Digital Entrepreneurship Monitor - Bristol: the world's first open city - Digital Cities Challenge
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Digital Entrepreneurship Monitor
Bristol:
the world’s first
open city
Bristol:
the world’s first
open city
© Jacek Wojnarowski/Shutterstock.com
Bristol is the biggest digital hub outside of London, attracting industries in high-tech, clean tech, digital and creative
industries. The city is seen as a “testbed” for the Internet of Things and is the world’s first open, programmable city
region. Its award-winning approach is based on learning from the best examples, sharing own experiences and
constantly looking for innovative ways to operate. Besides leadership from the top, the city’s digital transformation
closely relies on the entrepreneurial attitude and the cooperative efforts of its local champions.
Bristolians have therefore developed Consequently, Bristol has attracted
1 new products and services,
contributing to the creation of a
major international corporations,
and boasts the highest retention rate
more “liveable” and creative digital of university graduates.
Problem statement city.
Bristol as a leading UK Smart City
The ultimate goal is to tackle
This strategy is paying off and is
Bristol as a digital pioneer pressing urban challenges by
setting an approach that other cities
adopting an engaging, innovative
Bristol has long been at the forefront are keen to learn from. Indeed, the
and playful approach.
of digital transformation. This Huawei UK Smart Cities Index places
position stemmed from the The development of digital Bristol among the top ten cities in
realisation that the services provided infrastructures paving the way for the country. 2
by the council to the citizens were Bristol to become a creative hub
The index highlights five themes that
based on old-fashioned and
This emphasis on digital are common across most of the
suboptimal technologies.
transformation is enabled by the successful smart city programmes,
Local stakeholders acknowledged presence of successful businesses, namely3:
the potential of the use of digital state-of-the-art digital
- importance of leadership and
technologies and of the Internet of infrastructures and support from
vision;
Things to improve the lives of Bristol city leaders. Together, these
residents. components allow the Bristol and - need to focus on local priorities
Bath region to pave the way towards and strengths;
Rethinking digital infrastructures
the growth of the UK’s creative
- importance of engagement with
This new perspective led the council industries and for the generation of
local communities;
to rethink the city’s digital an international example of a
infrastructures in order to focus on creative hub. - building local partnerships; and
the identification of new and
In particular, the collaborative - understanding the way in which
innovative ways to enable citizens to
approach between universities, the data revolution can improve
interact with the council and to
chambers of commerce and services and boost innovation.
benefit from public services.
incubators, as well as strong public-
Putting citizens at the centre of private partnerships, ensure the
Bristol’s digital strategy success of the city as a “testbed” for
digital innovation.
Citizens lie at the core of Bristol’s
approach towards transformation. In “Bristol has always been a distinctive
order to make the city smarter and smart city because we place citizens
more tailored to the needs of the at the heart of our strategy and take
citizens, the city council has a playful and engaging approach to
recognized the need to encourage tackling serious urban challenges.” – © elenabsl/Shutterstock.com
Bristolians to make (greater) use of Stephen Hilton, Director of Bristol
public open data. City Council's Bristol Futures team1
2
Bristol: the world’s first open city
According to these criteria, Bristol is Monetary Perspective: Increasing the Social impact dimension: boosting
ranked as a leader alongside London, value of the digital sector skills and jobs
having obtained the second-highest
From a monetary perspective, the Bristol prides itself on the social
scores in terms of Strategy (81.9)
digitalisation of the city has resulted dimension of its digital
and Strategy execution (78.4).
in an increase of the digital sector’s transformation. It relies largely on
Indeed, Bristol’s smart city strategy value and of its importance in the the use of creativity, media and
provides a framework to connect national economy. digital technologies to inspire
successful innovations with priority people, particularly the younger
According to a recent study by
issues for the city and its generations.
McKinsey, Bristol’s ICT cluster is ‘the
communities.
most significant and fastest growing At the same time, this approach
Figure 1: Top 5 Smart cities in UK
outside of London’. Indeed, the solves societal issues in the most
Bristol City region ICT sector is deprived neighbourhoods.
