Town wins £50,000 smart city money

WARRINGTON has been named as one of 30 towns and cities across the UK to be awarded £50,000 in the initial stage of the “Smart City” funding initiative.
The announcement was made by the UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB) – and the award means Warrington will be able to go on to compete for the final award of £24 million in January next year.
This is to fund a large scale demonstration project of a “smart city” in action that can quantifiably show how integrating city systems can improve competitiveness and quality of life in cities.
Most of the preliminary “winners” are cities and only two others are in the North West – Manchester and Salford.
Earlier this year, the Government urged local authorities to submit blueprints for “smart cities” by integrating transport, communications and other city infrastructure, for the chance to win £24 million of government investment.
The Future Cities Demonstrator programme, run by the TSB, aims to kickstart the market for integrated city systems, which is estimated to be worth £200 billion a year by 2030. The government has already lent its support to smart city schemes driven by Intel and Living PlanIT, but this is the first time it will offer financial support for such a project.
Local authorities were invited to bid for the £50,000 grants to carry out a feasibility study to develop their demonstrator project proposal. Now Warrington can submit a proposal for the large scale demonstrator – but only one authority will be awarded the £24 million funding to implement their proposal.
Warrington’s success in being selected is another indication of the town’s high profile nationally. Earlier this month it was named by the thinktank Centre for Cities as the top town in Britain for economic growth over the last 100 years.
Joe Dignan, chief analyst for the public sector at business technology advisers Ovum said: “The project has the potential to substantially move on the £35 billion smart cities market. At least 50 communities were in scope and have therefore audited their current situation, thought about how greater connectivity could improve their competitiveness and have developed a framework for their smart city strategy.
“The 30 feasibility winners, armed with their strategies, now have a concrete starting point to initiate discussions with vendors. The TSB will no doubt face questions as to why of the 30 winners, 26 were English, but should be congratulated for having been brave enough not to take the easy option of awarding multiple but meaningless awards. By sticking to one winner who gets the full £24m, the demonstrator is more likely to create meaningful data.”