Member Article

CityVerve appoints member spokesperson

Tech entrepreneur Andrew Beechener has been elected spokesperson for the general assembly of consortium members in CityVerve, the ambitious technology project which will see Manchester become a world leader in the Internet of Things (IoT). The project will deliver improved services for residents and will make the City a global showcase for new digital ideas.

CityVerve is a consortium of 21 public and private partners including Manchester City Council, Manchester Science Partnerships, the University of Manchester, Cisco, BT and numerous other tech players. The project is also backed by Government and Innovate UK. The team won £10m grant funding to deliver the project last December in a fiercely fought nationwide competition.

The CityVerve project aims to use IoT technology to introduce smarter services. These improvements will help deliver more personal, efficient and flexible products and services such as talkative bus stops, which let bus operators know when commuters are waiting, and a network of sensors in parks and along commuter routes to encourage people to do more physical activity.

As part of the CityVerve delivery programme numerous providers have been appointed to deliver on individual strands. Beechener is co-founder of Republic of Things, a fast developing tech company which will lead on developments in the transport and health sectors, as well as building new capability for data handling and data security.

He says: “As with any large consortium CityVerve needs to have one single unified voice and I am delighted to have been elected to represent the wider partners. Manchester’s sophisticated smart cities agenda brings huge opportunities for better health, welfare and happiness and the CityVerve programme will help to re-define ‘smart’ in the context of a living, working city.

“Innovation comes from collaboration and with the strong partnerships delivered by CityVerve we are able to put Manchester at the forefront of UK and global cities which are capable of extracting real value from emergent IoT technologies. 2017 is going to be a really exciting year as we start to see the tangible delivery of projects.”

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