Innovation: reaping and sharing the rewards

Amid all the hype, and a market in which the pace of innovation continues to accelerate, it is easy to get lost between the technology pathways available now, what is being admired like a mature cheese (great now, but wait too long and its pull will definitely wain), and what is just around the corner that will most effectively harness and provide insights on much-needed urban data. From 5G to blockchain, it can be a confusing minefield to negotiate and one with long-term consequences for procurement, servicing, skills and more.

In a bid to find the best solutions, cities have dipped their municipal toes into the murky waters of dingy labs and grungy student digs, hackeries and maker spaces, and even into the plush offices of the big players to find solutions. Sensors and bits of kit have seemingly sprung up in urban spaces everywhere as we experiment with possible solutions, with some cities devoting time and effort to being urban-wide living labs. Cities have also dived into the well of information within their own estate: from rates payments to maintenance schedules and social care to kindergartens, councils have been exploring how they can get better value from exploiting and sharing data internally across operational and data silos.

City experimentation has produced rich innovation (and not just with the ‘sensed’ world, but with data from other sources as well). This has facilitated ways to share the spoils with other cities, including those that do not have the means to invest at the forefront of urban innovation.

The clear message is that cities no longer have to shoulder the burden of doing all the innovation themselves - we can learn from each other, and cherry-pick what we like from a wealth of solutions.