Cisco and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council have signed an agreement to explore the digital future of the town, supporting its aspiration to provide smart, connected experiences for those living, working and visiting Southend.
The council’s ambitious digital strategy will create opportunities for energy saving, carbon reduction, innovation and sustainable growth. It is also aiming to reduce costs and increase communication and interactions with citizens and businesses across the borough.
The project will utilise the Cisco® Kinetic for Cities platform to investigate the role of digital technologies in improving the delivery of services, economic development and citizen engagement through the use of networking technologies. This technology has been showcased in cities around the world, from Manchester’s CityVerve project where technology has been implemented to help monitor CO2 levels and develop smart transportation solutions, to improving public safety through a smart and connected platform in Jaipur, India.
The project with Southend-on-Sea will see Cisco help architect and collaborate on a number of pilot initiatives including:
Community safety – with the creation of an intelligence hub using IP based public safety solutions, leveraging CCTV and video analytics to help reduce anti-social behaviour, noise and aid crowd control
Smart traffic access and parking management - incorporating data solutions already deployed by Southend to ease congestion, provide smart parking and improve pedestrian safety
Resident support – investigating the provision of connected care homes, providing healthcare applications and round the clock care in local areas
Environmental Monitoring and Management – initially to address air quality monitoring and early flood management using Internet of Things technology
Energy Management – exploring new energy efficient solutions to help reduce power consumption across Southend
Stuart Higgins, Head of Smart Cities and Internet of Things at Cisco, UK & Ireland said: “The ambition to share the benefits of digital technologies shouldn’t be limited to organisations or even big cities. What Southend-on-Sea Borough Council aims to achieve is testament to that, and we are thrilled to be working with them and our partners to help enhance the lives of people who live, work and visit the town.”
Nick Corrigan, Head of Digital Futures, Southend-on-Sea: “Innovation is vital to the UK’s success as a global nation, and we are delighted to be playing a key role in this. We want to further enable our citizens and businesses to grow and evolve, in line with the rest of the UK and with competition globally. With Cisco’s proven expertise in the developing smart cities and technology sector, it is the perfect partner to help drive this initiative forward and demonstrate the potential of our Borough. We are looking forward to the collaboration and seeing our local residents and stakeholders realise the opportunities digitisation can offer.”