News Release – Hitachi Solutions and Microsoft to deliver a smart city platform for South London Partnership (SLP)

News Release - Hitachi Solutions, Microsoft and South London Partnership (SLP) have collaborated as part of the SLP’s InnOvaTe project to deliver an IoT platform that makes the data being obtained, accessible and understandable to the five London boroughs.

London, March 2, 2022 – Hitachi Solutions, Microsoft and South London Partnership (SLP) have collaborated as part of the SLP’s InnOvaTe project to deliver an IoT platform that makes the data being obtained, accessible and understandable to the five London boroughs of Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton.

The InnOvaTe project has used IoT sensors to undertake 40, yearlong trials across the five London boroughs. The data collected, ranges from air pollution to social care, and is striving to help people live better, healthier lives and to generate economic growth. Now, in partnership with Hitachi Solutions and utilising Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, that invaluable data will be collected and visualised to aide understanding, generating insights for both the benefit of officers, councillors, local business and residents.

“The insights gathered by the InnOvaTe project are already making the lives of people in South London better,” said Tim Kidd, Head of UK Public Sector at Hitachi Solutions. “Now, through this collaboration with SLP and Microsoft, we want to make it as easy as possible for others to access the data and deliver better outcomes in their local areas.”

One example of the technology already bettering people’s lives is in social care environments. IoT sensors monitor residents’ movements and send the data to the multi-purpose platform. If decline in activity is detected, an alert is sent to the Independent Living Officers (ILOs) or out of hours contact centre so that they can check on the resident. Maureen, one of the residents whose life was saved by these sensors, explained her story in a video for Sutton Council. Since Maureen’s case, the sensors have identified 22 fuel poverty alerts and two critical health alerts.

Corporate Head of Digital Strategy & Portfolio at the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, David Grasty, said: “We are excited to be taking the InnOvaTe project to the next level with the support of Hitachi Solutions and Microsoft. Having a unified platform will allow our data to be used efficiently, accessed easily and ultimately more helpful in delivering better outcomes for people in South London and beyond.”

Faith la Grange, Director for Local and Regional Government at Microsoft added, “We are delighted to have been selected by the South London Partnership, alongside Hitachi Solutions, to deliver this hugely exciting transformation project. Data, IoT and Smart solutions are rapidly becoming key components of Local Authority infrastructures, both in cities and rural areas. The ability to analyse real-time information to better understand what is going on in a region to keep residents safe, improve quality of life, make urban areas cleaner, keep our transport infrastructure moving, expedite the move to other greener travel modes and protect countryside, wildlife and nature are crucial for all authorities. With the work being delivered with SLP and Hitachi Solutions, we will help to create an ecosystem which all councils can leverage to tackle these challenges, and we couldn’t be prouder to be supporting the great work the South London Partnership is doing in these areas.”

More information about the InnOvaTe project can be found here – https://southlondonpartnership.co.uk/infrastructure/digital/digital-innovate/

About Hitachi Solutions Europe 

Hitachi Solutions Europe, Ltd. helps its customers successfully compete with the largest global enterprises using powerful, easy-to-use, and affordable industry solutions built on the Microsoft Cloud. Hitachi Solutions Europe provides global capabilities with regional offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, India/Middle East, Japan, and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit: https://www.hitachi-solutions.co.uk

About Hitachi Solutions, Ltd.

Hitachi Solutions, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a core member of the Information & Telecommunication Systems business of Hitachi Group and a recognized leader in delivering proven business and IT strategies and solutions to companies across many industries. The company provides value-driven services throughout the IT life cycle from systems planning to systems integration, operation, and maintenance. Hitachi Solutions delivers products and services of superior value to customers worldwide through key subsidiaries in North America, Europe, India/Middle East, and Asia Pacific. For more information on Hitachi Solutions, please visit: https://www.hitachi-solutions.com.

About SLP

In October 2018, the South London Partnership (SLP) boroughs were awarded £4million for a South London multipurpose ‘Internet of Things’ project, to help people live better, healthier lives and to generate economic growth. The InnOvTe Project formally started on 1st October 2019 when the initial SLP funding payment was released to the project.  The project’s aim is to use IoT to obtain new data insights about using internet-connected sensors, with minimal human intervention, to support and drive economic growth across the sub-region. Since the deployment of a number of innovative IoT use cases this year, the programme has received an increased level of national and international interest across a number of sectors, from both central government and across London as a whole. It has been recognised that this is now one of the largest IoT deployments taking place in the UK.

For further information contact: Amy Horne at [email protected]

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