Bristol City Council Part with University of Bristol

Bristol City Council parting ways with the University of Bristol and taking over Bristol is Open (BIO).

17:48 08 April 2019

Bristol City Council is set to take over a digital company once its partner, the University of Bristol, pulls out from their partnership. The two organisations co-own Bristol is Open, a joint venture set up three years ago to create digital technology needed to create smart cities. The university is set to sell its 50per cent share and the council will take over the R&D company and turn it into a digital technology supply business.

 

The move has made some councillors nervous. Conservative group leader Mark Weston, councillor for Henbury and Brentry, said that the university’s decision to pull out “makes me nervous as to why they’re doing that. It makes me more nervous for ourselves about why we are taking that on.

 

Board chair Geoff Gollop shares his sentiment saying that he does not know how much the move will cost the council over the next three years.

 

“I think it’s a real issue of how much that funding is going to be and whether we can afford to do it,” he said.