Center for Knowledge

Say what? That’s right. Through our collaboration with Dr. Alessio Antonini at MK Insight, of Knowledge Media Institute (KMI) at The Open University, we’ve been exploring how to go beyond ‘data for the sake of data’, and run smart city projects which result in action. The key is, it all starts with a question.

Both Alessio, and KMI, have been the ideal collaborators for us to test citizen-centric projects with meaning. Milton Keynes has established itself as one of the leading smart cities in the UK, and is becoming famous for having delivery robots, piloting self-driving pods circling it’s already famous roundabouts system. Alessio is a PhD computer scientist, specialised on civic technologies and crowdsourcing, previously technical lead of Europe’s WeGovNow platform and now leads research at MK Insight. We caught up on how citizens and cities can set up their smart cities initiatives, so it moves from ‘just data’ to meaningful impact.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) challenges companies and governments to achieve goals including poverty reduction, health improvements, climate action and more by 2030. The goals were shaped in partnership with non-profits and businesses. They can empower business and city leaders to adopt socially responsible practices, building trust with customers and citizens and making real changes in our world.