Today Clearwire announced its Clear 4G WiMax Innovation Network, which is a test network for developers and engineers in the Silicon Valley.

The network covers more than 20-square miles of the Silicon Valley area, including Santa Clara, Mountain View and parts of downtown Palo Alto, as well as the main campuses of both Google and Intel. Clearwire said Cisco’s campus would also receive coverage in the coming months once the network expands.

Access to the network will be free for a limited number of qualified developers in the area; the developer network is a precursor to Clearwire’s launch of its WiMax service in the San Francisco Bay Area some time next year.

 “We see tremendous potential for true, mobile broadband to act as the catalyst for new and compelling Internet applications that leverage our 4G bandwidth, free of the confines associated with wired connections,” said John Saw, chief technology officer of Clearwire. “Our goal is to harness the concentration of developer talent in Silicon Valley and accelerate the pace at which these disruptive services are being developed.”

Bright House, Comcast, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable will also join Clearwire, Cisco, Intel, and Google as partners in the Innovation Network with plans to participate in promoting the program and deploying 4G development resources into the network.

"At Bright House, we’re always searching for new and innovative capabilities to bring to our customers,” said Leo Cloutier senior vice president, strategy & business development, Bright House Networks. “We’re strongly supportive of this initiative and its ability to leverage the creative talent of developers in the region for the creation of new mobile broadband applications.”

Clearwire also announced today that it would participate as a platinum sponsor of the Sprint Open Developer Conference scheduled for Oct. 26-28 in Santa Clara, California.

Clearwire also recently announced that it had signed an international roaming deal with two WiMax operators.