Our vision
Infrastructure, digital innovation and data are promoted within the city to deliver economic growth and public service reform.
This means enabling the right infrastructure in the city to support our Digital Coventry ambition, including internet connectivity to deliver economic prosperity and improve the lives of residents. Establishing Coventry as a leading Smart City with specific focus on energy, health and transport
industries. Using innovation to deliver better public services, with less money - this includes maximising digital channels including social media to engage hard to reach groups. It also means harnessing the power of data and insight more effectively.
Our journey so far
We are trialling eight solar-powered smart bins in Broadgate Square. These bins have sensors in them which provide alerts when they are full, or reaching capacity and need emptying. The data that the bins provide is accessible through a cloud-based management portal. We also get daily
reports emailed to us with data about the bins. As the bins are powered, they have a compactor in them to allow them to take more waste before they need emptying. The trial has been successful and we are now looking at installing 20 more smart bins within the city.
“Previously we had staff on continuous bin runs throughout the day, now we only need to deploy staff to the bins when they need emptying making us much more efficient.”
Area Manager – Street Cleansing and Grounds
We have started a trial of digital air quality monitoring solutions using Air Sensa technology. Each sensor takes continuous readings of air quality and atmospheric conditions. These readings are then sent to a cloud based software platform where it can be interpreted by a number of apps with features such as pollution - avoiding journey planning. We also hope to be able to share this data with our partners for them to create their own apps and provide further insight from the data. If the trial is successful we will install more sensors across the city.
"It is hoped that live air quality data can link to the Urban Traffic Management Control data to allow real time traffic management changes in line with pollution levels.”
Head of Regulatory Services
We teamed up with Appy Parking and Nwave to trial an innovative new parking app that will help to make finding an on-street parking space in Coventry simple. Appy Parking shows available spaces in real time in order to eliminate the need to trawl the city’s streets looking for a gap. It is being trialled at three locations in the city to show on-street spaces at New Union Street, Warwick Road and St John’s Street.
“It is hoped that not only will the app and sensors make looking for a parking space for all car users a thing of the past, but it will help businesses be more productive and also reduce pollution.”
Transport Innovation Manager
We have developed a 140km state-of-the-art fibre network. Working with our partner CityFibre it is being updated and extended through the Coventry Core initiative to reach more businesses. The network currently connects over 300 key sites throughout the city, including government buildings, schools and hospitals. To make it ready for Coventry’s business community it’s been upgraded and extended to reach more businesses.
“This is a major step forward for Coventry businesses and for the city as a whole. It will give businesses a competitive advantage over their rivals elsewhere and will make the city very attractive in terms of inward investment.”
Advent Communications – Based in Coventry