collaborate with confidence and without borders.”

Glenn Lambert – iConvergence