Setting the scene
Nottingham is a Core City – a member of a select band of eight of the major English cites that the Government expects to lead an English regional renaissance. Nottingham’s City Development Strategy, produced by the Greater Nottingham Partnership on behalf of the City and County Councils and their partners, identifies connections – both physical and digital – as vital pre-requisites of Nottingham’s future growth.
We are also one of the UK’s six ‘Science Cities’ due to Nottingham being recognised for its international reputation as a centre of international science and technology innovation in research and business. Nottingham’s vision for the future is that by 2020 it will be recognised as an international location for scientific, research and teaching excellence. This will strongly support the economic prosperity of the Nottingham city region and make a major contribution to a flourishing East Midlands.
The last decade has seen a revolution in the way Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has developed and transformed the society in which we live. ICT is changing the villages, towns and cities where we live and work. It has impacted and continues to impact on every facet of our daily lives. As a result, ICT is now a crucial component for cities investing in their futures.
The vision
In its vision for a ‘flourishing region’, emda’s Regional Economic Strategy highlights the crucial role of ICT infrastructure in driving forward productivity and competitiveness of business. Leading edge digital connectivity will be fundamental to the success of Nottingham’s regeneration programme and subsequent growth in inward investment.
Accelerate Nottingham is working towards a prosperous Greater Nottingham that leads the way on a regional, national and European stage by embracing the ICT revolution and maximising its associated benefits.
How we work
Accelerate Nottingham’s main role is to track down the latest developments in technology and innovation and disseminate this information to its partners in Greater Nottingham. We then quantify what these developments mean for Nottingham and the wider region and lead discussions on how best to embrace them and make them a part of our infrastructure.
Accelerate Nottingham’s board is made up of a combination of high level business, local authority, academic and community partners. We also act as the Greater Nottingham Partnership’s Strategy Action Team (SAT) for ICT. This unrivalled strategic expertise creates a unique level of leadership across a range of large-scale, cross-sectoral ICT projects that Accelerate Nottingham initiates and manages with partners.
Our key objectives:
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Encourage a new business prosperity and better quality of life by making businesses and citizens aware of the advantages that technology brings
- Identify best ICT practice locally, regionally nationally and internationally and disseminate to partners
- Demonstrate how ICT initiatives can be used to tackle Greater Nottingham’s challenges
- Draw on a wide range of technical knowledge, experience and thought leadership in order to initiate the best long-term innovative solutions
- Act as a partnership vehicle for the funding and delivery of integrated conurbation-wide ICT projects that would not happen otherwise.