A healthy competition always leads you to a better destination. Be an individual, organization, city, or a nation, it is inevitable to push the boundaries to lead the competition and this doesn’t happen overnight. It takes collective efforts and time to break the ground. In bygone days, the competition was all about wealth and power, while today, it’s all about technology for a better future, isn’t it? It is so good to see every global city in the world embracing technology to own the Smart City tag in the 21st century. Among all those highly spirited tech-savvy boroughs, Manchester is at the forefront with its active digital initiatives. “Help me make Greater Manchester the best digital city in the UK” – this is a call from the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, to hundreds of brilliant tech minds from the city at the Digital Summit in 2017. The mayor is very keen on his goals in the competition with other major cities like London, Bristol, Oxford, and Cambridge. During the convention, he has laid a strong foundation to the revolution in the city with a £2 million fund to fill the digital skill gap and extended a helping hand to the technology initiatives with a whopping £8 million. As a matter of fact, this just adds more cheese to the ongoing digital transformation of Manchester. So, what is this beta world city in the united kingdom up to in digital revolution? Let’s see.

Manchester Smarter City Programme

Have you ever seen any revolution, anywhere in the world, focusing on something other than a better life for mankind? That is merely impossible and the digital revolution in the city of Manchester is no exception. If you look into the objectives of Manchester Smarter City Programme, it aims at transforming the way Mancunians live, work, play, move, learn and organize. And what would you suggest to help the real-time monitoring of a city as big as Manchester? Of course, nothing can beat the magic of big-data that drives the smart networks and so, a fully aware Manchester is second to none to leverage the integrated systems.

Internet of Things

If you observe the reach of the internet during all these years, it has stretched from your desk to your pocket and to anything around you, hasn’t it? Your personal accessories and home appliances started communicating and functioning individually and you fondly call the technology Internet of Things (IoT). This technology has the power to change the way things work for you and so for a million others around you. And this is why the Manchester Smarter City Programme bets on IoT through the CityVerve which is a mutual collaboration of 21 organisations including Manchester City Council and tech giants like Cisco. To work the magic of IoT, Manchester relies on a colossal of open-data that is accumulated from sensors and CC cameras from across the city, processed and served to organizations and individuals to develop applications that can monitor the functioning of the city. And just as it does real-time wonders for your home, IoT does the same for every aspect of CityVerve, be it healthcare, environment, transport, or cultural realm in Manchester.

Smart Transport

When you go on a ride, a safe and congestion-free road is what all you appreciate. But, would it be possible with the increasing population and vehicles on roads? After all, we cannot control the public from coming on to the roads. But we can make the system efficiency with an extensive adoption of technology in transport networks. Manchester is setting an example to the world with its smart transport model using IoT.

Suppose, you have been waiting for a tram for a long while, and it comes jam-packed. This would definitely upset you, wouldn’t it? But in Manchester, you would never face such a dreary moment as you get the real-time information of the tram and could plan your journey accordingly. Right from a control room, traffic in the whole city is monitored to offer the best-in-quality services to the public. If you have any doubt how it happens, you should understand that it’s all the magic of IoT.

Concerns about carrying cash in hand? Don’t worry. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) offers digital services. The Get Me There smartcard from TfGM helps buy a bus, metrolink, and train tickets. Well, that sounds good and what about the queue lines at the ticket counter? If you have the mobile app of Get Me There, you just never bother about the crowd at the counter. And that’s really a smart network, isn’t it?

IoT Touching Healthcare

You might know the proverb ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’. As it says, the government of Manchester is very keen on promoting self-care through the Personal Wellness Platform. Through this platform, the government strives to tackle social isolation, what takes the lion’s share in impacting the health of senior citizens. Public places like parks are connected under this platform and seniors are updated about the social activities happening in these venues. As these places are connected, they ensure complete security for the elders.

You might have heard someone suggesting you run every day to keep your heart safe, and that is true indeed. The Manchester city council encourages its people to move their body through its BeeActive app that sets health goals to the public and encourage them to take active participation. And at the same time, through IoT systems, the government gives weather and pollution reports to the public in real-time and suggests the best timing to go ahead with their activities. Thus, Manchester ensures a healthy community with the aid of Internet of Things.

