techUK industry briefing with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Insights from the GMCA Digital team

On the 14 September techUK hosted the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) digital team for an industry briefing.

Phil Swan, Digital Director, GMCA kicked off the session on how Greater Manchester is putting residents at the heart of digital innovations. Phil provided an overview of Greater Manchester’s digital vision and priorities priorities. Phil began by outlining that the focus on digital is on place-shaping. He stressed that the digital landscape is fundamentally changing as is the pace of change and what does this mean for the future of public sector? Phil stated that they are changing how they explore opportunities and are looking at how they can work better with the tech sector.

We then heard from Beena Puri, Digital Innovation and Partnerships Manager and Chris Pope on fixing the digital divide across Greater Manchester. Beena stated that whilst digital transformation has accelerated in the past 18 months, they have seen the heightened digital divide for their residents. Some really interesting data was presented as well as all the digital inclusion initiatives launched.

Jon Burt, Lead Enterprise Architect, then provided a comprehensive overview of they are developing a world class digital city-region.  Jon covered everything from Local Full Fibre Network; GM One Network; Advanced Wireless Proposal; GM Digital Platform; and the GM Data Mesh. Speaking about the GM One Network programme Jon said he sees this as foundational project to help Greater Manchester become a true smart city-region.

The session ended with an excellent discussion on what’s next and the opportunities to collaborate with industry.

Watch the full recording of the event below.

You can read more about Greater Manchester’s digital ambitions in this guest blog from Phil Swan as part of our #DigitalPlace week. 

Georgina Maratheftis

Georgina Maratheftis

Associate Director, Local Public Services, techUK

Ileana Lupsa

Ileana Lupsa

Programme Manager, Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK

Tracy Modha

Team Assistant - Markets, techUK