Ovum: Analyst view: UK TSB reveals winners of initial stage of smart city funding Jul 26, 2012 – Joe Dignan
The UK smart cities market received a boost today with the UK Technology Strategy Board’s (TSB) announcement of the 30 winners* of the demonstrator feasibility project funding.
Joe Dignan, Ovum’s chief analyst for Public Sector has the following comments:
“The project has the potential to substantially move on the £35billion 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 to inform the ROI for smart cities.”
“Ovum believes smart cities represent the delta between technology and people. However, the market has been stalled through the public sector not having viable examples, at scale, which proved the business case for smart cities. The smart city debate, in essence, is the belief that integrating a ‘system of systems’ will result in the symbiotic improvement of economic competitiveness and ‘livability’.”
*The following winners will each receive £50k of smart city feasibility monies and go on to compete for the final award of £24m in January 2013 for a large scale demonstration project of a smart city in action that can quantifiably show how integrating city systems can improve competiveness and quality of life in cities.
Mayor of London (Greater London Authority)
Newcastle City Council
Bristol City Council
Glasgow City Council
Birmingham City Council
Manchester City Council
Milton Keynes Council
Leicester City Council, on behalf of the Mayor’s City Partnership
