Driving improved collaboration and innovation across London boroughs

14 Nov 2019 03:19 PM

Yesterday’s launch of City Tools: London aims to pave the way for collaboration across the Boroughs and help innovators solve some of the biggest challenges the city...

It’s been a week of exciting launches for local GovTech this week. On Monday we had the launch of the Mayor of London’s Civic Innovation Challenge and yesterday London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) released City Tools: London report and interactive dashboard at Big Data LDN. The aim of City Tools: London, developed by Bloomberg Associates in partnership with LOTI and the GLA, is to enable possible collaborations between local authorities, identify opportunities for new entrants and innovators into the government technology market, and drive cost savings by coordinating contracts and leveraging boroughs’ collective bargaining power. 

City Tools: London interactive dashboard will become a real-time resource, hosted and maintained by LOTI and the benefits they are expecting are: 

  1. Boroughs can collaborate to save money and drive reform and innovation into the services they deliver.  
  2. Boroughs can identify and share IT skills and capabilities to develop best practices that everyone can benefit from.  
  3. Boroughs will finally have a resource that details their individual and collective expertise, allowing them to form new partnerships that will power change.  
  4. A better understanding of the technology landscape will reveal potential opportunities for new entrants and innovators into the technology marketplace.  
  5. The vast ecosystem of local government services is simplified, helping potential partners and collaborators like universities, charities and other invested allies better understand how they can engage and benefit. 

The report has some interesting findings and showcases the various technologies used across London boroughs to deliver services to residents, mapping out IT systems across key services. Along with recommendations for the London Boroughs on how they can improve their collective bargaining power and collaborate to improve services and citizen outcomes the spotlight is also on the supplier community and role they can play. 

LOTI’s head Eddie Copeland stated: 

techUK’s Head of Local Public Services, Georgina Maratheftis yesterday commented: 

“City Tools: London is an important step in driving improved collaboration and innovation across the city and wider GovTech ecosystem. It poses the right questions for boroughs and suppliers to consider, directing thoughts to creating an arena for collaboration and partnership. With the right data, the dashboard will not only be of value to the Boroughs, but also to new entrants and suppliers to better understand well in advance the potential opportunities. Often the difficulty for suppliers in this market is the lack of pipeline visibility. The dashboard will go some way to addressing this challenge, but must be supported by early market engagement, allowing London Boroughs to access and understand the innovations and technologies that exist to help solve some of the most pressing challenges the city faces.

“The comprehensive report rightly recognises the importance of procurement, techUK has launched a survey to explore how boroughs, councils and local authorities buy technology and digital services. With the aim to enable industry to better engage with local government as well as helping to create a more level playing field for SMEs, whilst ensuring councils secure the most appropriate, innovative and competitive solutions to harness the power of digital transformation across the services they deliver.

“It’s great to see how far the sector has come in making collaboration a reality and not just a buzzword. techUK looks forward to continuing engagement with the LOTI team, and providing a platform for meaningful early market engagement that can ultimately improve the lives of Londoners. If delivered well, City Tools: London can provide a model for other regions to adopt, scaling up innovation and best practice.”