The mayor of London has awarded £15,000 each to eight tech firms to help them develop solutions to some of the capital’s most pressing social and environmental problems.
The winners of Sadiq Khan’s Civic Innovation Challenge (CIC) will work on issues affecting Londoners including affordable housing, dementia, air pollution, and obesity.
The tech firms will jointly test and refine their ideas with a group of public and private sector partners.
The CIC was launched in June as part of the mayor’s Smarter London Together roadmap, which sets out how he will realise his ambition for London to become the world’s leading smart city.
‘Many of London’s advances in the application of data and smart technologies are recognised around the world and I want London to become a global test-bed for civic innovation,’ said Mayor Khan.
‘I’m delighted to be able to match the winners of the Civic Innovation Challenge with established public bodies and private companies, and I am confident they will go on to deliver exciting solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing Londoners every day.
‘The fact that our city’s tech community is home to some of the most creative businesses anywhere in the world is something of which we can be really proud. We want London to be the world’s smartest city and these dynamic companies have a crucial role to play.’
