London and Bristol lead UK

A new white paper from Navigant Research has examined the strategy and execution of 10 leading smart cities in the UK, highlighting each city’s approaches, key projects, and overall readiness to develop their smart city visions.

In the UK, a number of cities have become significant proponents of smart city concepts, and many more are now seeking to develop their own smart city plans. 10 cities in this region stand out for the breadth and depth of their smart city strategy and specific programmes in areas such as digital innovation, social care, urban mobility, energy, education, and sustainability.

London and Bristol stand out from the crowd for combining technical innovation with a broader strategy for city development, but there are a number of cities close behind them with strong smart city programmes,” says Eric Woods, Research Director with Navigant Research. “The message from our research is that more city leaders need to embed the idea of smart capabilities into their urban projects. Cities and central government also need to work together to ensure successful pilot projects are turned into scalable projects that benefit all citizens.”

According to the white paper, the most successful smart cities share five common characteristics: strong leadership and vision; a focus on local priorities and strengths; engagement with local communities; a network of local partnerships; and an understanding of the impact of the data revolution on city services.

The white paper, ‘UK Smart Cities Index’, was commissioned by Huawei UK, and evaluates the UK smart city market, with a focus on two dimensions: strategy and execution. The strategy dimension assesses each city’s vision, goals, and objectives as they relate to its smart city programme. The execution dimension assesses the city’s actual achievements from initial projects to full blown deployment of innovative technologies and services. Cities are profiled, rated, and ranked with the goal of providing an objective assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of their smart city programmes.

The white paper is available for free download on the Navigant Research website.

Adapted from press release by Francesca Brindle

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/product-news/30052016/london-and-bristol-lead-uk-in-smart-cities-navigant-research-3400/