Smarter Places Training Course - November 2023

Smarter Places 
The tools and knowledge to deliver smart and green growth 
 
Your learning opportunity 

We all want a thriving place to live, work and play. The world’s leading places are realising their economic growth and climate action success by embracing innovation. Town, city, and regional authorities continuously need to change and update their policies, processes and infrastructure for citizens and business to grow. New technologies are enabling places to quantify how resources are being utilised, supporting stronger policy interventions, more efficient outcomes, and encouraging positive behavioural change.  

Climate action, Net Zero commitments and the energy crisis are all driving change around our communities, making us rethink how much carbon we consume. Balance that with the need for attracting inward investment for economic growth, jobs, and prosperity is stirring up innovative initiatives. 

Learn from experienced smart city professionals who have supported the most innovative local authorities from around Europe and the UK in delivering impactful smart programmes. Whatever your specialist interest – urban mobility, energy transition, 15-minute or liveable neighbourhoods, climate actions, innovation zones, test beds – this course will give you a bedrock of smart insights, skills, and tools to run your own programme.  

1 November 2023 - Smarter Places Foundation – Strategy, scope and vision come together to help shape your plan, by identifying drivers, the intended impact, and the stakeholder helix you will need to engage with. We’ll also ensure your data strategies, governance and risk management add integrity and insight to the decision-making process. 

8 November 2023 - Innovation District & Ecosystems – Identifying and building partnerships with innovation actors, learning from the EU's Smart Specialisation approach, and using Challenge Funds as a tool to mobilize innovation across your local area to support economic growth.

15 November 2023 - Innovative Financing & Procurement – Alternative funding options, leveraging private public partnerships, and the role and styles of procurement all influence your programme’s outcomes.  

22 November 2023 -  Smart Solutions for Climate Action – Best practice smart decarbonization solutions for energy, mobility, waste, industry, food and how to access them from the market; data-driven carbon management 

29 November 2023 - Citizen Participation & Living Labs – Co-creation process for sharing best practices, engaging with stakeholders, and the design and implementation of Living Labs all support your local ecosystems of innovation and growth.  
 

Learning Outcomes 

After this course you will be equipped with the best knowledge and skills to immediately implement smart outcomes.  

Apply global best practice

• apply global best practices to your local strategic development objectives in your city, town, region or rural area
• discuss different approaches to sustainable and inclusive economic development, including how smart supports a just transition

Use data more effectively

• recognise the role of data strategies in urban development 
• compare different data governance models, their advantages, and limitations 
• manage privacy rules and the reasoning behind 
• discuss the role of AI, its impacts, risks, and mitigation measures 

Make your place more competitive

• recognise how technology and innovation is making places more competitive 
• identify why conventional financing mechanisms often fail in the smart city market and understand different examples of alternative financing options
• compare traditional and innovative procurement procedures (e.g., procurement of innovation, competitive dialogue, joint procurements) in accelerating smart place development 

Be more strategic

• interpret the opportunity of a smart city approach to achieve and coordinate a just transition
• describe how smart is changing the roles of public administration, companies, politicians, universities, and citizens and how the multiple helix concept works in practice 
• design a co-creation process for smart city roadmaps
• communicate and apply the concept of a living lab or an innovation district to different stakeholders (e.g., the city, companies, and citizens) 

How you learn 

Learn from your home or office 

5 x live interactive online sessions, workshops, breakouts, and tasks 

Self and team reflection 

Peer learning 

Viewing & reading lists 

Flexible timing commitment 

Who takes this course  

Your collaborators on the course... In the most successful places, public and private organisations effectively collaborate with each other. For that very reason our course is designed to appeal to both. 
 
Public Sector – You may currently work for a local or regional authority, and you have been involved with a couple of smart-related programmes or want to implement a new smart approach, now you want to take ownership yourself with next level thinking.  

Private Sector – You may currently work as an urban development professional or in a tech product team where your client is a public authority. This course puts you into the shoes of your client, helping you understand their needs, challenges, and perspective. 

Register here, and the BABLE team will contact you to answer any questions, and to arrange final payment.  

£1500 + VAT for public sector employees  

£1750 + VAT for everyone else 

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY - Open to all public sector employees

We want to ensure that all local authorities – big and small – have the opportunity to benefit from the transition to smart. In this spirit, BABLE is delighted to announce it is AWARDING one full place and several partial awards for this training course. To be considered, please register for the training and be sure to answer the last question of the registration form:

• Would you like to request sponsorship to attend this training? If so, please explain why and what impact this training will have for you personally, and for your place/organisation in generating smart outcomes.

Panel of experts 

Alex Schmidt - Funding / Innovation 

Nikita Shetty - Climate / Smart Solutions / 

Gretel Schaj - Data / Governance 

Henrik Morgen - Transport / Innovation / Climate

Peter Griffiths – Urban Futures / Strategy / Transport

Philipp Riegebauer - Energy / Product Innovation 

Questions?

Contact Andrew Savill: andrew@bable-smartcities.eu