Exeter IoT

Project Brief

As part of Innovation Exeter, Exeter City Council and its partners were developing a bold strategy to accelerate innovation, wanting to grow Exeter’s economy, safeguard its natural resources, and make life better for residents and businesses, through pioneering technology and innovative use of data. Innovate UK had launched a competition with £10M of funding available for an IoT demonstrator. City Science were tasked with recruiting innovative businesses to collaborate in this Exeter based venture and with driving the consortium creation and proposal development.

iot/ecc-logo.png

City Science Response

Despite tight timescales, City Science quickly engaged 150 technology providers from a standing start, and built a detailed understanding of their potential contributions, both technical and commercial. A short list was developed and highly productive workshops were hosted where City Science drove the Consortium-Building process while tying down the project details.

Ultimately, 20 partners (SMEs and multinationals) were recruited into a strong project consortium.

Outputs

City Science coordinated the consortium process and authored a comprehensive program offering and a detailed project plan which specified complex technology requirements and delivery options. In parallel, City Science organised a £17M match funding package for the project. Despite strong competition, the Exeter IoT Consortium were short-listed, reaching the top five in the Innovate UK funding competition and garnering positive feedback from the judging panel. The strong showing placed Exeter firmly on the map for innovative developments and created technology and business relationships which have outlasted the Innovate UK competition.