Author Archives: jwhild

New Enterprise Development with Urban Start Up Lab to support local entrepreneurs

The New Enterprise Development with Urban Start Up Lab is a practical and hugely interactive course that will give entrepreneurs not just the theory but also the practical tools that are proven to help technology startups develop into successful business ventures. The course, which is part of the MK:Smart project, is suited to entrepreneurs from […]

Milton Keynes featured at global broadband event

Milton Keynes was showcased with Greenwich and Cardiff at this global event at London’s Excel conference centre. Alan Fletcher introduced the conference audience to the MK:Smart story and the need for technical and cultural connectivity in a city environment. Alan focused on the need to connect not just things but people and places. At. The […]

Milton Keynes home to first UK trial of a driverless car

If you were anywhere near Milton Keynes Central train station earlier this week, you can’t fail to have noticed the buzz as a driverless car weaved its way through the public, reaching speeds of 15mph. But this was more than a spectacle. It was the first time an autonomous vehicle had been tested in the […]

Spotlight Story: The Robots Are Coming

Today, MK:Smart’s Research Associate Ilaria Tiddi tells us how robots could play a vital role in smart cities. What are you researching right now? My aim is to explore how robots could interact with a smart city. It’s a brand new area of research for the MK:Smart project. The idea is to see how robots […]

MK:Smart to feature at Huawei conference in Shanghai

Milton Keynes will once again join the top table at an international conference on smart cities and how technology can make lives better – this time in Shanghai’s famous Expo Centre. Milton Keynes Council Leader Pete Marland and Director of Strategy Geoff Snelson will join delegates from around the world at the Huawei Connect 2016 […]

Spotlight Story: Urban Data Mining

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be introducing members of the Data Science Group and delving deep into their work on the MK Data Hub. Today we talk to Carlo Allocca, a Research Associate in Urban Data Mining, who’s currently working on a solution that will allow users of the MK Data Hub to reformulate the […]

New iteration of MK Data Hub to be developed for Manchester

A data hub similar to that used in Milton Keynes as part of the MK:Smart project is to provide one of the central infrastructure features of the Manchester CityVerve Initiative. MK Data Hub, jointly developed by The Open University and BT as part of the MK:Smart project, brings together data from a range of sensors […]

‘Ground Resistance’ now online!

Ground Resistance is a multi-site installation work by Wesley Goatley and Georgina Voss that creates a multiplicity of critical perspectives on the concept of the ‘smart city’. Drawing on the material in the MK Data Hub, this online component examines how urban open data is often abundant, but unevenly distributed. We invite you to take a […]

Explore what data reveals about Milton Keynes

Internationally renowned artists Wesley Goatley and Georgina Voss have created an immersive, digital installation with data from the MK:Smart’s Data Hub and other sources, with the aim of making Milton Keynes’ data and logistical infrastructures visible to audiences in a creative, dynamic and innovative way. Commissioned by the Open University and sited in the centre […]

Citizen Innovators collaborate in MK

MK:Smart is enabling citizens to take action and deliver their own innovative projects locally. Milton Keynes is a city filled with innovation and growth and MK:Smart is enabling citizens to take action and deliver their own innovative projects locally. Community Action: MK have been working alongside the Open University to support citizen-led projects to flourish […]

MK:SMART – enhancing London’s digital skills sector

MK:Smart paired up with SEMLEP (the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership) to exhibit at the Digital Careers Roadshow in London yesterday. The event, led by Techmix at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, was supported by the Mayor of London and the London Enterprise Panel. London is one of the world’s leading cities for technology, […]

MK:Smart at the European Data Forum

Our Director, Enrico Motta attended the 2016 European Data Forum (EDF), which took place on 29-30 June in Eindhoven. The event attracted over 1000 attendees which included key policy makers, industrial players and researchers who came together to discuss issues around the area of Big Data and in particular on the theme of Scaling up the European data economy. Enrico presented MK:Smart – A data-centric […]