Manchester wins £10m to lead UK IoT smart city tech

The UK city of Manchester has won a competition to become the country's first IoT Demonstrator city region with its CityVerve Project.

As winners of the national competition, the city was awarded £10 million by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to invest in smart city technology.

The winning team from Manchester comprised of a public-private partnership that included Manchester City Council, Cisco UK, the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester Science Partnerships, BT, and some UK SMEs including Kiltr and Future Everything.

In its bid, Manchester proposed using the power of technology to truly revolutionise and improve health and social care, the public realm, energy and environmental management, transport, cultural interaction and connecting communities.

One of the city's proposed applications, CiteVerve, will be rolling out talkative bus stops, which will let bus operators know when commuters are waiting.