24 Oct 2017

Huawei: Bristol overtakes London as UK’s smartest city

Bristol has overtaken London to become the UK’s leading smart city, according to the second UK Smart Cities Index, commissioned by Huawei UK and conducted by Navigant Consulting. The Index is based on evaluations of 20 cities and their strategies, projects and overall readiness in using digital technology to improve crucial civic services.

The most improved city is Manchester, which has climbed two places to third, while Cambridge has entered the top ten despite not featuring in last year’s report. The report also names 12 “contender” cities which are: Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Glasgow, Nottingham, Peterborough, Cambridge, Oxford, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Newcastle.

However, a similar study published by Juniper Research last week put London in first place, followed by Edinburgh and Glasgow, with Bristol in fourth place.

Bristol’s move up the rankings in Huawei’s UK Smart Cities Index is due to the extension of its innovation programmes and their closer integration into the city’s strategy. The Bristol Is Open project provides a large-scale connectivity testbed and the new City Operations Centre ensures that services are effectively implemented. The city also leads in data access, energy innovation and community engagement.

London’s smart city plans have evolved since the 2016 Index to focus on data-driven policy initiatives and an ambitious new environmental plan. There has also been considerable progress in several London boroughs, notably in the ambitious Digital Greenwich programme. The report’s authors expect that the appointment of a chief digital officer will accelerate London’s development in coming months.