City Category worth £1 billion to the Gross Value
Knowle West Media Centre ensures
Added (GVA) of the UK4.
1 London Leader an inclusive digitalization process
Moreover, 91.3% of Bristol adults
2 Bristol Leader
In this respect, the work of
used the Internet over the past 3
organisations such as the Knowle
months according to the Office of
3 Birmingham Contender West Media Centre (KWMC) has
National Statistics. This figure is
been extremely beneficial in
significantly higher than the UK
4 Glasgow Contender reaching out and engaging with the
average of 86%.
most vulnerable communities. In
5 Manchester Contender doing so, the city ensured that
Knowle West Media everyone can benefit from the
digitalisation process5.
Source: Huawei UK Smart Cities Index2
Centre, 2014-20155
Indeed, the KWMC is positively
contributing to achieving social,
- Work placements to 23 environmental and economic
2 young people regeneration by involving the
community in media activity,
- Internships/apprenticeships education and action.
Realised benefits to 14 young people KWMC achieves this by providing
training courses to develop skills in
and new - 5 additional full time jobs
digital manufacturing equipment
and technologies.
opportunities created
Monetary and social impact
indicators assessing digital strategy’s - 8 new businesses set up and Council process times
success developped has dramatically reduced
from 10 days to less than 1 day
Bristol’s success can be measured in
two ways. Firstly, a monetary
perspective can be taken, for Figure 2: Knowle West Media Centre
instance by analyzing the
investments of large multinational
companies.
On the other hand, the success can
be measured in terms of the social
impact of digitalisation, looking at
indicators such as the creation of
skills, confidence and employment,
particularly in more deprived areas.
In the following, both the monetary
as well as the social impact
perspective will be taken to assess
Bristol’s success.
Source: Knowle West Media Centre
3
Bristol: the world’s first open city
Bristol’s incubators are fostering Open data is benefitting citizens Centrally coordinating supply of heat
social entrepreneurship on various dimensions and power across the city
Social entrepreneurship is also an Being a leading ‘open’ and Moreover, by 2020, Bristol will have
important element in the activities of ‘programmable’ city allows Bristol to a public-interest organisation which
Bristol’s many incubators. One create new ways in which open data coordinates the smart use,
example is the Bristol SETsquared is used for the benefit of society. distribution and supply of heat and
Centre. power across the city for the benefit
Bristol works extensively to
of its people and businesses8.
Indeed, the incubator seeks to bring revolutionise health monitoring
about economic development and The city will have the capabilities
Open data and smart sensors can be
social benefits to the community. and systems to access, manage and
a powerful tool to tackle healthcare
interpret local energy supply and
For instance, the SETsquared helped issues and monitor well-being in a
demand data. This will enable
to develop Oracles’s small local non-invasive and stress-free way.
coordinated city and neighbourhood-
office into a major centre for client
In this context, new research scale interventions to balance heat
support, creating new jobs,
projects have been launched in and power demand and supply
attracting more investments and
Bristol to generate knowledge and across the city in real time; to curb
contributing to the social dimension
data that will change clinical practice energy waste and reduce peak
of digitalisation.
by focusing on real-world demand; to reduce network losses
Redesigning and digitising public technologies. and to manage system constraints
services tailored to changing needs effectively.
Bristol’s enabling and creative
The Bristol City Council Digital environment has the potential to
Platform project was conceived as embed healthcare technologies into
part of a wider transformation people’s everyday life, allowing their 3
programme within the Bristol City development through early and
Council in order to improve the way sustained user involvement. A case
services are delivered. in point for such opportunity is the Drivers and
This process took into account a
SPHERE project (see Key Initiatives).
obstacles
landscape of budget cuts and the
increasing and changing demand for
user-friendly services6. Thus, over
A
the past few years, the council has
been redesigning and implementing Drivers
numerous new digital services for its
citizens. “Smart City” status reached thanks to
For instance, in 2015, 11 new strong framework conditions
services were delivered, including Achieving the status of a leading
© Billion Photos/Shutterstock.com
taxi licensing, parking permits, pest smart city has been made possible by
Bristol created necessary conditions
control and concessionary travel. a series of drivers, which have
to become a “green leader”
These new services have been built provided the appropriate conditions
to use digital technologies and data New technologies, innovation, open and prerequisites for the
from end-to-end. Thus, all data and partnerships between local development of the digital strategy
procedures related to the various champions will provide the of the city of Bristol.
