In 2013, the emphasis of Smart to Future Cities was on moving from vision to reality, looking at how the market was at an inflection point between talking about what “smart city” means and understanding how to implement it. The evidence of the shift was in the increasing maturity of the demand side, the development of standards, and the arrival of investment in the form of stimulus funding from government, sovereign wealth funds, and venture capital. In 2014 we will be charting the exciting next step as Smart Cities move into the mainstream and city leaders focus on implementing a working, integrated infrastructure.

Things are definitely moving now as governments commit finance and policy to smart city development. Both the UK and the EC launched their “smart city” strategies at the end of 2013 and will be outlining their plans at this event, along with city leaders from: Chicago, Bilbao, Barcelona, Vienna, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Sunderland, Bristol and Birmingham.

With so many of the cities at the vanguard of smart development speaking this conference offers you an unrivalled opportunity to learn from their deployment of protocols, operating platforms and technologies. The format of the event is discursive with panel session discussions including Q and A sessions with city leaders so that you can ensure that your own smart city implementations benefit from their experience on what works and what does not.

These debates will give you the knowledge and tools to:

• Develop a common operating platform approach as a strategic method to enhance citizen engagement.
• Understand Big Data as a smart city driver and the key to resolving the “data rich, information poor” nature of today’s cities
• Create working partnership models that reflect the complex requirements of the smart city market, rather than the different verticals working in silos
• Access finance for integrated city systems
• Develop collaborative citizens services with open data and innovative apps

Further details are featured in the flyer below.

Smart Cities are set to reach new heights in the UK, as Government, cities, businesses and universities are joining forces to make sure the UK is leading the global race to develop smarter cities. A new forum led by government, will see local authorities and businesses working together to ensure that growth opportunities are not missed in a market estimated to be worth more than $400 billion globally by 2020.

The Forum is a key part of the Information Economy Strategy. Published earlier this year (2013) the strategy involves government and industry working together to support a digital sector that employs around 1.5 million people in the UK.

Government is already investing in the development of new technologies to support this sector. £50 million is being invested by the Technology Strategy Board in a Future Cities Catapult in London that will support businesses looking to commercialise their products and get them into the market place.

The Technology Strategy Board is also investing £24 million to create a future cities demonstrator in Glasgow. The city will demonstrate how new integrated services across health, transport, energy and public safety can improve the local economy and increase the quality of life. It will also allow UK businesses to test new solutions that can be exported around the globe.