Maros, Indonesia — The Rural ICT Camp 2026 convened in Maros Regency, South Sulawesi, from September 14 - 18, 2026, bringing together international experts, local innovators, and rural community leaders to advance digital inclusion under the theme "Meaningful Community Connectivity for Climate Resilience and Community Empowerment".

Delegates from CVISNET Foundation, Inc. are its Executive Director, Jeffrey N. Llanto and IT Head, Kenneth C. Santiañez.

First initiated in 2020 by the Common Room Networks Foundation, the annual gathering serves as a platform to bridge the digital divide in Indonesia’s rural and remote regions. The 2026 edition focused on scaling technical capacity building, digital literacy, policy dialogue, and the deployment of affordable, secure, and community-owned internet infrastructure.

A key highlight occurred on September 17 during the event's interactive couch discussion, where Jeffrey Llanto, Executive Director of CVISNET Foundation, Inc. joined as a featured resource speaker. Llanto presented CVISNET’s strategic partnership with ATR-Japan and Neiglobe, sharing best practices from the pilot implementation of the Locally Accessible Cloud System (LACS) in the Philippines, demonstrating how localized cloud platforms can ensure disaster resilience and continuous communication during network outages.

Through its R&D initiative from LACS, CVISNET with its partners will release a resilient, offline and AI-powered tool kit in 2027 by the name Vicino. Vicino will accumulate all developed features from LACS, including an AI tool to get responses of registered inhabitants of an offline local area.

Mr. Llanto included CVISNET’s Disaster Information System for Communities (DISC) and how it complements to LACS. Powered by its Barangay e-System & Tools (BeST), DISC is an internet-based e-governance solution designed to streamline disaster preparedness, response coordination, and recovery efforts at the grassroots level.

The Rural ICT Camp 2026 is part of the broader project "Local Networks Initiative (LocNet) – Meaningful Community-Centered Connectivity in Indonesia," supported by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA). Additional core support is provided through the Internet Society Foundation’s (ISOC) SCILLS program via the initiative "Strengthening the School of Community Networks Training and Capacity Building Program for Economic Inclusion in Rural and Remote Indonesia."

This year's event was also made possible through partnerships with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and the Maros Brackish Water Aquaculture Research and Fisheries Extension Center (Balai Riset Perikanan Budidaya Air Payau dan Penyuluhan Perikanan Maros).