The idea of bringing the Internet to Bario was conceived as a research project to determine opportunities for social development available from the deployment of information and communication technologies within remote communities in Sarawak. Desirable results from pilot studies in other developing countries have encouraged the team to work among those communities in Sarawak to have equal access to ICTs, specifically the Internet that could precipitate significant improvements in their live.

The project set out to define the extent to which contemporary ICTs could deliver sustainable human development to remote rural communities in Sarawak. It aims to identify further needs and opportunities within such communities that can be satisfied by the innovative use of ICTs, and through action–oriented measures, to demonstrate how significant and sustainable development can be achieved by remote communities through such implementations.