Cities are being encouraged to bid for a £10m government fund to demonstrate how the Internet of Things (IoT) can benefit citizens in a city region.

The £10m fund from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Innovate UK will be awarded to a single collaborative research and development project that demonstrates the capability of IoT in areas such as environmental improvements, transport, healthcare and economic growth.

Digital economy minister, Ed Vaizey, said: ‘This competition will be instrumental in discovering new connections between city services and their users, and identifying many more advantages that the IoT could offer.

‘IoT is a major area of growth and will have a transformative effect on society - a recent report by Arup estimates that the global value of the IoT sector will exceed £255bn a year by 2020. Cities can use IoT to improve services for their citizens, increase quality of life and make better-informed decisions more quickly. The success of cities will depend on them working in new ways with new partners.’

Projects must be led by a local authority or local enterprise partnership and the deadline for registration is 23 September 2015.

Visit https://interact.innovateuk.org/ to apply