Which Councils are Embracing IoT?

Which UK councils are leading the urbantech revolution?

14:14 19 December 2017

Urbantech is a catch-all term that refers to “technology that makes cities and urban spaces more connected, liveable, and efficient.” One high-profile backer of this concept is Midlands Mayor Andy Street. In a report, Street said that urbantech “can transform old-style services relatively inexpensively. Data, used smartly, can enhance all manner of interventions, from social care and the fight against homelessness, to how cities plan housing, organise transport and, perhaps most importantly for a tech-savvy and smartphone-enabled population, engage with citizens.”

 

Other than West Midlands, other UK councils that have been praised for their effort to create  “ecosystems of innovation” are the following:

 

·       Aberdeen

·       Belfast

·       Birmingham

·       Bristol

·       Buckinghamshire

·       Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

·       Camden

·       Durham

·       Edinburgh and Glasgow

·       Greenwich

·       Leeds

·       Liverpool

·       Manchester

·       Milton Keynes

·       Newcatle upon Tyne

·       Oxfordshire

·       Sheffield

·       York

 

Street added: “Making the most of the opportunities, however, requires local politicians and officials alike to be willing to rethink local services, take advantage of data, adopt cloud-based solutions and, critically, give start-ups a chance to pilot their innovations, even if it means breaking with old ways of working. For a new era, we need new technologies, and new ways of buying services and products.”