Theo Blackwell, London’s first Chief Digital Officer, has “started listening” – and he may want to hear what you have to say to him.
Specifically, he’s opened up a consultation exercise to set up a potential ‘Smart London Plan’, which he and his team hope to launch at the June London Tech Week event.
Between now and then Blackwell and his team at City Hall plan to talk to experts from research, businesses, the tech sector and thousands of citizens about the capital’s possible digital future, drawing on the best practice both nationally and internationally and being helped by Bloomberg Associates.
The ultimate aim is to get input on what can be done to ensure better digital collaboration across London’s boroughs and public services, how to achieve better data sharing, improve connectivity and digital skills, plus ensure public services technology is designed around citizens’ needs.
As part of the motivation for the move, the Mayor’s Office points out that London’s anticipated growth to at least 11m-plus people by 2050 will strain its environmental, housing, healthcare, transport and wider infrastructure across all 33 boroughs if the city’s public services “don’t harness data and digital technologies”.
“We want to hear from everyone working in tech or who uses tech on what measures they think we should take to help manage London’s growth and deliver better public services,” says Blackwell.
“Digital technology is transforming the way we live and work. If we’re to realise our ambition to become the world’s leading smart city we need to harness the opportunities of data to foster closer collaboration between institutions.”
Blackwell’s brief as CDO for London includes delivering Mayor Sadiq Kahn’s ambition to “make London the world’s smartest city, ensuring that the capital’s status as a global tech hub helps transform the way public services are designed and delivered, making them more accessible, efficient and responsive to the needs of Londoners”.