Energy Management

If there is a common problem that every nation in the world is facing, it’s the scarcity of energy resources, undoubtedly. Mankind has to find new energy resources to tackle the problem, meanwhile finding solutions to save the present resources to a great extent without compromising on our needs. Knowingly or unknowingly, you are wasting some energy every day. Wondering how? Just think of the lamps shedding light where no human eye perceives it. Again, technology comes into the picture with a pint of solution. Wondering how? Never forget how IoT creates smart homes with great energy efficiencies. And the city council is counting on the same to build smart and energy efficient public spaces in Manchester.

Smart Police Service

Nowadays, terrorism is throwing challenges to every global city and the police networks. Aftermaths of the recent terror attacks in the Manchester city resulted in some technology initiatives for a robust police network. And the good thing is, tech startups in the city are coming forward to join hands with the government. Recently, Evidential, a tech company who deals with Virtual Reality, has come up with a solution to prepare the police for such deadly terror attacks. Training the policemen for emergency scenarios involves a life risk, investment, and effort. But Evidential allows the police to use VR technology to save lives and money. The company has been developing a library of emergency scenarios which can be accessed by the police personal with a VR headset on.

If you are well connected with the police services of your city, you will feel safe, won’t you? But the question here is, how to connect public and police? Well, this has nothing to beat one’s brains out. Social media is not only for you and your friends but is also for organizations. And what else could be a better medium between public and police? And in utilizing the social platform, the Greater Manchester Police are a role model to any public body. Don’t believe? Just check any of the social media pages of GMP and you won’t suspect it again. Here you go: https://twitter.com/gmpolice

And they are using the platform to spread awareness in public with creative and engaging content and also, they use it to deal with investigations.

Greater Manchester Police are not stopping with their presence on social media, but bringing their services right into the pockets of Mancunians through their mobiles apps through which one can request for emergency help and get notifications from the police.

Augmented Magic at the Manchester Christmas Markets

What do you do for Christmas? Of course, shopping is what gives you more happiness during the festive season. Holiday shopping is a lot special in the Manchester city for its exclusive Manchester Christmas Markets.  If you have no idea of the shopping paradise, let us tell you that this is the best market in the United Kingdom for Christmas that guarantees you ultimate fun. Its origin dates back to 1999 and then, the market was only at St. Ann’s Square. The initiation was a huge success and today, the market sprawled to ten sites across the city, attracting millions of visitors. Well, that’s great! But what the markets have to do with technology? Point is, the fun is augmented as the Manchester Christmas Markets have jumped on the bandwagon of Augmented Reality through the Buzzin mobile app.

Before telling you what the app has in its store for Christmas, let us tell you how it is bringing cultural and historical artefacts into public spaces. One of the members of the consortium for CityVerve programme, Sparta Digital created this app with AR art experiences of the Manchester Plinth and other artefacts from MMU Special Collection. Anyone with this app on one’s mobile can experience the artefacts at the centre of the All Saints Park when viewed through the main camera of the phone. And now, customers to the Manchester Christmas Market are going gaga over the fun with Augmented Reality in Buzzin app. This app will act as your guide in the market and suggests you the places you are looking for and where you can have great fun. Taking your children too? Your kid can play a game in which he has to find the elves and help the Santa to deliver gifts. And if he finishes the challenge, an exciting gift will be waiting for him at one of those stalls in the market. Thus, technology, incorporated with tradition, doubles your fun in the holiday season.

Go Ahead Manchester!

Innovations are not new to Manchester. The city is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, it is where the first stored computer programme was born and the first passenger rail honked. Whenever the mankind looked for a solution to tackle everyday challenges, Manchester stood at the forefront and it still does. With a vision to lead the change in the lifestyle of the modern public, the city of Manchester is leaving no stone unturned, be it transport, healthcare, resource management, infrastructure and so on. Undoubtedly, Manchester is indeed a city ready for the 21st century.