Member Article

Glasgow shows the strengths of a Smart City

In 2013, Glasgow competed with 29 other cities for a £24 million investment from Innovate UK. Since winning this funding, the city has found successful growth in its businesses, citizen experience and overall safety, using creative technologies and open data to develop new solutions to age-old problems. Here, we explore how Glasgow is showing the strengths of a smart city.

Operations Centre One such example is Glasgow’s Operations Centre. This integrated traffic and public safety management system boasts several significant additions to Glasgow’s infrastructure, including upgraded HD CCTV monitoring, controlled transport flows and data sharing between security services. As a result, emergency service response times have improved and general safety in the city has strengthened.

Expanding Local Businesses Small companies such as JamHot have also grown as a result of Innovate UKs investment. Specialising in website creation, the business was able to work directly with the Future City initiative, allowing opportunities to collaborate with new partners and clients including animators and photographers. This exposure led to additional pitches for new projects, one of which was successful. Elsewhere, companies like Future Makers provide further evidence about the benefits of a smart city, with significant expansion of its clubs and extra workshops for young people.

Improving the Daily Lives of Citizens It’s not just commercial corporations who are experiencing the positives of a smart city initiative, either – citizens are also able to travel and commute more easily than ever before. Thanks to newly-introduced walking and cycling apps, pedestrians are able to provide open data on potential problems, improving infrastructure and environments for both cyclists and walkers alike. Smarter data has allowed for more precise predictions of crime rates, with new approaches being used to lower and reduce antisocial behaviour. Addiction and rehabilitation support group GEAPP has also been able to widen its message through extra funding, creating a website and allowing better access to key information.

**Investments Brought Back ** Innovate UK’s initiative has seen a £140 million return in savings, economical boosts and growth for the city of Glasgow. New open data sharing and connections have allowed for new products, jobs and opportunities to develop, attracting additional investments of £12 million for 2020.

USMART’s Role in the Smart City This implementation of shared data, demonstrated on a wider scale by smart cities such as Glasgow, is available through USMART - the next-generation sharing platform by UrbanTide. This secure and scalable tool allows public and private sector users to unlock data, building smart communities and developing better strategies. Find out more about USMART and its impact on cities of the future here.

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