Member Article

New partnerships put Milton Keynes at heart of $400bn Smart cities revolution

Milton Keynes – November 14, 2014 – Tech Mahindra Ltd. a specialist in digital transformation, consulting and business re-engineering, today announced that it has joined forces with The Open University (OU) and Milton Keynes Council (Council) in leading the charge in the United Kingdom’s Smart Cities revolution.

At a special ceremony, top representatives from the OU and Council were joined in Milton Keynes by the MD & CEO of Tech Mahindra to sign agreements which will see the parties work closely together in researching key areas behind Smart Cities. This makes Tech Mahindra one –of-the-first Indian IT companies to work on integrated solutions across the connected ecosystem for Smart Cities in the United Kingdom.

Smart Cities harness the power of big data to improve the running of key services such as energy and transport, making them more reliable and efficient. The new partnership between the three organisations will focus its efforts on the following key areas:

Energy Transportation Electric vehicles Connected Ecosystem Internet of Things

The new Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) are designed to pool the talents and experience of the three organisations to develop bids for private and Government sector opportunities in these areas over the next five years, with the sector estimated to be worth £400bn globally by 2020. In Milton Keynes alone, the Smart Cities revolution has the potential to increase employment at a rate of 2,600 jobs per year.

Milton Keynes is already a pioneer in the Smart Cities field, having been invited to join a government-led forum along with just four other cities around the UK.

As a leading institution with a strong track-record of harnessing the latest technology to benefit its students and business, the OU was chosen by Tech Mahindra as a commercial ally, working together on bids for digital projects such as Internet of Things and Driverless Cars.

Commenting on the partnership, CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra said:

“Our unique combination of capabilities in both the Communications and Enterprise domains positions us well in the Digital marketplace. We are excited to be part of this ambitious vision and eager to transform Milton Keynes to a smart city.” He also added, “This partnership brings skills from both academia and the commercial world which will deliver great benefits in furthering research in our increasingly digitized and connected world.”

Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at The Open University, Professor Tim Blackman said:

“The Open University has been leading the way in terms of exploiting the latest technology since we were established over four decades ago. The whole area of Smart Cities is incredibly exciting, so joining forces with an organisation with the capability of Tech Mahindra is a great boost in terms of developing innovative solutions. This will make a real difference to the way people interact with their surroundings – from how we consume energy to the way we get about.”

Councillor Pete Marland of Milton Keynes Council said:

“By harnessing the latest technology and drawing on data available to us, Smart Cities have enormous potential to revolutionise the way we live our lives. But more than this, the Smart City industry is predicted to be worth some $400bn by 2020, with the UK aiming to corner 10% of this market. This partnership is great news for the UK, but as one of the country’s Smart City pioneers, Milton Keynes stands to be one of the big winners in this exciting and expanding sector.”

With over 14 years of presence in Milton Keynes, Tech Mahindra is also aiming to bring its global innovation and connected solution expertise to the MK:Smart programme. These MOU will pave the way for enhanced collaboration between the partners around initiatives like Smart City, Low Carbon Management and Connected Ecosystem Solutions.

Digital Enterprise Services (DES) Unit of Tech Mahindra has been instrumental in contributing to the Smart City initiatives of Tech Mahindra. The unit offers innovative and customer-centric services and solutions integrating technology with business that answer today’s issues, anticipate tomorrow’s needs and create Future Proof and Future Ready Solutions using seven technologies namely Networks, Mobility, Analytics, Cloud, Security, Social and Sensors.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by PJO .