Our Future London Seminars with Siemens: Connectivity in an Ever Growing City 14th July

Siemens seminar: ‘Connectivity in an Ever Growing City’ 14th July 2016

All photo credit to LSx

Aims of the event were to:  To explore and debate the vision for 2020.  To hear provocations from thought leaders about what is already happening  To debate the significant issues faced by London and its communities.  To gain contributions from the public on how the vision should be further developed.

 To establish commitment to further action (and how this will happen).

Mark Jenkinson (City Director, Siemens) and Samantha Heath (CEO of LSx) introduce the seminar

“1 million Londoners have no access to digital connectivity & 25% of small businesses have no online presence�

Anthony Impey (Founder of Optimity)

“What would the mayor have to do make London the smartest city in the world?�

Anne Heal (Chair of Thames Water CCG)

Event Agenda

Welcome by Samantha Heath, CEO of LSx

Short, sharp download of information: thought-provoking provocation by the first speaker to the delegates.

Meeting the Demands of a Growing City A Provocation Speech by Anthony Impey (Founder of Optimity) Provocation Response

by Anne Heal (Chair of Thames Water CCG)

Short, sharp download of information: thought-provoking provocation response by the second speaker to the delegates.

Q&A Session following the Provocation and Response (Samantha Heath to Chair) Debate amongst the Delegates

Delegates have the opportunity to ask questions to the speakers and to each other, etc.

Summary by Samantha Heath

Identify actions going forward and next steps and define who needs to be involved

The Challenges During the event there was a discussion between the delegates that addressed the following points on Connectivity:

 What are the current challenges?  What are the future challenges?  What the Mayor needs to do?  Who else needs to get involved?

The Challenges Meeting the Demands of a Growing City: A Provocation Speech by Anthony Impey (Founder of Optimity)

 Broadband is considered an important commodity. People spend more money on it than food.  London is becoming an ever digital city – e.g. East London.  Investing in infrastructure drives growth.  Many years ago Joseph Bazalgette built more sewage system than was needed, this was good. With broadband we need to think about the connectivity needed in 10/20 years time.  London’s broadband is slower than Bucharest and Bradford.  Congestion in London is getting worse: it moves at 8mph.  The 1st challenge: It is difficult to put more broadband fibres in the road because the congestion is so bad.  The 2nd challenge: the structure of the Telecoms industry in the UK is fragmented, so now many companies offer broadband. So it is difficult for the government to intervene.  Status Quo: we’ve become too reliant on the same methods. We need to innovate.

Anthony’s company installs antennas on rooftops (their technology is very close to 5G).  Digital exclusion: 1 million Londoners don’t have access to a form of digital connectivity.

25% of London’s small businesses don’t have an online presence.

The Challenges Provocation Response

by Anne Heal (Chair of Thames Water CCG)

 London will be 1.5 million bigger by 2050, so there will be an even bigger strain on resources, like water.  Strain on water and sewage: by 2040, 440m litres deficit. Energy and water security equally endangered.  Thames Water has to look ahead many years.  Need more integrated utility division. Need disciplined infrastructure planning. The Mayor needs to help deliver on this. Water efficiency needs to be in the public conscious.  Need smarter planning for building businesses, etc.  Things on the street need to be planned, strategically and integrated.  As demand grows, not all demand can be met by wireless technology.  5G is likely to be rolled out in a few years. We will probably need even more transmitters (than 4G), this will mean even more boxes in the street.  Metal office blocks can block connections.  94% of premises have access to 30 meg. Removing the competition might not be a good idea. Ofcom sets Open reach delivery standards.  Concluding challenge: what would the Mayor have to do for London to be the smartest and most connected city? e.g. use smart meters, identifying leaks quicker, have better congestion management, tackle parking - use big data to make this a reality.