council applications which were opportunity to make Bristol a
previously done manually could now leading “green” and smart energy Support from the Bristol City Council
be digitised. city in the near future. Indeed, for high-speed broadband access
through the Bristol is Open initiative, The creation of a smart city of the
For instance, a regular traditional
it will be possible to reduce carbon future relies on access to extra fast
council application process used to
emissions by 40% by 2020 and broadband. Thus, in order to turn the
take about 10 days, whereas now the
create 95,000 new jobs7. city into a high-tech “testbed” for
digitally redesigned application
process can be done in 1 day only. Particularly high growth sectors innovation, a 30 Gigabit per second
The digital transformation of these such as the creative industries and fiber broadband network has been
public services therefore brought green technologies are affected by installed in the city. It serves as the
about efficiency gains which the vision of having Bristol basis for a wide range of
contributed to the creation of more recognised among the top 20 digitalization projects.
“user-friendly” public services. European cities by 2020.
4
Bristol: the world’s first open city
Bristol City Council created 3 This programme has the goal to Key stakeholders
improvements to high-speed accelerate Bristol’s position in
The key component that makes
internet relation to the Internet of Things, Big
Bristol a leading example of a smart
Data Analytics and High
The Bristol City Council (BCC) has city is the collaborative approach
Technologies.
acted in three ways to improve between a variety of stakeholders.
access to high-speed internet. European Commission as the
In fact, this collaboration is
provider of financial support
1. Broadband Voucher Scheme composed of stakeholders from both
covers cost of connecting to high- Bristol’s digitalisation and smart city the public and private spheres,
speed internet strategy also entails an important including universities, chambers of
degree of involvement from the side commerce and incubators, as well as
The BCC has intervened directly by
of the European Commission. strong public-private partnerships.
putting in place a series of measures
such as the Broadband Voucher Indeed, the Commission’s financial Some of the main actors that are
Scheme9. support plays a key role in this actively involved in the digital scene
respect. EU-funded programmes, of the city are listed in the table
This scheme granted 1,685
after all, are an important pillar of below.
Bristolian Small and Medium-sized
the city’s innovation agenda.
Enterprises (SMEs) a Government-
funded voucher to cover the cost of REPLICATE: an EU programme Figure 1: Public and private
connecting to high-speed broadband. integrating Smart Energy and Smart actors fuelling Bristol’s digital
The scheme, which was open until Transport innovation transformation
October 2015, provided support to
A prime example of the EU Public Private
the businesses for a total value of
contribution to Bristol’s innovation - NEC
£2,597,006. -Bristol City
agenda is REPLICATE which stands - InterDigital
Council
2. Fostering supply and competition for “Renaissance in Places with -Bath and - Mellanox
in broadband access Innovative Citizenship And North East Technologies
Technology”11. Somerset - Polatis
Secondly, the BCC made a series of
tactical interventions to increase the It is a European 5-year research and Council - Laser 2000
supply of and competition in development Smart City ‘Lighthouse’ -University of - DELL
broadband access. For instance, in project that aims to deploy Bristol
late 2015, BCC agreed a concession integrated energy, mobility and ICT -University of
Brunel
to a consortium of two alternative solutions in city districts.
-University of
network Internet Service Providers
The project was launched in West England
(ISPs) in a 20 year deal10.
