Smart City issues vision statement for Birmingham
THE body set up to ensure Birmingham is ready to meet the challenges of the future has issued a vision statement outlining its goals.
Set up in July, the Smart City Commission has been tasked with coming up with a ‘future proofing’ strategy to ensure the city is well positioned to take advantage of technological innovation and change.
The aim is to achieve sustainable economic growth, prosperity and an improved quality of life.
The commission’s work is set against a challenging context for Birmingham, which sees the city ranked as the ninth most deprived out of 354 authorities in England, with 35% of children classified as living in poverty and unemployment twice the national average.
In addition to this, 18.5% of people are not online, with 25% of residents classed as being ‘highly-skilled’.
The commission, whose members are drawn from business, academia and government, has listed its priorities as:
• Developing top level leadership capable of embracing the needs of all communities
• The exploitation of technological change to develop ultra-fast digital connectivity in order to attract inward investment
• Better targeted public services
• The promotion of the ‘Open Data’ agenda to provide better quality information and develop new opportunities for entrepreneurs
• Reviewing public procurement practices to encourage new ideas, along with the creation of an innovative development fund
• Making connectivity affordable for all
• Developing ways in which the city’s many organisations can work together to champion Birmingham as a Smart City in the areas of enterprise and social collaboration – thus making the city an attractive location to invest in.
A series of recommendations will now be developed addressing the priority areas. This will form the basis of an action plan and a roadmap for the future direction of the commission.
The roadmap will be published in summer 2013 and include a timeline of activities, details of linkages to the city council’s Green Commission and Youth Unemployment Commission, and detail the funding and investment opportunities – both public and private – to support the delivery of the vision statement.
Cllr James McKay, chair of the Smart City Commission, said: “The world is constantly changing, and over the last few decades the pace of technological development has been staggering, posing a major challenge for traditionally industrial cities like Birmingham.
“The world will not stand still, so we need to position ourselves to maximise the opportunities this change brings.
“We must innovate, integrate, collaborate and pool resources, share information and work with as many partners as possible to achieve this – the Smart City Vision Statement is the first step towards grasping the opportunities on offer and breaking down silos, to ensure Birmingham has the most prosperous future possible.”
The Smart City Commission comprises:
Cllr James McKay – Chairman
Mark Barrow – Strategic Director of Development, Birmingham City Council
Chris Parker – Managing Partner, CS Transform Ltd
Des Correia – Director, Arup
Duncan Botting – Managing Director, Global Smart Transformation Ltd
Enrique Sanchez – Smart Cities Lead, Ferrovial
Guenter Pecht-Seibert – Senior Vice President, SAP
Keith Osman – Director of Research, Birmingham City University
Mike Perry – Principal Consultant, Building Research Establishment
Sandy Taylor – Head of Climate Change and Environment, Birmingham City Council
Richard Foggie – Director, HoIP CIC
Rick Robinson – Executive Architect, IBM
Steve George – Director, SGTI (representing Centro and UTMC – urban traffic management and control)
Dr Phil Extance – Pro-Vice Chancellor, Aston University
Raj Mack – Head of Digital Birmingham
Prof Chris Rogers – Professor of Geotechnical Engineering & Deputy Head of School of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham
Dr Christine Braddock – Principal & Chief Executive, Birmingham Metropolitan College
Mark Bew – Chair of BIM (Building Information Modelling) Task Group, Cabinet Office
Nick Booth – Managing Director, Podnosh
Vicky Sargent – Director, Boilerhouse Media
