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Bristol and London ‘lead smart city innovation’ in the UK

bristol bridge smart cities

Bristol has been named as the country’s leading smart city outside of London, according to a new report.

Produced by Huawei, a global information and communication solutions firm, the report compared and evaluated the 10 leading smart cities across the whole of the UK with the objective of celebrating best practice and identifying current challenges.

Rick Chapman, high tech sector specialist at Invest Bristol and Bath, commented on the findings: “To be named as the top city for digital innovation and one of only two smart city leaders in the UK is fantastic news for Bristol.

“This is testament to the city’s extensive smart city strategy and ambitious goals but also to its commitment to delivering on projects and working well with communities and stakeholders to make them happen,” he added.

Bristol seemed to be particularly strong in the digital innovation category, which evaluated the city’s potential to develop and exploit technology, scoring 92 points out of a possible 100.

The city’s total score in the Smart Cities Index was 80.2, coming in just behind London, which scored 80.5.

Gordon Luo, CEO, Huawei UK, said: “Bristol is a city that is driving the UK’s digital agenda, highlighted by its pioneering smart cities innovations. We opened our Bristol R&D centre in 2014 as part of Huawei’s UK Innovation Programme, precisely because we were attracted by the highly-skilled technology professionals in the area and the city’s open mindset towards innovation.

“Our work researching ICT chips, software, and analogue chip technology in Bristol is genuinely world-class and is part of that city-wide drive towards a smarter, tech-driven future,” he concluded.

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