February 2016. The city of Bristol, as -Bath SPA
The consortium (BNET Ultra Ltd) part of a consortium with San University
will manage and maintain The Sebastián (Spain) and Florence -Incubators
Bristol Network duct network and (Italy), has been awarded €25 (SETsquared)
could bring back into use the 60km million to create integrated smart -Engine Shed
of “unused duct“. city solutions to tackle urban -Knowle West
problems. Media Centre
The consortium, thus, utilises spare Source: PwC Analysis
capacity in the network to offer new In particular, the progamme covers
super and ultra-fast broadband the Ashley, Easton and Lawrence Hill
services to Bristol’s businesses and, Neighbourhood Partnership area, Key initiatives
at the same time, will generate a chosen as the target district to
“Bristol is Open” makes open data
multi-million revenue stream to help explore the impact of integrating
available to all interested parties
the BCC deliver better council Smart Energy and Smart Transport
services. inventions. Announced in 2015, “Bristol Is Open”
is Bristol’s flagship initiative, aiming
3. Supporting investment in R&D
to concretise and make open data a
Thirdly, Bristol City Council is also reality12. It is a joint venture
supporting investment in Research between the University of Bristol
and Development to stimulate the and the Bristol City Council. The
High Tech sector. For instance, the initiative is funded at local, national
BCC has made a £7million “Gigabit and EU levels as well as with
Bristol” investment in fibre and academic research funding and by
wireless mesh networks to support © Martial Red/Shutterstock.com
the private sector.
High Tech research and development
at the city scale.
5
Bristol: the world’s first open city
The project delivers R&D to equip SPHERE14 The Bristol SETsquared Centre15
the city with the latest small sensors.
This includes the smartphones and SPHERE (Sensor Platform for The Bristol SETsquared Centre is
GPS devices of interested HEalthcare in a Residential the Business Accelerator of the
participants, which will supply the Environment) is a project University of Bristol, providing a
three new 30 Gb/second fibre involving nearly 100 researchers, variety of services to early-stage
broadband networks with a wide designed to employ new companies and start-ups.
range of information about city life technology to address long-term
(e.g. air quality, energy and traffic These include coaching,
health issues. These include
flows). mentoring, workshops, business
obesity, depression, diabetes,
review panels, access to
strokes, respiratory conditions,
This will allow to understand how professional service firms and
cardiovascular and
big data can be used to solve issues services, access to SETsquared’s
musculoskeletal disease.
such as air pollution and traffic global network, investor
congestions. Thus, the initiative will SPHERE has developed a number readiness training, investor
ultimately contribute to the of different sensors allowing the showcase events, access to the
development of new applications monitoring of health and well- new Bristol is Open experimental
leveraging on the “Internet of being at home. This information network, and use of the Engine
Things” in the city. can then be used to spot issues Shed Business Lounge.
that might indicate a medical or
Plans to extend the initiative are Moreover, office space with with
well-being problem.
already underway desk-stations, reception services
To make his happen, clinicians, and meeting rooms can be
Once the new networks are
engineers, designers and social provided where required.
established in the city centre, over
care professionals as well as
the next 3 years they will be The Centre holds many regular
members of the public are
extended to the wider city region, i.e. networking events, such as the
collaborating to develop these
Bath, parts of North Somerset and SETsquared Garden Party and
sensor technologies. The project
South Gloucestershire. Innovation Showcase, where
was awarded a £12 million grant
These networks are for research and investors, corporates, grant-
by the Engineering and Physical
development projects, as opposed to funders and potential non-
Sciences Research Council
providing free or commercial executive directors get together to
(EPSRC).
broadband or wifi. Nevertheless, the see the technology businesses
public will have the opportunity to supported by the Centre.
join the experimental initiatives, In November 2015, SETsquared
should they wish to do so. won the top accolade of Global
Open data will create countless Number 1 University Business
creative and useful opportunities Incubator, awarded by UBI Global.
All the data generated will be The Bristol SETsquared Centre
anonymised and made public has also won the prestigious
through an ‘open data’ portal. The Established Business Incubator of
creative content flowing through the the Year 2012 and Best Designed
high-speed network can be used in a Business Incubator 2013 award
Key infrastructures from the industry trade body,
variety of playful ways to foster
‘digital inclusion’, for instance UKBI.
