Bold plans to transform Newcastle into a smart city have been given the go-ahead by Newcastle City Council.
The council aims to lead the digital revolution and become a major player in the digital world.
The city has the fasting growing digital sector outside of London and attracts entrepreneurs, innovators, start-ups and global players.
The council aims to build on this success and develop better collaboration between businesses, university research and public services to ensure the city is the most connected city in the UK.
Cllr Joyce McCarty, deputy leader of Newcastle City Council said:
“We’re pursuing our vision to be a pioneering city and accelerating our digital revolution, “We have the foundations in place but I believe there is more we can do to go further, faster and more dynamically. That is why we will develop a technological partnership with an organisation to help achieve our ambitions. By building stronger collaboration between business, university research and public services, we can harness the power of technology and data to better design services and make the city work better for everyone.”
Newcastle has the UK’s smartest street in a partnership with computer giant Cisco. The street is fitted with additional CCTV cameras, sensors installed on bins, lampposts and car parking spaces with the data captured to help make better much the city.
Within the council, technology is being used to reduce costs and improve efficiency and responsiveness of council services.
The council plans to further develop and use smart technology to support the vulnerable in their homes, solve parking problems in the city, manage the city’s traffic to ease congestion, improve air quality as well as transform and improve council services through the use of sensors and data.
To achieve this, the council will procure a technological partner in Autumn and continue to build on the infrastructure required to improve connectivity and sensor capabilities.
Source: Newcastle City Council
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