IT Innovation Day

29 September 2016 | Amersfoort

‘Everything is Different, but Nothing has Changed: Is Better Private Sector Engagement the Path to the Smart City?

Bristol Balloon Fiesta, 2015

Smart CitiesA partnership for research collaboration

A story of three

messages:

1. ‘Smart cities’ is part of a wider

change in perception of the

importance of cities.

2. Smart cities could bring

transformative change, but it’s

often neglected that this process

is extremely hard.

3. The private sector has a crucial

enabling role, but engagement

needs to improve.

Our perception of cities is changing…

…and they’re here to stay.

Endless

Smart City

Possibilities

Social

“Ironically, the greatest weapon against the challenges of the future.”

Edward Glaeser, The Age of Cities, Havard Press

Efficiencies

of density

Intellectual

Diversity and

Assembly

54% Live in

them

70% Will live in

them by

2050

2. But smart cities is not a simple answer.

Citizen engagement is improving.

What about the private sector?

Citizens as

Sensors

VR Public

Consultations

Digital Skills

Programs

Participatory

Budgeting

“To many firms like ours, keeping cities running, ‘smart cities’ is very much:

‘everything is different but nothing has changed.’ ”

CEO Anonymised City Service Provider

…some way to go.

3. The private sector engagement is mixed. Why?

“…we really want to convince

cities to update procurement

contracts to be more open and

outcomes-focused, giving us space

to innovate, embrace

technology…so we can do our part

in improving urban areas.”

Mark Saunders

Head of Centre

for Excellence –

Cities, Ferrovial

Interview, Feb 2016

Stephen Hilton,

Head of Futures,

Bristol City Council

“…we struggle to motivate the

private sector to share in our vision

– we need to figure out how to

engage and drive the digital

participation of the private sector

towards delivering better city

outcomes”Interview, Jan 2016

32%“Cities see us as

suppliers, not

partners.” 63%“Cities should be

doing more to use

tech as a means to

enable us to engage

in improving

cities.”

Dan Byles

Former Chair of UK

Smart Cities APPG

“…providing technology is just a

lever, developing business models

that the private sector want to

engage with is the bigger barrier.”

Barcelona Smart Cities Expo, Nov 2014

After

AfterData enabling outcomes.

MadridBirmingham

BeforeA)

Was

te

Co

llec

tion

B)

Pri

son

Man

agem

ent

Collect each

bin at set

frequency

Contractor thus

empties bin

regardless

Fee given on

completion +

some weight-

based top-up fee

If performed

efficiently,

modest profit

Keep each bin

below set fill

level

Contractor

evaluates with

data when to

pick up what

A smart

contractor can

make more profit

for same fee

Cities have

incentivised

clean streets

Fee given based on

reoffending rates of

prison (as proportion

of avoided societal

costs)

Contractor

harnesses inmate

data to create

bespoke

rehabilitation plans

Throughout their

inmate stay

contractor monitors

and adjusts

City carefully tracks

probationers progress

through society

Data exchanges creating mutual value.Shanghai

SMEs can play an equally powerful role as incumbents.

New York

Visualisations: The Digit Group

The need is clear.

So why is this so hard?

“We do not particularly see offers of digital

innovation coming from CSPs. Our primary

function is to deliver public good, and as such

we see too much risk in trying to drive these

ourselves, but would happily collaborate

with CSPs if we saw their sincere interest.”

Head of Strategic Change

(anonymised EU city)

“For us we do not see cities writing

tenders for digitally-innovative

solutions so we do not believe there

is a market for them so we have not

invested in their development.”

Head of Strategy

(annoymised City Service Provider)

A story of three messages:

1. Smart cities is part of a wider

change in perception of the

importance of cities.

2. Smart cities will bring

transformative change, but it’s

often neglected that this process is

extremely hard.

3. The private sector has a crucial

enabling role, but engagement

needs to improve.

“People say to me, ‘Why haven’t we resolved

urban problems with all this tech yet?’ And I say,

well, why haven’t you got a cure for cancer?

What’s taking so long? These are complex

problems and cities are no different.”

Donald SadowayProfessor, MIT

Barcelona Smart Cities World Expo 2014

“Kutzplus – the ‘people’s Uber’ if you will – died

because we do not understand public and private

sector collaboration around tech well enough. We

risk losing many more innovations if this

doesn’t change.”

Evgeny MorozovThe Guardian

Article, Jan 2016

Smart cities should be seen less about IT…

…and more about IT enabling new, innovative collaborative relationships.

Thank you!

Any questions?

Please do reach out if you are interested in

collaboration, whether a city, corporation

or academic.

Peter Cooper

Research Engineer

Bristol University & Arup

peter.cooper@arup.com

“Our ultimate mission is - and

always will be - to shape a better

world.”

Ove Arup, 1970