Bristol Is Open - NEC partnership aims to develop the open programmable city

NEC Corporation has signed a long-term partnership agreement with Bristol Is Open, a smart city initiative in the UK and a joint venture between Bristol City Council and the University of Bristol. It aims to create the world’s first open, programmable city to support the creation of innovative new smart services for people, business and academia. It intends to pave the way for improvements in a wide range of services, including traffic congestion, waste management, entertainment, e-democracy, and energy
February 10, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
1068 NEC Corporation has signed a long-term partnership agreement with Bristol Is Open, a smart city initiative in the UK and a joint venture between Bristol City Council and the University of Bristol.

It aims to create the world’s first open, programmable city to support the creation of innovative new smart services for people, business and academia. It intends to pave the way for improvements in a wide range of services, including traffic congestion, waste management, entertainment, e-democracy, and energy supply.

The partnership helps NEC to demonstrate new approaches to pervasive digital connectivity at city-scale, combined with its aim to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. It helps Bristol Is Open to further its goal of creating the world’s first open programmable city with a city-wide digital fabric that includes fibre in the ground, an experimental wireless mile, and a radio frequency (RF) mesh that covers the vast majority of the city.

NEC, Bristol Is Open and Bristol City Council are part of the €25m Replicate Lighthouse City consortium, alongside San Sebastián and Florence. The consortium will create integrated smart city solutions to tackle urban problems such as traffic congestion, poor air quality and unsustainable energy use. The consortium has received funding as part of the Smart Cities and Communities funding call, through EU’s Horizon 2020 innovation programme.

NEC has been supplying Bristol Is Open with advanced IT and communications technologies, including software-defined networking (SDN) compatible switches, LTE small cells and iPASOLINK ultra-compact microwave systems, helping them to build the smart city test bed platform.

The UK’s Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey said: "Bristol Is Open is one of the UK’s flagship digital smart city projects, led by the University of Bristol and Bristol City Council and part of the Government's super-connected cities programme. It's great to see NEC partner with Bristol Is Open, a collaboration that will help bring even more innovative technology and smarter services to Bristol residents and businesses."

For more information on companies in this article

NEC

Related Content

  • Case proven for C-V2X, says German trial
    July 15, 2020
    ConVeX connected vehicle trial, funded by the German government, has ended successfully
    Read More
  • TSB funding for intelligent transport solution project
    May 27, 2014
    University Campus Milton Keynes is working with Clearview Traffic Group on a 13-month research that could lead to the development of innovative traffic management systems. UCMK, part of the University of Bedfordshire, will receive $195,000 of funding from the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board, to carry out the research. The project will see UCMK and the University’s Department of Computer Science and Technology partner with Clearview Traffic Group to explore the feasibility of extendi
    Read More
  • Roadflow keeps Bristol’s traffic moving
    March 5, 2013
    Following the successful deployment of two Roadflow mobile bus lane enforcement systems, Bristol City Council in the UK has awarded technology specialist SEA (a Cohort plc company) a new Roadflow contract to install up to ten re-deployable Flexi bus lane enforcement systems in the city over the next three years. According to SEA, local bus operators, whose timetables are adversely affected by traffic congestion on city centre bus routes, have welcomed the use of Roadflow’s cutting edge technology, as it has
    Read More
  • Passport brings traffic management platform to the UK
    September 21, 2018
    UK drivers ‘rack up’ more than £570m in fines each year, according to an independent study conducted by US mobile payment company Passport. The firm has opened an office in London and is offering a platform which it says aims to boost traffic management in cities. Called Passport Platform, the solution is intended to connect multiple modes of transportation and payments and provide a way for cities to understand, manage and collaborate with an ecosystem of mobility services. Adam Warnes, vice presid
    Read More

Highlighted Content