Living PlanIT Led Consortium Receives UK Government Funding for £3m Project
Project with Cisco Systems will boost connectivity for UK SMEs by creating a new marketplace and value chains for digital technology in retail and transportation
London – 10th November 2011
A consortium led by Living PlanIT, the global leading designer of urban operating systems, has been awarded Government funding as part of a £3m, two-year project, called ‘Digital value chains in smart urban environments’.
The project will deliver improved connectivity for some of Britain’s small and medium sized enterprises. The project will be based at Greenwich Council’s Digital Enterprise Centre on the Greenwich Peninsula, a fast-growing community of small and medium sized digital businesses.
£1.5 million of funding for the project will come from the Technology Strategy Board, the UK’s innovation agency, whose remit from national Government is to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation. One of the ways in which this is achieved is through the award of grants for projects, which are judged to be of strategic importance to the UK and are likely to deliver significant economic return in the near term. These awards are made by way of a very competitive bidding process with only the highest quality proposals receiving funding.
The Digital Enterprise Centre Greenwich is already a focus for collaboration between Living PlanIT, Greenwich Council and Cisco. The location of the centre, the Greenwich Peninsula, is one of the most significant regeneration projects in Europe and sits at the heart of a rapidly expanding business community, next to Europe’s biggest entertainment venue, the 02 Arena . Here, within a shared technical development environment, SMEs will work to develop & deploy retail and transport applications (‘place apps’) using Living PlanIT’s own proprietary Urban Operating System (UOS™) as the enabling and integrating platform.
Commenting on the award Dr Robin Daniels, Living PlanIT’s Executive Vice President for Global Sales and Marketing, said: “This project will address the value chain challenges that companies working in this important and emerging industry sector face. At the same time, it will help to break down the barriers SMEs meet when they try to openly innovate and collaborate with large scale players, infrastructure owners and local Government.”
Councillor Chris Roberts, Leader of Greenwich Council commented: “This is exactly the type of project that Digital Enterprise Greenwich and Ravensbourne Eco-Incubator has been so successful in attracting. Greenwich is rapidly becoming London’s ‘digital peninsula’ in line with the Government’s Tech City initiative. The young technology businesses we anticipate that this project will attract will form a thriving commercial ecosystem, creating job opportunities and driving economic development in Greenwich and London – and we’re pleased to work alongside Living PlanIT, Cisco and other partners as a part of that.”
Adrian Wyatt, CEO of Quintain Estates and Development said: “The effective combination of technology and sustainability is crucial if the world is to satisfy the growing trend to urbanisation without seriously damaging the environment and the quality of life. It is one of the biggest global challenges that we face. This is the reason why Quintain and Living PlanIT are working in collaboration with Cisco and our enlightened local authority. This project and the support of the UK Government is a powerful demonstration of delivery in the face of that global challenge, here in East London.”
Rod Halstead, Managing Director of Public Sector, Cisco said: “London is a great place for innovation investment. We are delighted to work with our partners on the Greenwich Peninsula. The CADI project creates a digital value chain linking local SMEs to a breadth of larger companies and government and ultimately to a global stage. This is a new model of co-operation which defines transport and retail challenges and proposes novel ICT solutions. We look forward to the first SME small finance “dragons den”.
Information about Living PlanIT can be found at www.living-planit.com.
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