Partnering BCP Council for Dorset’s Smart Place Pilot
IoT Solutions Group has a longstanding relationship with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, exploring opportunities to improve lives for residents and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of operations through smart IoT technology.
In June 2020, Dorset LEP and BCP Council announced the Smart Place Pilot project and, with it, our involvement.
“This is a truly exciting initiative and one that has the potential to blaze new trails, setting the benchmark for organisations across the country. We’re delighted to be involved and are working closely with various organisations to do what we can to make a positive difference.”
Dorset to become a trailblazer in digital connectivity
Bournemouth will join a pioneering movement across the UK that promises to revolutionise the country’s digital economy.
The Smart Place Pilot project is an opportunity for Dorset to lead a 5G connectivity revolution, pioneering innovation, creating jobs, boosting the local economy and delivering technology which will provide social and health benefits. The combination of this and the Dorset Smart Place Investment plan will place Dorset at the forefront of an exciting new era of digital connectivity.
Dorset LEP has allocated £1 million of the government’s Local Growth Fund to BCP Council, who increase the total funding to £1.3 million, for the delivery of the Smart Place Pilot project. The project was confirmed for start in December 2019 after a detailed public consultation by BCP Council on 5G.
Based in the Lansdowne area of Bournemouth, a 5G digital test bed will create an internet of things to improve services, provide free public Wi-Fi and attract new investment, employment and innovation.
This high-tech, digital pilot will not only increase Wi-Fi connectivity speed but will enable the area’s advanced manufacturing, health and social care sectors to test and trial 5G-enabled equipment with the business district.
The project is expected to create around 200 new jobs at the project site and in the surrounding area in the first two years and 400 jobs by 2025. Dorset will benefit from a gross value added (GVA) of £37.6 million by 2025 and it is anticipated that the project will add £137 million to the local economy over the next 10 years.
What our partners say
“We are delighted to be a consortium member of BCP Council’s hugely exciting Smart Place Pilot project. The world is gradually waking up to the societal benefits offered by 5G, the internet of things and smart city infrastructure. Following several successful IoT trials with BCP Council, we are hugely encouraged by their continued appetite to innovate to improve local environments, the lives of residents and visitors, and services such as social care. We look forward to continued partnership and innovation to support their goals and a stronger, more productive and prosperous community.” — Emma Mahy, CEO, IoT Solutions Group
“We are incredibly excited about these two projects, which will put Bournemouth ahead of competitor towns and cities in the UK as a leader in digital communications. Creating a digital test bed in Dorset will lead to new investment, new employment, innovation, higher productivity and sustainable economic impact and growth.” — Jim Stewart, Dorset LEP Chair
“We are delighted to be pushing forward with Smart Place Pilot and are excited to see the results of the Dorset Smart Place Investment Plan. This new age of connectivity is not just about faster mobile phone speeds through 5G. It will enable machines to connect to the internet and share large amounts of data simultaneously, sparking new business innovations.” — Councillor Vikki Slade, Leader of BCP Council
About Dorset LEP
Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership is a business led private and public sector partnership, promoting local economic growth and prosperity. Dorset LEP delivers projects that support and develop infrastructure, housing, skills, enterprise and business growth to achieve long-term economic benefit for all in Dorset.
In 2015, Bournemouth and Poole was identified as having the fastest growing technology cluster in the UK. In 2017, a report by Tech City UK cited the area as having the highest concentration of high growth digital technology businesses in the country.