In recent years Scotland’s cities have jointly developed an ambitious programme of data and digital technology projects via the ‘Scotland’s 8th City – the Smart City’ ERDF Programme.
The 8th City Programme seeks to enhance Smart City activity to accelerate and transform the delivery of city services and make Scotland’s cities more attractive, liveable and resilient.
Through the Scottish Cities Alliance, the total invested so far in this project is £48 million, including European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) support of more than £20 million and Cities Investment Fund (administered by Scottish Cities Alliance) of £500,000.
In developing projects across programme, partners are seeking to expand Smart City capabilities and deliver city priorities through improved community engagement, integration of service delivery and innovation.
The 8th City programme runs from 2015 to 2023 – with project activity split across Phase 1 and Phase 2 – and involves seven Scottish cities (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, and Stirling) working on an ambitious programme of data and digital technology projects.
- Open Data
- Smart Communities
- Smart Services
- Smart Infrastructure
The graphic below shows which cities are delivering projects across these domains:
Glasgow City Council is acting as the Lead Partner for the Programme. The 8th City Programme Management Office is based within the Council and can be contacted at 8th_city_pmo@glasgow.gov.uk
Please note that the Programme Management Office (PMO) isn’t involved in day-to-day project delivery and has no responsibility for the procurement of the Smart City solutions that are being deployed as part of these projects.
Data
With cities generating an ever-increasing quantity of data, making full use of this data is a key component of making cities more resilient and liveable. In particular, the publication of open data, data that is freely usable for any purpose, has the opportunity to generate new services and opportunities.
As such, an important part of Phase 1 of the 8th City Programme was the Data Cluster Working Group. This included representatives from the seven Scottish cities, the Scottish Cities Alliance, and the Scottish Government. The Cluster worked to promote the publication of open data to increase transparency and drive innovation, while also improving how we manage and make use of data more generally.
The Data Cluster’s work covered five key themes:
- Open Data Platforms
- Data Standards
- Data Publication and Discoverability
- Data Skills
- Data Community and Capacity Building
Over 260 datasets linked with the 8th City Programme have already been opened up for innovation, with many more to be delivered as part of Phase 2 activity.
More information on the cities’ open data platforms can be found at the following links:
To learn more about research – commissioned by Scottish Cities Alliance and undertaken on behalf of the Data Cluster – to understand the wider demand for open data in Scotland click here.
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