Be part of the next wave of experiments in urban data and IoT in London.

Are you a citizen, a community group, a local authority, a public sector body, a business, or a researcher looking for funding to change London for the better? And do you want to use data to do so? Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, the Organicity project launched its second open call last week. You may want to read on and get involved…

OrganiCity is designed to prototype ‘Experimentation as a Service’ and to do so by funding experiments involving urban data and the Internet of Things. Its focus is to explore how citizens, businesses and the public sector can work together to create smart solutions to urban challenges.

So what does this open call involve?  We are looking for teams that want to create new digital public service prototypes using available data to test out new ideas or approaches in a real-life urban setting. It is unique because co-creation with stakeholders must be the method of developing the solution, and the testing must be done ‘in the wild’ with observable change to London’s streets, spaces, buildings, people, and/or economy.

We expect experiments to be in response to real urban challenges. In December 2016, the Mayor consulted on his initial thoughts on the capital’s top challenges and opportunities. In A City for All Londoners you can see his priority policy areas across all of growth, the economy, housing, the environment, transport, and public space. They include:

• Good Growth: Accommodating rising population, economic growth and other activities in London will change our experience of the city.
• Healthy streets: encourage active modes of transportation, accessibility and ease of connectivity across the city.
• Connecting communities: enable people to connect to one another and to protect the community and cultural assets at their disposal.
• Public space: hape green and public places to become better to play and socialise, and enhance biodiversity to attract wildlife.
• Cultural capital: Explore solutions to protect creative workspace, heritage and the night-time economy.
• Improving air quality: Create and support measurable improvements on pollution levels in our streets.

If you have an experiment you would like funded then visit: http://organicity.eu/

We are also keen to work with London’s local authorities to define and address challenges specific to their boroughs. If you are working in one the London Boroughs there are also two other ways you can get involved:

• Experiment internally: You could apply to fund staff time and materials to test your own digital solutions to urban challenges
• Enable others to experiment: You could use the OrganiCity experimentation framework to facilitate others. In this case, you might define a new challenge, provide guidance to experimenters or supply datasets you want experimenters to focus on.

Next Steps:
If you would like to learn more about the project then join our local clinic on 28th June which will include an experimenters showcase (from first open call), an overview of the platform and tools available, and a networking evening to meet project staff from the London community.

If you work in a local authority and would like to help define challenges don’t hesitate to get in touch via the team at London Datastore.  A second event is being planned for the 18th July to generate potential ideas for experiments which provides an opportunity to steer challenge direction.