Public Funding for Ethos VO Limited

The coronavirus pandemic will have long-term consequences for the way in which society perceives value. Whilst the financial impacts may be clear, COVID-19 has also highlighted the dependency that we share on value created by less tangible aspects of our lives - community cohesion, the environment, education, and -- most pertinently -- health. To 'build back better', government must show how initiatives deliver value in financial terms whilst ensuring natural and social capital are protected and enhanced. Throughout the government's 'Clean Growth Strategy', the importance of natural capital and the role of local government in driving sustainable growth are clearly stated. However, local authorities lack the skills and data required to plan and act in a way that balances economic, environmental and social needs. For many, this is a new concept of growth and behavioural change will need to be supported with tools. We will contribute to the innovation for a more sustainable public sector theme by enabling constant visibility of the economic, social and environmental impacts of policy. placemaker.tech is our vision for a technology platform that incorporates a range of applications. Initial development focuses upon two elements: kwantify.tech, a concept for data capture through computer vision technology. It is innovative in hardware design for the IoT and it is also commercially disruptive as it will be offered on a product-as-a-service basis and so provide a circular economy business model for technology assets. sea-green.tech, a SaaS tool that will enable local authorities to capture data through kwantify.tech, internal operational sources and public data sources in order to use a Total Impact framework to inform decision makers and the public. In phase 1 of the project, we will test the feasibility of our chosen technologies and gather user requirements to present a programme for product development and commercial launch in phase 2\.

Matching the skills output of educational establishments with the needs of industry, particularly in a rapidly changing economy, is problematic. The inability to integrate the various bespoke datasets has meant the holistic dynamic view necessary to manage a city's skills pipeline (and thus maximise employment) has been impossible. The aim of SkillsPlanner is to increase the economic performance of urban areas and improve the quality of life for citizens through higher levels of employment. This will be achieved through the integration of disparate social and economic data to better understand and shape the current and future skills level of the local workforce. Project collaborators include major construction companies, colleges of Further Education, local authorities and trade bodies for a 24 month London-based research and development project. The objectives of SkillsPlanner are to increase employment by matching skills to need in both short and medium terms; to support the provision of relevant and more informed training to meet employer need, and reduce the amount of migrant labour, thereby recycling more wages back into the local economy.

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Wherever you go in our cities, parking is a problem. Citizens spend too long looking for it, wasting time and fuel whilst pumping out CO2 as they search. Cash-strapped City authorities worry about maximising the operating surplus from their valuable parking assets, whilst minimising congestion on their already crowded streets. And it is all set to get worse. The 44% forecast increase in traffic volume, by 2035, will lead to a 170% increase in congestion (source DfT). And with the expected increase in numbers of electric vehicles (EV) needing charging points, and an aging population demanding more ‘blue badge’ spots, the complexity of managing different types of parking slot will only add to the pressure and complexity. What is needed is an on-demand mobility solution that helps the citizen find the right parking spot in the minimum of time, whilst at the same time allowing city authorities the necessary visibility and control mechanisms to influence driver behaviour in a beneficial manner. The Ethos Parking Project Phase 2 is designed to demonstrate just such a solution. Building on the successful TSB-funded feasibility stage, Ethos has assembled a collaborative team of SMEs, each of whom offer proven leading edge technology, covering the fields of open data, linked data and parking sensor networks. The challenge the project will address is to integrate these separate technologies for the first time, in order to deliver a ‘multi city, sensor agnostic, open data parking platform’ that will enable a range of different services to both citizen & local government. The citizen will be able to access the parking landscape for a given city or locality in real-time (for example via their favourite smartphone ‘app’), enabling informed decision making ahead of arrival -especially important for special spots, such as with EV charging. As a result, stress and traffic will go down, & time spent on productive activity and air quality will improve. City authorities will, on the other hand, be able to see the status of their parking assets in real-time, & be able to use dynamic pricing to alter driver behaviour, for example to use park & ride vs driving to the city centre (in response to the status of congestion & parking saturation), or to ensure the full utilisation of less popular parking facilities. Moreover, this information can be published through multiple channels, resulting in a better informed public (& as an aside, reducing the number & cost of processing Freedom of Information (FOI) requests). Finally a scalable multi-city platform, offered as Software as a Service (SaaS), avoids each authority procuring it’s own solution, removing duplication of costs in a time of constrained local government budgets. The commercial arguments are strong too, with previous pilots having demonstrated a 5% increase in revenues for operators, when smart parking technology is deployed, which when coupled with the low cost of implementation, delivers an immediate & significant return on investment (ROI). From the citizen perspective, the plan is to offer the data in open format, enabling a valuable new service via their favourite applications (Sat Navs, Mapping applications etc.), with no advertisements, free of charge, encouraging mass uptake. In summary the Ethos parking project has the potential to make significant improvements to a city’s quality of life, environment & economy.

The world is changing, and nowhere is this more apparent than on our high streets. The impact of ‘out of town’ shopping and the arrival of the ‘hypermarket’ has caused a migration of shoppers away from traditional retail areas, and the web is driving a huge shift to online retailing. When shoppers venture into town, they frequently use their mobile for price comparisons, product reviews etc. However, whilst shoppers are undoubtedly demanding higher quality and a more personalised service, they are also becoming more concerned about who holds what data on them, and how it is used. With this in mind, Ethos believe the time is right to bring together some of the key emerging trends in technology to genuinely enhance the shopper’s experience, but in a way that gives people control over the data they provide. The model is based on collaboration and cooperation, where value is shared between participants. Ethos would provide the technology platform, including mobile applications for customers, access for retailers and hospitality providers, and a technology platform that draws on the customer’s known travel intentions and/or patterns (e.g. parking booking applications and other sources that bring a predictive time and place element). Customers would join the scheme, by providing information as to their retail/service interests - something that could be updated at any time. These needs and wants would be matched with travel data to understand where and when the shopper is likely to arrive within a retail space, allowing those connected retailers to respond with carefully tailored personalised offers, that can be adjusted to particular times of day, as the customer arrives. This helps the shopper to know exactly which shops have the product they seek, in the right size and colour if appropriate, as well as allowing the retailer the opportunity to target discounts or value-added services. Shoppers will be able to determine the number of offers they receive and will also be able to update and remove data as they wish. Customers would be encouraged to stay with the system, not just because of the service provided, but because they will receive part of the profit and a share in the growth of the company. Revenue generation would come from retailers, who would pay for the service based on a combination of ‘pay per click’ or a small commission on successful sales, meaning they do not have to make an up-front investment. Finally, Ethos, as the provider of the technology platform and owner of the IPR, will also be paid a share of the revenue. In summary, we plan to place the customer at the centre of the proposition, leveraging all that technology to provide a tailored service, but in a way that allows the customer to remain in control. The customer gets a better service, the retailer gets a one-to-one direct marketing opportunity and all parties share in the benefits. Everyone wins, including the high street that will see increased economic activity that will contribute to its re-generation!