Intelligent Cities Conference – Bradford Valley Parade

Bradford hosted the Intelligent Cities Conference on 15 July, at Bradford City’s football ground. Organised by Next Gen Events, the conference was set up to explore the connectivity infrastructure needed for smart cities and discuss intelligent open data, green technologies, innovation, healthcare, mobile advances, wealth creation, digital inclusion and M2M capabilities.

As aql are highly involved in putting Leeds and Bradford on the internet map, and as a leading digital proponent, aql agreed to be a silver sponsor of the event. With a diverse and highly experienced range of speakers and chairs, including Dr Adam Beaumont, CEO and founder of aql , the conference provided insights in to all aspects of Intelligent Cities.

Adam’s panel included Mark Barret of Leeds Data Mill and was titled “ Give Me More – Big and Open Data”. Chaired by international visitor Julia Glidden, President and Founder of 21c Consultancy, it was a lively discussion explaining the need for secure storage and transmission of data, how data needs to be stored locally, and the shorter the data travels, the better quality it will arrive in – very much like asparagus.

Leeds Data Mill then explained their innovative platform, as a repository of the data and how it can be used to provide valuable insights in to how our city works, and provide opportunities for improvement, based on sound data.
Along side the conference was a trade show, attended by companies showcasing industry leading products and services, which also provided a fantastic networking opportunity.

Deepali Kaur, Head of Sales at aql, commented, “the event was a great opportunity to meet with new and existing clients, particularly those involved in the superfast broadband voucher scheme. Although we are currently number one with regards to sales of vouchers, we need to ensure that we continue to push hard to make sure that the government funding is spent to the benefit of SME’s in the area.”.