TowerXchange
Urban Foresight is a smart city and innovation consultancy with a strong practice in working with in public sector bodies (at all scales), industry and investors; notably in areas such as smart cities, digital transformation and smart mobility. Through their extensive experience in helping to get Smart City projects off the ground, they have seen the difficulties faced by local government in attempting to create and enact digital policies despite funding and staff cuts, and have witnessed how infrastructure providers struggle to navigate complex public sector chains of command and decision making structures.
Graham Thrower, Head of Infrastructure and Investment at Urban Foresight, talks to TowerXchange about where he sees the challenges for infrastructure providers, and how both industry and local government can collaborate more effectively to deliver the next generation of infrastructure and services that our cities need.
TowerXchange: Please introduce Urban Foresight and the scope of what you do.
Graham Thrower, Head of Infrastructure and Investment, Urban Foresight: We’re a smart city and innovation consultancy, originally born out of an expertise in low carbon mobility and electric vehicles. We have now expanded to encompass an array of technologies considered by urban governments in context of their digital transformation and smart city plans.
To understand how we work, think of a triangle: on one side are entities that have challenges which need solving, they could be in the public or private sector. On the second side we have solutions providers, from the diversified global technology firms to small companies providing data sensors to monitor air pollution. On the third side we have funders: from research organisations financing test beds, pilots, demonstrators and accelerator facilities, through to central Treasury funding, banks, pension funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds, through to infrastructure funds and PE. For the full article click here.
By Frances Rose of TowerXchange
March 11, 2019
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