Smarter Places 
Join over 100 places across the UK and Ireland that have benefited with the tools and knowledge to deliver smart and green growth.
 
Your learning opportunity 

The world’s leading places are realising economic growth and climate action success by embracing innovation. New technologies are enabling urban and rural places alike to quantify how resources are being utilised, supporting stronger policy interventions, more efficient outcomes, and encouraging positive behavioural change.  

Learn from experts 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 progress your smart transition.  

6 November 2024: Smarter Places & AI for Cities (Module 1) – 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 in a context where AI is reshaping our relationship to place. 

13 November 2024: Innovative Financing & Procurement (Module 2) – Alternative funding options, leveraging private public partnerships, and the role and styles of procurement all influence your programme’s outcomes.

20 November 2024: Innovation District & Ecosystems (Module 3) – 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.

20 November 2024: Smart Solutions for Climate Action (Module 4) Best practice smart decarbonization solutions for energy, mobility, waste, industry, food and how to access them from the market; data-driven carbon management. 

Modules 3 & 4 are delivered on the same day to maximise opportunities for combining new learning.

27 November 2024: Citizen Participation & Living Labs  (Module 5) – 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.  
 

 

Four Key Learning Outcomes 

This course will equip you with the best knowledge and skills to immediately implement smart outcomes.  

Apply global good practice to your local strategic development objectives

  • understand how smart supports different approaches to sustainable, resilient and inclusive economic development

Use data more effectively

  • recognise the role of data strategies in urban development and managing privacy risk
  • 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 to achieve smart outcomes and understand how alternative financing and procurement options can accelerate smart place development

Be more strategic

  • communicate more clearly how smart is changing the roles of public administration, companies, politicians, universities, and citizens and the opportunities this presents
  • design a co-creation process for smart place roadmaps to increase stakeholder buy-in and increase investment and talent attraction

 

Learn at your own pace and in your own way

  • 4 x Interactive online sessions
  • Peer learning 
  • Recorded sessions to support ongoing learning

 

Who takes this course?  

Effective collaboration is to successful places and this course is intentionally designed for public, private and third sectors to learn from each other in taking more ownership of their smart transition, and better understand the competing needs, challenges, and perspectives. Contact Andrew Savill to explore if this course is right for you and your organisation: andrew@bable-smartcities.eu

 

Pricing

Public sector, academia, and community
£950/1050€ (+ VAT where applicable) until 31 July 2024 (super early bird discount).
£1050/1200€ (+ VAT where applicable) until 31 August 2024 (early bird discount).
£1200/1400€ (+ VAT where applicable) after 1 September 2024 (full price)

Private sector
£1200/1400€ (+ VAT where applicable) until 31 July 2024 (super early bird discount).
£1300/1550€ (+ VAT where applicable) until 31 August 2024 (early bird discount).
£1500/1700€ (+ VAT where applicable) after 1 September 2024 (full price)

Discounts:  Every 4th signup from the same organisation is free. We are sometimes able to offer partial sponsorships depending on need and impact for public sector employees.

 

Panel of experts 

Alex Schmidt - Funding / Innovation 

Nikita Shetty - Climate / Smart Solutions / Stakeholder Engagement

Gretel Schaj - Data / Governance 

Henrik Morgen - Transport / Innovation / Climate

Peter Griffiths – Urban Futures / Strategy / Transport

Philipp Riegebauer - Energy / Product Innovation ​​