Oxford Looks To Nominet In Next Phase Of Smart City Planning

The city of Oxford is turning to smart tech to see if it can deal with the urban challenges it faces, such as congestion and getting adequate connectivity.

The way it's doing that: working on the problem with Internet registy leader Nominet, with the latter set to enter a partnership with a body called the Smart Oxford Project Board (SOPB) to explore how the city can overcome challenges like congestion and connectivity using smart technology.

The SOPB includes Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University and the Local Enterprise Partnership, all committed to look at how Oxford can join the growing list of municipalities exploring how digital technologies and data-sharing can drive sustainable economic development, reduce costs and make it an attractive place to live, work and visit.

For Russell Haworth, CEO at Nominet, "The Internet is rapidly moving from mainly connecting humans to connecting machines through the Internet of Things (IoT). This has the potential to support many new and exciting projects that use the internet for good and we want to play a part in defining and shaping it, building on our existing DNS expertise."

Active Hub

Adam Leach, Director of Research and Development at the firm added, "From our initial research, it's clear that Oxford already has a lot of the characteristics that mark out a smart city.

"It's an active hub of existing smart city-style initiatives from local companies and organisations, including our own TV white space project powering the Oxford Flood Network.

"Businesses are already naturally exploring initiatives in this area and it's great to see Oxford's local authorities and universities taking a forward-thinking and active lead in bringing all of these efforts together to give the city a technological and economic boost."

Check out more on Oxford's smart city ambitions here.

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