City Region’s smart tech on display at international event

Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is leading a private sector delegation at the 2017 Smart Cities Expo World Congress in Barcelona to highlight the region’s strong technology capabilities and world leading developments within the smart cities arena.

The digital sector contributes £6.5bn to the City Region economy and employs 102,000 people.

The delegation is aiming to showcase the opportunities and talent in the UK’s largest City Region outside London and the South East by hosting a series a targeted investor meetings with international tech firms including Huawei and Dahua Technologies.

This follows hosted visits to the region from some of the world’s largest technology firms.

Kersten England, chief executive of Bradford Council and the LEP’s lead chief executive for Business Innovation and Growth, said: “Leeds City Region has a long tradition of invention, innovation and industry and I’m delighted that at the Smart Cities Expo World Congress this year some of our game changing technology businesses such as Konnektis and Solomon will be on display. Our region’s ability to adapt to the changing landscape of business and industry is why we remain at forefront of the fourth industrial revolution. I hope that the international audience of technology influencers, developers and investors will see spark which exists in our region and I would invite them all to come and take closer look for themselves at our opportunities for collaboration which can deliver inclusive growth for the people who live and work here but also have a positive impact on the global landscape.”

Mark Howells, founder and CEO of Konnektis, developer of a digital system that enhances home care, added: “It’s great to be showcasing our system to an international audience as part of a City Region delegation. We are currently rolling out our system with Local Authorities in the North of England following a successful pilot in Bradford. Users have found the system an effective way of keeping care records and can communicate in real-time with other providers to provide the best levels of person-centred care.”

The delegation includes representatives from AMC Network, Complete Resourcing, Connexin, DHEZ, Digital Catapult Yorkshire, Incremental Solution, Leeds City Council, The University of Leeds, Make it York, Munroe K, Solomon and York St John University.

Leeds City Region’s attendance at the Smart Cities Expo World Congress builds upon the success of the region’s digital sector in attracting new investment.

In the last 12 months alone global digital media company Perform Group has expanded in Leeds and American-owned digital marketing agency Fractl selected the city for its first international office.

Burberry recently announced it was to move an additional 100 IT roles to Leeds, bringing the total number of employees based at their new site to 400.

This is backed up by investment in world-class digital infrastructure. The first building at CEG’s Kirkstall Forge development, No 1Kirkstall Forge, has been awarded Wired Platinum certification – a trusted benchmark for technological capacity and infrastructure resilience and connectivity.

This award, positions No.1 Kirkstall Forge on the same level as The Leadenhall Building and The Empire State Building for its digital infrastructure.