Bristol boasts a dynamic and vibrant
projecting 3D images into the sky or ecosystem of both public and private
holding a music concert across actors that drive the scene for the
multiple venues in the city at the digital transformation. In addition to
same time. the many public institutions (local
“The joint venture created between councils, universities, research
Bristol City Council and the University centres, etc.), the city has a thriving
of Bristol, and the engagement of start-up community, enabled by its
industry is proving to be a dynamic infrastructures that foster
way to push our ‘programmable city’ knowledge sharing, networking and
activity forward.” – testing of new ideas.
Paul Wilson, Managing Director of
Bristol Is Open13
6
Bristol: the world’s first open city
Digitalisation has the power to bring
B about social change
4 Technology, innovation and
Obstacles digitalisation should be seen as a
Despite the remarkable level of
Lessons learnt powerful tool to bring about
economic development, to level out
digitalisation achieved by the city
disparities and to ensure the
and its companies, some challenges The lessons learned from Bristol’s
participation and involvement of the
still remain. These are related both case can serve as useful guidelines
entire population in the digital
to the availability of resources and for the development of a connected
transformation process.
coordination of players, but also to pan-European network of cities and
the socio-economic context in the the creation of launchpads for digital Ultimately, digitalisation gives
city. transformation. entrepreneurs the opportunity to
shape the environment of their city,
Insufficient capacity impedes The importance of collaboration
helping it to overcome inequalities
extension of digitalisation initiatives
The successful digital transformation and improving the quality of life of
Bristol boasts excellent facilities and of cities relies on close cooperation the population.
infrastructure to drive its between the relevant actors. In this
Risk taking and financial support are
digitalisation and that of its respect, establishing strong public-
needed to succeed in digitalisation
businesses. Nevertheless, according private partnerships is fundamental.
to the former mayor George The attitude of the city and its actors
The practical collaboration between
Ferguson, the success of the is also a factor that determines the
local authorities, universities, large
digitalisation initiatives was success of digitalisation. The lesson
companies and start-ups allows
underestimated, resulting in the fact that can be learnt from Bristol’s case
ideas and views from all actors to
that further progress is constrained is the importance of fostering an
come together and become
by the limited resources, capacity open and trusting approach,
concretised into a winning initiative.
and infrastructure. mitigating risk aversion and creating
The Bristol is Open initiative is a case
a feeling of trust among investors
A need for further collaboration in point for this concept.
and companies alike.
among local authorities needed
Indeed, Bristol boast excellent
The digital transformation process
financial support opportunities,
relies on the development of strong
owing to the open support of the
partnerships and effective and
Bristol City Council, local investors
smooth communication between all
but also at the European level.
the key stakeholders involved. In this
respect, the former mayor of Bristol Connectivity infrastructure bears
believes that more and better strategic importance
cohesion is required between the © Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com
Naturally, the digital transformation
four local authorities in the greater
Establishing strong networks is of cities cannot take place without
region.
essential the appropriate enabling
Enhancing social equality as a means infrastructure.
to accelerate the digital The creation of an enabling and
conducive environment for sharing In particular, Bristol’s case has
transformation process
and testing of ideas is the primary highlighted the strategic importance
Bristol is a prosperous city, both requirement for successful of super high-speed broadband,
nationally and internationally. collaboration between actors. allowing to achieve exceptional
Nevertheless, important disparities Indeed, physical cooperation is key levels of connectivity and generate
still persist among the population, in this respect. meaningful volumes of data that can
thus constituting a potential then be used to solve societal
hindrance to the full reach of the Therefore, establishing centres challenges.
digital transformation process. where innovative start-ups, large
companies and investors can Data privacy should be everyone’s
Indeed, there are significant health physically meet and exchange ideas concern, including citizens
and wellbeing inequalities, resulting has proved to be essential. Of course, open data implies some
in a 8.9 year difference in life
Successful examples include the data privacy considerations. Indeed,
expectancy between least and most
Engine Shed, Watershed and privacy can lead to heated debate
deprived areas. Similarly, there are
SETsquared, which provide a and cities should help shape this
gaps in educational attainment with
nurturing environment for debate, rather than leaving it to
only 35% of children achieving
entrepreneurs and ensure that they technology companies.
