I’ve written lots in the past about the idea of the “smart city”, back in 2014, I was talking about the need to strip away complexity to make things happen. And truth be told concepts such as “city as a platform” or “smart city” can still be a little too complex, vague and daunting. What you need as a technologist is the ability to get in there and test things against real-time live infrastructures.
Our latest call at UP_Ventures with our partners MediaCityUK, The Landing, The Connected Places Catapult and the Peel Group allows just this — the ability to test in real time. Across the MediaCityUK estate there is extensive Wi-Fi provision which is campus-wide and synchronous with an operating speed of 200mb per second. Access points include Cisco Meraki and are strategically placed to accommodate 100’s of concurrent connections. We have support if you are working in IoT and want to present dedicated service set identifiers (SSID’s) and can also provide for any technical system to be hosted in a secure manner at MediaCity UK.
Clearly the COVID-19 Pandemic is challenging for all businesses but especially so for those in property management. Never has the need for innovation been more pressing which is why MediaCityUK, the Peel Group and Connected Places Catapult are calling for applications to this smart city innovation testbed. The questions they are grappling with include:
- What is the role of places where we live, work, play and learn in the future?
- How can places evolve and adapt to encourage meaningful interaction and creativity especially with social distancing in play?
- How can technology enhance safety in existing and new building design?
- Can technology positively enhance future business models for small and large-scale developments and the organisations they serve?
So are you a startup with an innovation in property tech? Or perhaps you are working in cutting edge applications in transport or safety and security? Are you developing applications, products or services for a Post Covid world or a world where Covid-19 is with us for a long time forcing us to change how we approach work and play?
Working towards a post-pandemic world we have an opportunity to create a profoundly positive impact on the way people adapt and thrive. At the heart of our smart city innovation testbed is a passion for technology, the role of places and how they can adapt to support how people live, work, play and learn.
We’ve got all the right partners in place to really help your business accelerate. So if you want to find out more you can do so here where there is a link to apply. The application deadline is Friday 23 October 2020
Emer Coleman is a Programme Director with UP who has extensive experience in driving digital change across local and national government as well as private industry.