Image source: Getty Images through City of Edinburgh Council
City of Edinburgh Council has adopted a new Digital and Smart City Strategy aimed at accelerating its technology transformation up to 2027.
The strategy was approved earlier this week by the policy and sustainability committee.
One of its prime principles is a preference for re-using software before buying or building new solutions. In addition, building should only be regarded as a last resort, with off-the-shelf products preferred and, if customisation is required, an effort to seek alternative solutions.
There will also be a focus on strategic over tactical and reactionary measures, with a focus on delivering new or changed capabilities, the logging of any solution decisions and running an architecture risk log for any service debt.
The other principles are to: focus on citizen and customer centric requirements; be reliable, resilient, secure and perfomant; balance delivery, quality, best value and scope; work within agreed standards and be compliant with legislation; and continuous improvement and innovation. The last of these includes cloud first and agile approaches, an emphasis on systems that require little or no coding knowledge, and encouraging the use of secure AI, machine learning and robotics.
Leaders and standards
Other elements of the document include an emphasis on the role of digital leaders who can manage people through change, a set of standards for performance management and measures to promote technology resilience – including a rolling schedule of disaster recovery tests on key systems – and a plan to replace the existing citizen authentication portal with a new platform.
It also points towards the expiry of Edinburgh’s IT partnership with CGI in 2029, before which the council will review the options for a replacement.
Creating a good place
Council Leader Cammy Day said: “Our biggest priorities for Edinburgh are to create good places to live and work, tackle poverty and inequality and become a net zero city. Our smart city approach is central to all three of those aims.
“We’ve achieved a lot in the last three years to make council services more efficient and accessible and to improve connectivity - but we have a big ambition to make sure every resident, regardless of background or ability, has access to affordable digital services and the skills they need.
“We plan to build on our use of smart technology to improve day to day council services, and we’re looking at using data monitoring to better understand how people get around and use the city. Edinburgh is a growing magnet for tech and we plan to partner with universities, companies and start-ups to further grow and attract global investment.
"By embracing innovation, we can improve the quality of life for everyone who lives and works here.”
A further report on the council’s implementation of the strategy will be presented to a future meeting of the policy and sustainability committee.
