UK cities have only one week remaining to nominate themselves for IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge
Cities across the UK have until 16th December to apply for a 2012 IBM grant from the company’s Smarter Cities Challenge programme. Smarter Cities Challenge is a three-year, £32 million grant programme in which cities (including those in the UK) can apply for free consultancy from IBM’s top technical experts and consultants. Each grant has an equivalent value of approximately £250K in talent and technology.
In March 2011 Glasgow was the first UK city to receive a Smarter Cities grant, and IBM’s advice led to the City Council launching (on November 22nd) a £1m affordable warmth initiative marking the start of efforts to eradicate fuel poverty in the city.
This IBM grant programme provides selected cities with access to teams of IBM employees with expertise on a variety of city-related matters. After collaborating with officials, citizens, businesses, academics and community leaders, the IBM teams recommend actions to make the delivery of services to citizens more efficient and effective. Issues addressed have included jobs, health, public safety, transportation, social services, recreation, education, energy and sustainability.
Mark Wakefield, IBM Corporate Citizenship Manager, commented: “Following the success of our affordable warmth work in Glasgow, I hope we see some strong proposals from cities in the UK. Our Smarter Cities work is about looking at data and trends to make better decisions about the challenges that cities are currently facing. I’m sure there are some extremely worthwhile projects in the UK where we can make a real difference.”
For more information or to apply for a grant please see: http://smartercitieschallenge.org/
Interested city leaders can contact Mark Wakefield directly at: wakefim@uk.ibm.com
John Galvez
UK External Relations
Mobile: 07734-104275 Email: john.galvez@uk.ibm.com