GCSEs in some areas16.
do not act in isolation.
7
Bristol: the world’s first open city
Category Role of the stakeholder
5 Local
- Drive political leadership and vision as to where to
drive the city
government
- Bring about more cohesion between different public
Key authorities towards a common objective
Recommendations - Set targets to measure success (e.g. on the basis of
jobs created)
- Stimulate innovation(e.g. through fiscal measures, tax
Based on the case of Bristol, the reductions, etc).
importance of the roles of local
players has emerged. Thus, several - Share experience and act as advisors to budding start-
recommendations can be Businesses and
ups
formulated, detailing the actions and Incubators
- Keep providing inspiration, support, stimulation
responsibilities of each group of
stakeholders, so as to ensure that the
digitalisation process is successful
in the long run.
- Be open and ready to form joint ventures (e.g.
These recommendations are Universities
SETsquared)
illustrated in the table, and can serve - Provide digital entrepreneurial skills and curricula
as best practices for other cities
starting down the digital
transformation path.
- Get involved in the support of peer to peer learning
Chamber of
and in the education of traditional businesses
Commerce
References
1 University of Bristol, “Bristol named as leading UK Smart City”, 2016, 8 Centre for Sustainable Energy, “Bristol Smart Energy City
available at: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/may/bristol- Collaboration”; 2015, available at:
smart-city.html https://www.cse.org.uk/projects/view/1296
2 Huawei, “UK Smart Cities Index – Assessment of Strategy and 9 Broadban Delivery UK,
Execution of the UK’s Leading Smart Cities”, 2016, available at: http://www.connectionvouchers.co.uk/city/bristol/
https://www.huawei.eu/sites/default/files/Huawei_UK_Smart_Cities 10 Mark Jackson, “Bristol City Commercialises Ultrafast BNET Fibre
_Report.pdf Optic Network”, 2015, available at:
3 Steven McGinty, “Bristol is Open: Case Study of an Innovative Smart http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/10/bristol-city-
City, 2016, available at: commercialises-its-ultrafast-bnet-fibre-optic-network.html
https://blog.idoxgroup.com/2016/09/07/bristol-is-open-case-study- 11 EC, “REPLICATE – Renaissance of Places with Innovative
of-an-innovative-smart-city/ Citizenship and Technology”, available at:
4 Jamie Middleton, “Bristol and Bath labelled the fastest growing hi- https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/horizon-2020/projects/replicate
tech region outside London”, 2014, available at: 12 Bristol is Open, http://www.bristolisopen.com/
http://techspark.co/bristol-and-bath-labelled-the-fastest-growing-hi- 13 Bristol is Open, “Bristol Is Open wins Smart City Innovator Award,
tech-region-outside-london/
2016, available at: http://www.bristolisopen.com/bristol-is-open-
5 Knowle West Media Centre, https://issuu.com/knowlewestmedia
wins-smart-city-innovator-award/
6 Digirati, “Enabling Channel Shift for Local Government, available at: 14 SPHERE - a Sensor Platform for Heathcare in a Residential
http://digirati.com/case-studies/bristol-city-council-digital- Environemnt, http://www.irc-sphere.ac.uk/about
platform/ 15 SETsquared in Bristol, http://www.setsquared.co.uk/start-
7 Steven McGinty, “Bristol is Open: Case Study of an Innovative Smart
support/innovation-centres/setsquared-bristol
City, 2016, available at: 16 BBC, “Bristol mayor tackles life expectancy ‘gap’”, 2013, available
https://blog.idoxgroup.com/2016/09/07/bristol-is-open-case-study-
at: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-23497196
of-an-innovative-smart-city/
This report was prepared with the support of PwC, CARSA, IDATE and ESN as part of the Digital Entrepreneurship Monitor project for the European
Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.
Editors: Laurent Probst, Bertrand Pedersen, Olivia-Kelly Lonkeu & Federica Amato, PwC
© - 2016 – European Union. All rights reserved. Certain parts are licensed under conditions to the EU.
This publication is funded under the COSME programme of the European Union.
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