UK SMES SMART CITIES SOLUTIONS CHALLENGE LAUNCHED

The UK China smart cities project funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth office is seeking to establish a strong relationship with a small number of UK SMEs working in the smart city market.

The UK-China Smartcities project aims

To produce a blueprint for smart green city governance that will lead the way in developing more smart green cities in China, while also fostering UK-China cooperation and opening up business opportunities for UK SMEs. Proposals for deployment are currently being invited from SMEs, the best of which will be invited to present their proposition in the first week of February 2015.

Beginning with the city of Xuzhou, the project brings UK, EU and Chinese partners together, adopting a holistic approach to develop best practices in urban energy, transport, and housing in Xuzhou that can then be emulated by other Chinese cities.”

There are 2x main categories:

Category 1: ‘Development Projects’. These are potential demonstration projects, which require a level of development and testing in a real life setting. Projects do not need to be fully worked up but need to demonstrate potential impact across Chinese cities as well as indicating a willingness to collaborate with Chinese partners in their design, development and deployment.

Category 2: ‘Quick Win’ projects. These should be previously tested and proven solutions that can be adopted within a relatively short-time frame within the Chinese market. Proposals need to show the impacts which these have had and how they could potentially be rolled out across Chinese cities.

SMEs may choose whether they wish to submit under one or both categories making sure these are clearly referenced and labelled. In your proposition please make clear which of the 5 x challenge areas you are addressing.

In setting out the above applicants are encouraged to demonstrate potential impact and benefit. At this stage we are not looking for fully designed ideas and solutions and associated arrangements for deployment, these will be worked up in collaboration with Chinese partners, with Digital China playing a central role in this process.

Closing date: Friday 2nd January 2015

Please click on the link below to go to the guidance and application form:

Smart Cities Solutions Challenge