Bristol has submitted a bid to become the UK’s first IoT Demonstrator city region, with the city leading the bid on behalf of other West of England Local Authorities and businesses.
On behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Innovate UK would invest £10 million for a collaborative research and development project, with the additional £7 million being matched by project partners.
The university said the IoT Demonstrator bid will propose new ways of meeting the challenges to air pollution that major cities face.
Under the scheme, the University of Bristol will be partnering with companies such as NEC, Ernst and Young, GE, Atkins Global, Imtech UK, Esoterix Systems, Zipabout, and Zuora.
The application comes as Bristol, as part of a consortium with San Sebastián and Florence, was recently awarded ?€25 million to create integrated smart city solutions to tackle familiar urban problems such as traffic congestion, poor air quality and unsustainable energy use.
The REPLICATE (REnaissance of PLaces with Innovative Citizenship And TEchnologies) award is part of the Smart Cities and Communities funding call, included in the EU’s Horizon 2020 innovation programme.
For the EU scheme, the University of Bristol will collaborate with the University of the West of England, as well as other partners in the public and private spectrum across sectors.
The University of Bristol and the city council have also formed a joint venture last July – Bristol is Open – to deploy smart sensors throughout the city, which then convoy data to the university’s HPC.
