Milton Keynes City Council Milton Keynes has an enviable reputation as a ‘testbed’


Blueprint for a smarter and greener future


Milton Keynes City Council has unveiled an ambitious Smart City Action Plan aimed at tackling climate change, enhancing public health and delivering more cost-effi cient public services. T e action plan supports the city council’s Tech, Smart


City, Digital and Creative Industries Strategy designed to grow MK’s global reputation as a smart city and home of innovation. It sets out the city council’s goals from its smart city and innovation work, and the workplan over the next two years. A fundamental part of the plan is to enable advanced


technologies to operate in the city and encourage more innovative trials to address societal challenges, including sustainability, access to healthcare and the rising operational costs of public services. Key initiatives include:


■ Enhanced partnerships: working closely alongside partners, including The Open University to drive marketing and engagement through the MK:Smart programme – a joint partnership to align smart city work


■ Engagement – launching a comprehensive plan to involve residents through the new Experience Centre at centre:mk – a joint initiative between private sector partners and the city council, serving as a shop window for customers to experience and interact with robots and digital technologies.


■ Developing the testbed – the city council’s plans to build a world leading ‘city as a testbed’.


■ T e City Council will continue to support nationally strategic innovation projects, positioning MK as a hub where cutting-edge technologies can be tested and scaled to benefi t modern urban environments.


Last month more than 1,000 people attended the city


council’s Artifi cial Intelligence Festival which brought together tech experts and businesses to showcase cutting- edge technologies that the city will benefi t from in the coming years. Plans are already underway for next year’s Milton Keynes Tech Week event.


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Cllr Pete Marland Leader Milton Keynes City Council


where researchers can trial initiatives to help modern cities become greener and more pleasant places to live and work. Current live trials in the city involve self-driving shuttles, urban drone deliveries, and advanced radio communications. Already one in three jobs in the city are in tech, and the city council is determined to encourage further local tech investment, creating more skilled jobs for local people.


City named top retail choice Milton Keynes is the nation’s top city for ‘destination shopping stays’ reveals an independent economic think-tank report. Nationally, £1 in every £7 spent is made by a visitor to a


city. T e Centre for Cities’ ‘Spending Time: the role of the visitor economy in UK Cities’ report provides a detailed picture of visitor spend across the UK’s 63 largest cities. It shows that Milton Keynes has one of the highest shares of visitor spend among all UK cities and ranks number one for retail spend from overnight visitors, making their spend a signifi cant contribution to the local economy. T e report goes on to say Milton Keynes attracts around


twice as many visitors as you would expect for our size – putting our city in line with famous leisure destinations such as Brighton and Edinburgh. Milton Keynes has a signifi cant regional pull for retail,


leisure and hospitality. T e average day tripper travels 31 miles to visit the city, with the average overnight visitor travelling 42 miles. Over the years, Milton Keynes City Council and its


partners have invested heavily in the city’s infrastructure and visitor experience to make it into a desirable destination to visit.


Any organisation with an interest in trialling new technologies in an urban environment can contact the city council through Invest Milton Keynes on enquiries@investmiltonkeynes.com.


Find out more at www.milton-keynes.gov.uk


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