Q & A session: Other Challenges  Lack of connectivity: e.g. people not putting fibre optics in some places  London is now a relatively small city (compared to Shanghai, etc). Brexit has also changed things now.  People are buying much slower services (than are available).  One third of people who could have faster services, have it.  Need to de-clutter streets, need less street furniture, the idea of digging up streets to install wires is not appealing, we need to make the streets more walkable. Roads are currently used as car parks for residents.  Need to look at demand management – even if we build more water pipes, there won’t be much water. So Thames Water are working with residents to help them.  Technological fix: people are still hanging on to the idea of using cars. Getting people to get rid of their cars is very hard – even the people who don’t use their cars often.  Natural resources should be used more. Using smart meters could give people health problems. There’s a reason why people like to visit the coast/seaside on their holidays.  Complaints about potholes can be directly made – but this isn’t publicised, because then the system would be overwhelmed.  It took 4/5 years for the Mayor to think about water.  The government is badly run – it needs an overhaul.  People have e-vans, but don’t know where to charge them.

Delegates ask questions and share ideas during the Q&A sessions

What does the Mayor need to do?

Anne Heal:  Keep bringing together utilities.  Infrastructure delivery board, keep it going.  London's Smart City vision could be transformational: bigger pavements, fewer cars.  The Mayor can encourage the tech companies, etc to work together to install fibres, etc.

Anthony Impey:  The advent of 5G will require more ugly infrastructure and equipment on the streets.  Need a bigger, ambitious, long-term vision for London.  Need a league table of best and worst practices of local authorities (on how they are doing about broadband, etc).  Need roadworks at night, in order to overcome practical issues of installing fibres during the day-time.

Q & A session: audience responses Vision we can get behind:  Inequality is linked to connectivity. e.g. when people claim benefits and pay bills, etc, it needs to be done online. There should be a free tariff available to people.  Need to engage with communities to club together to get facilities.  Need accountability across communities, transparency that allows for appeal in ways governance. Benefit to local communities for jobs.  Important role of Smart.  Being connected to the internet is a human right.  Having roadworks at night? This would not be a good idea for kids, etc.  Wi-Fi: is it so practical to have lots of Wi-Fi feeds available (in one place)?  Planning: need accountability across communities and agents. Need an appeals system in the ways in which our laws and government is run.  Idea: could transport goods along the Thames (it was done in the olden days).  New London Plan will take 4 years, current one is not fit for purpose.  Vision around Smart City Plan so that all boroughs inter-operate.

"We must work together as communities to improve these issues in our lives rather than as isolated individuals" Samantha Heath (CEO of LSx)

A live Graphical Recording of the Minutes by More than Minutes

Delegates examined the work that More than Minutes did at the event

Response to the event 88% of delegates agreed that their level of new learning was either good or very good:

Level of new learning

63% of delegates agreed that they had an increased understanding of sustainability issues after attending the event:

Increased understanding of sustainability issues

0% 12%

12% Poor Fair 50%

Poor

38%

Good 38%

25%

Fair

Good

Very Good

Very Good 25%

Response to the event 88% of delegates thought that the opportunity for meeting new people/sharing information was good-excellent:

Opportunity for meeting new people/sharing information

71% of delegates thought that the opportunity for the understanding of policies that affect you was good-excellent:

Understanding of policies that affect you

0%

0% 12%

14%

25%

29%

Poor Fair

Fair

14%

Good

Good 38% 25%

Very Good

Very Good Excellent

Poor

Excellent 43%

Response to the event What was most helpful/useful and why?

“The input from the group about the challenges, and also the need for community engagement.”

“The encouraging speakers, the use of the ‘storyboard’ and facilitation.”

“There were great speakers and a great presentation.”

Response to the event How could this event have been improved?

“Longer networking time and more delegates being there.”

“A way to follow up contacts easily.”

“Improved discussion on the key issue – it was too much of a 'free for all'. Also, more foresight on issues – it was very-short term focused.”

Thank you to our attendees Representatives from organisations including: techUK, Hgen Capital, Global Action Plan, AutoTrip, London WET, Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University, JMP Consultants Ltd, CGCA, MIC Ltd, Citizen Sense, Social Wobble, CIEH, Calverts, Creative Design Thinking and Technology, LETSlink London, H2Deep, Hayes Community Forum, Epp, ROSETTA ART CENTRE, UCL, TfL, MUFG