Agenda item

            The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       The Smart Belfast programme encourages collaborative innovation between our universities, digital SMEs and the public sector in order to tackle urban challenges and support public service transformation. Delivery of the programme continues to be driven by a ‘pipeline’ of projects specifically chosen for their capacity to contribute to the Urban Innovation framework agreed by Members in 2017.

1.2       While the programme’s focus over recent months has been in the development of the digital and innovation pillar of the Belfast Region City Deal, the team have continued to deliver smart city project. This paper provides a short update and seeks Members’ approval on a number of emerging opportunities.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1 Members are asked to:

1.      Note that the Last Mile Freight Delivery Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition winners will be announced on 18 October at the Belfast Waterfront.

2.      Note that following a Things Connected competition, two SMEs have been selected to work with Belfast City Council and Ulster University to develop proto-types to support our city centre services.

3.      To agree to work with the Titanic Foundation to appoint ‘Hello Lamp Post’ to develop a Maritime Mile demonstrator project.

4.      To agree to support Hello Lamp Post’s application to the €3 million SyncroniCity IT Open Call.

5.      To agree to support a SME-consortium bid to the UK Space Agency’s Call for Ideas bid for a major air quality project.

6.      To note that the launch of the SBRI ‘Managing Open Space’ challenge will take place at the Belfast Big Data conference on 18 October and that the competition funding has been increased to £100,000.

3.0       Main report

3.1       The Smart Belfast programme encourages collaborative innovation between our universities, digital SMEs and the public sector to tackle urban challenges and support public service transformation It operate at three levels:

(1)    City and regional: Working with partners to inform the Belfast Region City Deal and supporting partners to bring innovative solutions to challenges identified in the Belfast Agenda (while at the same time supporting our digital companies to innovate);

(2)    Organisational transformation: Contributing to the Council’s own service transformation by supporting the adoption of user-centric design; innovative procurement; and the application of data science and digital technologies.

(3)    Building the core foundations: Working with partners to build the strategic capabilities of our smart city (including supporting a city data platform, networks, skills sharing, joint delivery mechanisms, etc).

3.2       Delivery of the programme continues to be driven by a ‘pipeline’ of projects specifically chosen for their capacity to contribute to the Urban Innovation framework agreed by Members in 2017. The latest information on the programme is available at http://smartbelfast.city

3.3       Members are asked to note a number of current and planned pipeline projects:

3.4       Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) on Last Mile Freight delivery

            Following previous committee approval, the Council have been working with Dublin City Council, the NI Department for Infrastructure, Belfast BIDs, the NI Freight Transport Association, on a €240,000 SBRI competition to encourage SMEs to develop proofs of concepts to help address the challenges of managing freight deliveries in both Dublin and Belfast city centres.

3.5       The successful companies have now been selected for Phase One with the winners to be publicly announced at the Big Data Belfast conference http://www.bigdatabelfast.com at Belfast Waterfront Hall on 18 October. The councils and their partner organisations will support the development of phase one projects which will explore a variety of approaches in both cities.

3.6       Things Connected challenge competition

            Working with Ulster University, the UK Digital Catapult, and other Northern Ireland local councils, the Council is delivering a £30,000 competition to encourage companies to explore ways in which the new NI Things Connected network can be used to support city centre services and the citizen’s experience of the public realm.

3.7       Two SMEs have now been chosen to go forward for the Belfast challenge. They will be supported by Ulster University to develop their ideas during an initial proof-of-concept phase in autumn 2018

3.8       Alongside the competition, the Council has also arranged free training for over 60 SMEs in using cloud-based Internet of Things technology. More than 50 companies have signed up to use the new network, meeting a key success metric set out by the funders Digital Catapult UK. The programme has already led to the creation of one new company.

3.9       Maritime Mile demonstrator project

            The Smart Belfast team have also been exploring how IoT technologies could support the development of the city’s ‘maritime mile’ (ie, from the Big Fish to the Pump House) – with a particular focus on how pedestrians and visitors plan their journeys and interact with the public realm. Working with the Titanic Foundation who have offered to provide match-funding, it is proposed that the Council appoint IoT company, ‘Hello Lamp Post’, to develop a small-scale demonstrator project that will use mobile phone technology to encourage pedestrians to interact with objects along the maritime mile. The learning from the demonstrator project will then be used to inform the future use of smart technologies in public space and in a future smart district.

3.10      Hello Lamp Post are also planning to bid to a €3 million ‘SynchroniCIty’ IoT fund to develop this work in Belfast and in Eindhoven. It is proposed that Belfast City Council provide a letter of support for this SME-led application.

3.11      UK Space Agency Call For Ideas

            Urban air quality and its links to health outcomes is a growing issue at the national and international level. As Members will be aware, Belfast City Council is currently involved in a UK Space Agency funded project with a consortium of SMEs and the Belfast Health Trust. This Urban Healthy Living project seeks to model Belfast’s traffic data and air quality to provide information on air pollution in a near real-time for city planners and citizens.

3.12      Building on this ongoing work, the SME consortium lead, Redshift Associates, are now bidding to the Space Agency for an even more ambitious air quality project. It is proposed that Belfast City Council provide a letter of support for their application.

3.13      SBRI challenge for managing open space

            As Members will be aware, working with the NI Department for Justice, the Community Safety Partnership and other agencies, the Council successfully applied to the Northern Ireland SBRI challenge programme to support a £50,000 project to work with SMEs to develop innovative ways to support the better management of public space in the city (including parks). The Community Safety Unit have provided a further £10,000 to the competition. More recently, the Department for Finance offered an additional £50,000 for companies.

3.14      The concept has attracted substantial local and national interest. The Smart Dublin team are interested in exploring a similar challenge in and may be able to offer additional funding to the project to allow companies to also test their ideas in a number of parks in Dublin city centre. (This complementary offer has not yet been confirmed.)

3.15      The details of the £110,000 competition are now being finalised and will provide opportunities to explore how data science and digital technologies can support better understanding of the issues associated with safe open space.

3.16      The competition will be publicity launched to the SME community at the ‘Big Data Belfast’ conference on 18 October at Belfast Waterfront Hall. Successful companies will work with the Council and others to develop their proofs of concepts up until March 2019.

3.17      Financial & Resource Implications

            The 2018/2019 programme budget for Smart Belfast was agreed by SP&R Committee in November 2017.

            For the Maritime Mile demonstrator project, Titanic Foundation are offering to match Belfast City Council’s contribution of £3,000.

3.18      Equality or Good Relations Implications/ Rural Needs Assessment

            Equality and good relations implications will be taken into consideration and it is proposed that we will take this through equality screening; however, it is anticipated that any collaborative efforts should have a positive effect on Section 75 groups.”

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.