For the last century, economic developers have understood a fundamental truth: prosperity requires infrastructure. 

Water, electricity, roads, ports and airports created the foundation on which businesses could grow and communities could prosper. Those earlier investments did more than improve transportation and public services. They reshaped local economies and created new opportunities for growth.   

As the International Economic Development Council marks its centennial, we face another defining infrastructure moment. Just as previous generations built the infrastructure that powered and connected American communities, broadband is critical infrastructure for today's digital economy.  Yet its full value depends not only on deployment, but also on whether people and businesses have the skills to use it. Economic development's next chapter is ensuring connected communities can fully take advantage of digital opportunities. 

How broadband creates economic opportunities 

Over the last decade, the country has made significant progress connecting more Americans to broadband. That progress reflects the power of public-private collaboration, including sustained private investment by providers such as Comcast and others across the industry, alongside targeted public support and local leadership. Economic developers can help accelerate that progress by aligning local priorities, partnerships, and adoption strategies. 

Economic development organizations can also play an important advocacy role in helping communities overcome barriers that still slow broadband deployment. While unprecedented funding and investment are in place, challenges related to permitting, pole attachments, and workforce readiness continue to delay construction in some areas. By elevating the economic benefits that broadband enables, local leaders can help build support for policies and processes that accelerate deployment and ensure communities realize the full value of these investments. 

But access is the starting point, not the outcome. The larger opportunity is to turn connectivity into economic capacity for people, businesses, and communities. 

Nearly every industry now depends on reliable connectivity, and the next wave of growth will belong to communities that pair broadband investment with digital skills and opportunity. Manufacturers rely on cloud-based supply chains. Family-owned retailers reach customers through e-commerce. Healthcare providers deliver virtual care. Entrepreneurs can launch businesses from communities that once struggled to attract investment. Learners can pursue online education and professional training that would have been unimaginable a generation ago. 

As artificial intelligence, automation, and other data-driven technologies reshape how businesses operate and how people work, reliable, secure broadband infrastructure that can adapt to changing demands becomes even more important. The opportunity is not simply access to new tools, but the ability of businesses, workers, and communities to put them to productive use. That requires practical digital skills and the capacity to adopt new technologies as they emerge. 

Digital infrastructure creates opportunity. Digital capability determines who can take advantage of it. 

This pattern is not new. Previous infrastructure transformations created their greatest economic value when communities paired physical investment with the skills and capabilities needed to put it to productive use. 

Broadband follows the same pattern. Local leaders are partnering with schools, libraries, nonprofits, workforce organizations and the private sector to expand digital skills, support entrepreneurs, and help small businesses adopt new technologies. Ensuring widespread connectivity means more than extending a network. It means ensuring residents and businesses can participate fully in the digital economy. 

Economic developers have a unique opportunity to lead. For one hundred years, the profession has brought together public, private, and civic partners to meet future opportunities and solve complex challenges. The next generation of economic development will require the same collaborative mindset. 

That means treating broadband as economic infrastructure, bringing workforce, education, business, and community partners into the strategy early, and measuring success not only by deployment but by adoption, business growth, and economic opportunity. No single organization can do it alone. 

Infrastructure and talent development are mutually reinforcing. Connectivity gives residents access to jobs, education, essential services, and training. Those skills help small businesses reach new customers, improve productivity and adopt new technologies. Growing businesses create jobs, attract investment, and strengthen local economies. 

As IEDC begins its second century, success will not be measured solely by miles of fiber or homes connected. It will be measured by whether people can translate connectivity into economic opportunity, entrepreneurs can build businesses that thrive in a digital marketplace, and communities can compete in an increasingly connected world. 

The first century of economic development was defined by building the physical infrastructure that connected communities to markets. The next will be defined by building the digital infrastructure and capabilities that connect people and businesses to opportunity. 

If we get both right – investing in the networks and in people's ability to use them – we can unlock the kind of productivity, innovation, and shared prosperity that highways and electrification helped create for generations before us. 

Bret Perkins is Senior Vice President, Community Growth and Economic Development at Comcast.