Manchester chooses Retail Sensing to help deliver its Smart City Vision

Retail Sensing is one of three businesses chosen to run projects which will shape Manchester’s infrastructure and environment. The company was selected for the CityVerve project which aims to develop pioneering technologies for Manchester in the UK.

Richard Elliott, head of policy, partnerships and research at Manchester City Council said:

“I’d like to congratulate the three successful firms who have been chosen…This is a fantastic platform for them to showcase their business, contribute to the wider CityVerve project and demonstrate how digital innovation can work for Manchester.”

Retail Sensing is deploying people and traffic-counting sensors along Manchester’s busy Oxford Road Corridor – one of the most important areas of economic growth in Manchester today – to capture data on density and directional flow of traffic and footfall. The data collected will help inform future infrastructure plans and city centre management.

Asad Syed of Retail Sensing, commented:

“I am delighted we have been selected to implement our IoT smart city technologies within the UK’s leading smart city demonstrator CityVerve. Manchester’s CityVerve is a pioneering blueprint for smart cities worldwide and the use of our smart technologies will make a positive difference to the citizens and businesses across the city of Manchester. We are hugely excited to be part of this innovative and outstanding world changing smart city project.”

The CityVerve project brings together the latest Internet of Things (IoT) technologies deployed at city scale to deliver transformative benefits: new businesses and jobs; better healthcare, transport and environment; and more engaged and empowered citizens.

Retail Sensing was chosen after taking part in a market consultation exercise which took place in late 2017. The consultation provided an opportunity for us to address current challenges within the city using digital solutions. We submitted an application outlining the potential of our technology through demonstration pilots, which address a number of areas that Manchester City Council want to improve for citizens, businesses and visitors.

Retail Sensing (together with our sister company Urban Sensing) is an IoT solutions manufacturer providing critical elements required for a complete smart city solution. IoT data is delivered through our UK-manufactured products which can be integerated into various data analytical smart city platforms. We are deploying traffic-counting sensors to capture data on density and directional flow of traffic and footfall. The data collected will help inform future infrastructure plans and city centre management.

Based in Manchester, CityVerve is a consortium of 21 organisations including Manchester City Council, Manchester Science Partnerships, the University of Manchester, Cisco, BT and other tech players. It is funded by Innovate UK and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It aims to provide a step change in how cities use the internet of things to deliver smarter services and create a blueprint for smart cities worldwide.

Find out more about our smart city solutions. Contact sales@retailsensing.com