ADD2015 Barcelona Smart Cities Expo World Congress 2016

The Barcelona Smart Cities Expo World Congress is the most important forum in the world for building relationships with cities and suppliers that create smart cities policies and develop new products that deliver smart cities programmes.

We have regularly had a presence of lead officers and deputy mayors at the expo in recent years. In 2015, the Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy and the Smart City Lead, each made presentations. This year, we want our ambition to match that of New York and other cities who take an exhibition stand to promote their city’s smart agenda and the companies and organisations who contribute to it.

Cities with advanced smart cities policies and programmes (e.g. New York, Barcelona) will be exhibiting and presenting, allowing officers to gather large amounts of intelligence for future policy and programme development that would take much longer with desk research and one-to-one meetings. The event is also an opportunity to quickly develop relationships with funders and vendors, increasing City Hall’s ability to win income from grants and save money with City Hall staff knowledgeable on the cost of smart cities programmes.

The approximate budget costs for attendance and participation at the Expo is as follows:

1. Expenditure of up to €25,000 (£21,873 as of 5 October 2016) from the Intelligence Unit budget to commission the physical stand from Fira Barcelona, the conference organisers;

2. Expenditure of up to £3,000 to hold a networking event to build connections to other cities active in smart cities policies and programmes; and

3. Expenditure to cover the costs of GLA Officers attending the event as representatives – 4 days x 1 Officer, 3 days x 2 Officers, 2 days x 1 Deputy Mayor at a cost of €277.50 (£242.80 x 12 = £2,913.60) expense claim per day (HMRC rates) and delegate passes at €750 (£656 x 4 = £2,624.00 each which totals €6,330 (£5,537.60 as of 5 October 2016). Associated travel cost to Spain for 4 officers at a cost of £150 each (£600).

Officers attending the event to represent GLA will be Rajesh Agrawal, Andrew Collinge, Sara Kelly, Stephen Lorimer

We will work with the Commercial Partnerships team to recoup this expenditure through commercial partners recruited through publishing the opportunity on London.gov.uk, the Smart London Board, and the Mayor’s International Business Programme.

The Mayor of London is offering the opportunity for a number of organisations to become partners at the Smart City Expo, enabling them to:

• Have dedicated exhibition space at the event
• Give curated talks
• Arrange business speed dating
• Host sponsored drinks receptions.

There will be three partnership opportunities to present as part of the Mayor’s Stand
Corporate partners will be able to:
• Increase their business prospects, showcasing their innovative solutions and technologies using city data from their personalised plinth on the Mayor’s stand
• Bring an audience to the Mayor’s stand with seminars and demonstrations
• Be the presenting sponsor of a major networking event hosted by city mayors’ business promotion agencies
• Two passes for the full congress and one for the exhibition floor
This package is available for £12,000 plus VAT.

Accelerator programme partners will be able to:
• Promote their start ups’ innovative solutions and technologies using city data from two plinths on the Mayor’s stand
• Have a continuous presence on the stand for their programme and their start ups
• Be the presenting sponsor of ‘speed dating’ of start ups/scale-ups with corporates
• Bring an audience to the Mayor’s stand with seminars and demonstrations
• One delegate pass and two passes for the exhibition floor
This package is available for £6,000 plus VAT.

Small & Medium-size Enterprise (SME) partners will be able to:
• Increase their business prospects, showcasing their company’s innovative solutions and technologies in data from one plinth on the Mayor’s stand
• Bring an audience to the Mayor’s stand with seminars and demonstrations
• One pass for the exhibition floor
This package is available for £2,000 plus VAT

The Greater London Authority and our promotional agency London and Partners will be responsible for all logistical support both beforehand and during the event. There will be a memorandum of understanding between City Hall and London & Partners for logistical support on site and published collateral from their insight, foreign direct investment, and Mayor’s International Business Programme.

Objective
To promote London’s smart city agenda, and provide a platform for London’s smart cities sector firms. Also to establish London’s relationships with other cities active in smart cities policies and programmes.

Outputs
1. Initial agreements for international cooperation on smart cities with leading world cities
2. New contracts for London’s firms operating in the smart cities markets
3. Interest and investment from high-quality suppliers that previously did not consider London as a market for their services

In order to ensure that our promotion of smart cities firms are representative of all of London, including identified groups such as women, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, we will seek to ensure representation of exhibitors lead by people from these communities. For example, only 17% of tech companies are founded by women, and we are working with the Mayor’s International Business Programme, who has a track record of inclusion: 24% of companies in their programme were founded by women.

The GLA will work with the Commercial Partnerships team and London & Partners to ensure that efforts are made to secure representation from these identified groups by, for example, working with interest groups representing women or BAME in tech, to make sure they are invited an a way appropriate to them, and ensure as much representation as possible.

Links to Mayoral Strategies and Commitments

The Mayor’s Manifesto
• Champion London industry at home and abroad, making the case for inward investment in our city, and working to attract ever more global business.
• Support innovative tech solutions which enable Londoners to access and use public services and information more easily and efficiently.
• Collaborating with other cities through international networks such as the C40 and ICLEI to develop innovative solutions to the changes of tackling climate change and other environmental challenges cities like London face.
• Join other European cities like Berlin, Amsterdam and Barcelona in signing up to the United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme.

Impact Assessments and Consultations
No impact assessment or consultation is required for the project.

5.1 Approval is being sought for expenditure with an aggregated value not exceeding £31k to cover the cost associated with the Barcelona Smart City Expo World Congress, as set out in the body of this report, and to procure Fira Barcelona to design and build stands for the GLA participation at the Barcelona Smart City Expo.

5.2 To enter into all associated agreements with the Commercial Partnerships team in order to recoup the costs incurred, summarised below:

5.3 The budget provision required for this programme of work will be funded from the agreed Intelligence Unit minor programme budget. The WBS to charge all costs to is GG.0220.001.

5.4 As this decision relates to a contract, officers have to ensure that the requirements of the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code are adhered to.

5.5 Any changes to this proposal, including budgetary implications will be subject to further approval via the Authority’s decision-making process. All appropriate budget adjustments will be made.

6.1 Sections 1 to 4 of this report indicate that:

6.1.1 the decision requested of the assistant director, in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code (the “Code”), falls within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the discharge of its general functions; and

6.1.2 in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
• consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 Section 3 of the Code requires the GLA to seek three or more written quotations in respect of the services required or call off the services required from an accessible framework. However, the assistant director may approve an exemption from this requirement under section 5 of the Code upon certain specified grounds. One of those grounds is a complete absence of competition. Officers have indicated in section 1 of this report that this ground applies, and that the proposed contract affords value for money.

On this basis the assistant director may approve the proposed exemption if satisfied with the content of this report.