UK's Smart Cities recognised as World Class
At the recent Smart Cities World Expo in Barcelona, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) took 16 UK businesses and 4 cities to display British world leading innovation and technology.
Alan Fletcher, Cecile Faraud and Poppy Rai with their awards.
There was a special focus on this year’s main theme: intelligent transport and mobility – the use of new and emerging technologies to transport people and goods more smartly and efficiently.
At the Congress, Peterborough and Milton Keynes were specifically praised for their pioneering work in the field of Smart Cities.
Peterborough was judged ‘Smart City of the Year 2015’ – beating competition from around the world. Peterborough aspires to become the UK’s Environment Capital and its first Circular City. Its smart city programme, Peterborough DNA, has been running since 2013. Cecile Faraud, Circular Economy Lead, Peterborough City Council, and Poppy Rai, Innovation Project Officer, both collected the award.
Cecile said:
This award shows that a smart city is not about being a capital or mega city. A medium sized city with the passion and ability to deliver on its ambitions can develop world class smart capability. This is a huge tribute to the team in Peterborough and the people who live there.
Milton Keynes’ project, MK:Smart, was a finalist in the same category and the city was also recognised for its advances in the field of smart cities. Geoff Snelson, Director of Strategy, Milton Keynes Council and Alan Fletcher, KMi Business Development Manager, the Open University both collected the award.
Geoff said:
The Milton Keynes Future City Programme depends on the integration of knowledge and expertise from our wide range of partners.
The MK:Smart project is at the heart of that integration. It’s great to see it recognised in this way as a leading innovation in data curation for the benefit of the city, its citizens and businesses.
Both cities had been present on UKTI’s Pavilion at the Congress. The Pavilion hosted several UK cities and commercial partners as well as showcasing leading edge smart city solutions from some of the UK’s most innovative companies.
Corin Wilson, Head of Smart Cities at UKTI said:
This valuable recognition of our cities and the collaboration between local government, education and business really demonstrates that the UK is a leader in this domain. The UKTI team is incredibly proud of all the innovation that underlies this success.