The city of Glasgow, Scotland has received over £24 million since 2013 from the Innovate UK agency to fund the advancement of its digital infrastructure and open data from which it expects to gain benefits worth nearly £150 million.
Completed projects include:
- An intelligent street lighting demonstrator, showing how the city can use smarter streetlights to improve lighting quality, reduce energy usage, and make maintenance more efficient;
- An active travel demonstrator, showing how the city could improve transportation for both cyclists and pedestrians and increase the use of bicycles;
- An energy efficiency demonstrator, showing how information gathering could help in finding ways to cut emissions and identify and act upon factors that change energy behaviors; and,
- An integrated social transport demonstrator, demonstrating how public transportation can be made more inclusive.
Scottish Secretary, David Mundell said, “This fantastic return on investment demonstrates that targeted funding from the UK Government can lead to great results, benefiting businesses, visitors and communities. Projects funded through this program demonstrate the innovative ways that modern technology and data can be used to make a tangible difference to the lives of people in cities across the world.”
Innovate UK is currently offering up to £10 million loans to small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom that are working on late-stage infrastructure systems projects. The loan competition seeks to help businesses overcome barriers to scaling up innovation in these systems by enabling them to demonstrate their work in real-world applications and take their solutions to market. The agency focuses on smart infrastructure – adding intelligence to improve physical infrastructure or the design process – in the areas of urban living, energy supply and systems, and connected transport.
