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Industry News

ACE:  In a bid to vastly expand its Art Project, search engine giant Google has signed new partnerships with 151 organisation in 40 different nations.  The organisation said it also intends to expand the scope of the artistic formats the scheme covers, with street art, photography & sculpture now included along with paintings, and instantly viewable through simple online navigation.

Dulwich Picture Gallery, the Royal Collection, and the Victoria & Albert Museum are among the latest partners to team up with Google on the Art Project.  The National Gallery and Tate Britain have also pledged their support to the initiative.

Press release ~ Google Art Project

OS:  Ordnance Survey has teamed up with Newcastle City Council to ‘demonstrate how 3D mapping can help make Newcastle one of the most sustainable cities in Europe ’ by using 3D city models to provide valuable information to enable effective solar power generation.

Both organisations are members of a European project consortium called i-SCOPE ( Interoperable Smart City Services through an Open Platform for urban Ecosystems), which will run for 3 years and will involve 11 cities across Europe .

Press release & links

WAO:  The Auditor General is hosting a 'Meet the Buyer' event on Tuesday 1 May 2012, 2 - 4pm for anyone interested in finding out more about potential business opportunities from his 2014 contracting arrangements.  6 firms currently have contracts with him to provide 30% of public sector audit work in .  And firms deliver all 740 of the audits of the town & community councils.  Collectively, the firms' work is worth over £3m a year.

From 2014, the Auditor General intends to buy audit services from a much wider range of suppliers.  These services include support for performance audit across the Welsh pubic sector, including value for money reviews and national studies as well as the audit of annual accounts and grant claims.

Press release & links

ScotGov:  Cloud computing company enStratus plans to create up to 30 highly-skilled jobs in by the end of 2014 and is currently recruiting key staff in preparation for its Edinburgh office opening later this year.  The company’s expansion to is supported by a Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant totalling £240,000.

enStratus™ is a cloud infrastructure management solution for deploying & managing enterprise-class applications in public, private & hybrid clouds.  For the enterprise, managing multiple teams delivering tens or hundreds of applications to the cloud requires consistent governance & automation, as well as the independence to choose the clouds & operations tools that meet business needs.

Press release & links

DECC:  £60m of investment in the Met Office Hadley Centre’s Climate Programme was announced by the Government last week aimed at maintaining the ’s place as a global leader in climate research & modelling.

Over £11m of new High Performance Computing (supercomputing capacity & associated hardware) will be provided to underpin this programme of research. This significantly enhances the Hadley Centre’s capability until 2015 and is a response to the recommendation of the Government Chief Scientific Adviser.

Press release & links ~ Met Office Hadley Centre’s Climate Programme

DECC:  The and recently agreed a Framework on Civil Nuclear Cooperation, providing the ‘basis for companies to engage in multi-billion pound decommissioning opportunities in ’.  Both countries reaffirm their commitment to working together in the field of civil nuclear energy, particularly in areas that are mutually beneficial. 

These include Japanese companies’ technical expertise in new plant design & construction, and the UK's decommissioning and waste-management experience & technology.  The countries will share expertise, experience & technology in the remediation, decontamination and decommissioning of the Fukushima nuclear site.

Press release & links

GPS:  The Government Procurement Service are currently implementing a new eEnablement strategy which aims to transform the sourcing, procurement & management of centralised deals & suppliers to ensure that all arrangements are easily accessible to customers.

As part of this strategy GPS are developing a new website which will be launched w/c 16 April 2012.  It will replace the current website and help simplify access to deals, providing information, guidance & direct access to the supporting eProcurement tools.

GPS are also rolling out a new eSourcing suite, with a range of electronic sourcing tools to benefit both our customers and our suppliers.  Once the new portal is live, the existing Capability Assessment and Invitation to Quote (ITQ) systems will be replaced and customers will be able to use the new eSourcing suite to run further competitions, or will be able to browse & buy from catalogues through the Government eMarketplace.

Press release & links

MO:  An essential requirement for wind farm operators is the ability to anticipate the weather conditions at wind farm sites. Having highly accurate data about the real-time and forecast weather conditions at individual sites enables operators to plan visits or equipment deliveries, schedule maintenance or repairs while ensuring the safety of staff and contractors, and ensure any downtime is kept to a minimum. 

The Met Office's VisualEyes™ system is a web-based monitoring & alert solution that gives customers a clearer picture of the real-time and forecast weather conditions at locations across Europe .  Already used by many of the major utility companies and major wind farm operators, VisualEyes™ has just been enhanced to ‘extend the planning service for lightning, hub height wind & visibility from 36 hours ahead to 5 days ahead’. 
Press release ~ Met Office's VisualEyes™ system