California Emerging Technology Fund

A momentous milestone has been reached in the journey towards a more inclusive and equitable digital society with the passing of the Digital Equity Bill of Rights, which was recently signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA). California has taken a bold step forward in ensuring that every individual, regardless of their background, circumstances or zip code, has fair and equal access to the benefits and opportunities offered by the Digital Age. California is the first state in the nation to make Digital Equity a legal right.

The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) announced the departure of Senior Vice President Susan Walters to become the US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Regional Director of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) with responsibility for the States of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Susan Walters was a founding team leader when CETF began operations in 2006.

The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) shared the results of an advertising campaign that CETF developed and Los Angeles County (CA) joined as co-branded partner, resulting in outstanding growth in enrollments. CETF launched advertising in the first 3 weeks in December 2021, and saw Emergency Broadband Benefit sign-ups increase by 43 percent month over month.

In the first-of-its-kind collaboration, nationally-recognized researchers from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, in partnership with the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) and with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, will identify effective and sustainable strategies for bringing affordable Internet to all Americans.

The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) calls on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and public agencies to begin advertising and increase awareness programs to reach the nation’s neediest residents.  According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), only 1 in 12 eligible households, or 5.7 million households nationally, have enrolled in the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) as of September 19.  In a separate analysis by CETF, based on FCC enrollment data, 35 percent of 2 million eligible California households have enrolled for a total of nearly 706,000 households.  The analysi

The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) released its 2021 Statewide Broadband Adoption Survey, in partnership with the University of Southern California, in a summary report titled Internet Adoption and the "Digital Divide" in California. The CETF survey tracks the progress of broadband deployment and adoption throughout CA from 2008 to 2021 and finds more than 90% of the state’s households have high-speed Internet connectivity at home through either a computing device or a smartphone, but 9.6% still are not connected. Home broadband adoption is increasing, up 3 percentage points fro