Key information
Decision type: Assistant Director
Reference code: ADD2163
Date signed:
Decision by: Andrew Collinge, Assistant Director of Intelligence
Executive summary
MD1574 approved the GLA’s acceptance of a grant award of €24,988,759 (€2.4m of funding was awarded for specific GLA activities) from the European Commission and approved expenditure at a high-level for the period January 2016 to January 2020 for the coordination and delivery of the ‘Sharing Cities’ programme.
To understand the potential market for smart technology to meet the programme’s ambition to implement the Programme’s technology in other parts of London and Europe, a survey of all London Boroughs is required. This exercise will provide market intelligence on the current and planned deployment of smart technologies in the London boroughs.
Decision
The Assistant Director of Intelligence approves the award of up to £23,000 of Sharing Cities programme funds to Munro Market Research Ltd t/a SPA Future Thinking to conduct research and establish a database of current and planned Sharing Cities Smart Measures in each London borough.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
1.1 In September 2015, the European Commission (EC) awarded the GLA and a consortium of 34 European partners a grant award to deliver the Horizon 2020 (H2020) Smart Cities and Communities ”Lighthouse Project” programme. This five-year programme supports the implementation and integration of very near-to-market smart city technologies and systems, to maximise their benefit in demonstrator areas and prove their replicability across wider city environments.
1.2 The project aims to develop, deploy and integrate replicable solutions in the energy, transport, data and ICT sectors in each of the three lead cities of London, Milan, and Lisbon. A further three ‘follower’ cities - Burgas, Bordeaux and Warsaw are actively involved with the three lead cities to validate city service designs and implement a number of specific solutions.
1.3 A total of €24,988,759 has been awarded by the European Commission to the consortium with €2.4m of funding awarded for specific GLA activities, €2.7m to the Royal Borough of Greenwich (RBG) and €1.3m to other London partners.
1.4 The programme aims to implement a number of measures in each of the ‘lighthouse’ cities. These include:
• Smart Lampposts – integrated smart lighting with other smart service infrastructures (eV charge; smart parking; traffic sensing; flow data; WiFi etc).
• Shared eMobility – a portfolio of inter-connected initiatives supporting the shift to low carbon shared mobility solutions, specifically: eV Car-Sharing; e-Bikes; eV Charging; Smart Parking; eLogistics.
• Integrated Energy Management System – system to integrate and optimise energy from all sources in districts (and interface with city-wide system); including demand response measures.
• Urban Sharing Platform (USP) – a data platform to manage data from a wide range of sources including sensors as well as traditional statistics; built using common principles, open technologies and standards.
1.5 Following implementation in the programme’s demonstration areas, the programme will aim to scale up and replicate to other boroughs and cities. In order to do this, we need to develop a more detailed understanding of the potential market for this smart technology in London and with the 33 London Boroughs.
1.6 The GLA, in collaboration with London Environment Directors' Network (LEDNET) and Transport for London (TfL), have requested bids from the TfL’s Market Research framework to conduct a survey of all the London Boroughs to establish a database of the current and planned deployment of Sharing Cities Smart Measures. The survey will also attempt to ascertain the strategic ambition of local authorities in this field.
1.7 Following a request for organisations from the TfL Market Research Framework, Munro Market Research Ltd t/a SPA Future Thinking were selected as the preferred bidder.
1.8 An initial budget of £15,000 - £20,000 was allocated to this project. However, an agreement has been reached with the preferred bidder to engage 25 London Boroughs for a maximum contract value of £20,000.
1.9 In the event that the preferred bidder gains consent to conduct research with more than 25 London Boroughs, the GLA has secured the option to re-open discussions where a pro-rata cost would be applied for additional boroughs over the agreed number of 25.
2.1 To commission a survey of all London Boroughs to establish market intelligence of the current and planned deployment of Sharing Cities Smart Measures in each London Borough.
2.2 The survey will allow the GLA to:
• Gain a better understanding of the current deployment of Smart Measures in London Boroughs.
• Obtain a comprehensive view of the measures London Boroughs are planning to implement.
• Identify opportunities and target the GLA’s approach to joint procurement in the capital.
• Assess the appetite for collaboration between the GLA, London Councils and individual London Boroughs.
• Assist the GLA’s objective of scaling up and replicating the Sharing Cities objectives beyond the London demonstrator area.
2.3 The survey will also attempt to ascertain the strategic ambition of local authorities in this field and the results will be shared with TFL and London Environment Directors' Network (LEDNET) to inform policy making.
3.1 The public sector equality duty requires the identification and evaluation of the likely potential impacts, both Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the “Equality Act”) as public authorities, the Mayor and the GLA must have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics under the Equality Act comprise age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status. No particular effects of this proposed decision, positive or negative, are foreseen on persons with a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.
a) Links to strategies and Mayoral and corporate priorities
The project directly contributes to the delivery of the Mayor’s key strategic objectives of the London Smart plan which aims to solve London’s environment challenges by bringing together people, technology and data.
b) Impact assessments and Consultation
TfL and LEDNET have been consulted in the development of this proposal and the tender specification that was issued to the framework organisations.
The Intelligence Team would be unable to carry out the project due to operational capacity.
c) Risk
Engaging sufficient numbers of boroughs remains a risk to the validity of the survey. The GLA has co-commissioned the survey with the LEDNet which is made up of 29 Environment/sustainability Directors, who should be best placed within their respective organisations to answer the questions or ensure requests are sent to relevant teams/personnel. Although the directorates responsible for the implementation of Smart Measures vary within each borough, LEDNet will assist the GLA to source the relevant contact in as many of the 33 London Boroughs as possible and ensure engagement.
5.1 Approval is being sought for expenditure up to £23,000 for the City Survey of Smart Measures.
5.2 This expenditure will be funded from the 2017-18 H2020 programme budget within the Intelligence Unit, where a full reimbursement of costs will be submitted and reclaimed from the European Commission (EC).
Signed decision document
ADD2163 Sharing Cities City Survey Smart Measures (signed) PDF