UCL to help London’s public services use data and technology as part of new collaboration

A city-wide venture

Launched on Monday, 10 June at Bloomberg’s London headquarters, LOTI’s mission is to foster radical and effective ideas for the benefit of citizens, communities and businesses. 

LOTI will enable UCL’s staff and students to collaborate with public sector organisations across London to develop impactful, exciting tech and digital projects that make a difference to Londoners’ quality of life.

LOTI is based at London Councils, an organisation that represents London’s local authorities. LOTI is a collaboration between London’s 32 boroughs and has the backing of the Mayor of London. A range of other high profile partners have pledged to work with LOTI, including the Metropolitan Police, Transport for London, London Fire Brigade, London & Partners, the London Legacy Development Corporation, and the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government.

The newly appointed Director of LOTI is Eddie Copeland, currently Director of Government Innovation at the innovation foundation Nesta and formerly Head of Technology Policy at the think-tank Policy Exchange. 

New digital innovation projects

LOTI’s initial projects will include:

• Digital apprenticeships for Londoners
• Speeding up opportunities for adoption of technology, procurement and collaboration
• A safe, ethnical and secure information and data sharing framework allowing innovative use of data to tackle public service challenges
• Developing the London Data Store, including trust and transparency

Collaborating to address social and economic challenges

Dr Celia Caulcott, UCL’s Vice-Provost (Enterprise), said: “At UCL, we believe that collaborating with a wide of range of partner organisations across the public sector and within industry is vital to addressing some of the major social and economic challenges of our time. Harnessing the potential of the data revolution for the benefit of all citizens is one such challenge, which LOTI is now well positioned to respond to. 

“I look forward to seeing some of the innovative projects and initiatives that UCL staff and students devise and deliver in collaboration with partners across London.” 

Theo Blackwell MBE, London’s Chief Digital Officer, said: “The capital’s public services need to be able to anticipate and make the most out of future developments in technology. LOTI will support digital collaboration across London’s councils and play a crucial role in mobilising the capital’s tech sector and universities as we develop new services for Londoners together.”

Philip Glanville, Mayor of Hackney and London Councils’ Digital Champion, said: “LOTI’s launch marks a new era of digitally-enabled transformation in London.” 

“London boroughs are determined to remain at the cutting edge of innovation aimed at driving service improvements. LOTI demonstrates our collective commitment to making better use of technology and embracing digital change together.” 

Get involved 

UCL Innovation & Enterprise can help you to work with LOTI, collaborate with public sector organisations, and bring your ideas to life. Opportunities include consultancy, developing demonstrator projects, knowledge exchange, secondments and short courses and training.

If you’re interested in finding out more about LOTI, or how we can help you collaborate with public sector organisations, email Ben Gascoyne at b.gascoyne@ucl.ac.uk

Links

Press release on the London Councils website

Read more news and announcements from UCL Innovation & Enterprise.