To brief members on officer’s work with partners to deliver a specific element of the county-wide ERDF Innovation call, namely the Smart Oxford initiative initiated by OSP, of which the council is a leading partner (http://oxfordsmartcity.uk). The approach is two-fold and includes capital and revenue elements, generally match funded 1-1:

• The ‘Smart Oxford Incubator’ - a collaborative co-working space that will be used to nurture and accelerate business growth related to ‘Smart City’ products, services and applications. In turn, this potentially enhances the development of digital and perhaps social enterprise sectors, and promotes public sector innovation and commercialisation.

• Dedicated, fixed-term (3 years), staff resourcing for Smart Oxford to ensure closer collaboration with business in order to boost sector development, and deliver projects, products and services that will benefit the public sector and city residents, as well as create business new opportunities.

A business case has been prepared by the Oxfordshire consortium and is with DCLG for agreement. Members are asked to decide whether to give officers authority to accept the grant, if successful, identify the required match funding, and agree contractual details to deliver the project.

The Executive Director, Regeneration and Housing submitted a report which requested approval to commit match funding towards the Oxford City Council led element of the European Regional Development Fund Innovation allocation for Oxfordshire, if  funds are successfully awarded.

Cllr Price, Board Member for Corporate Strategy and Economic Development presented the report.

The City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Recommend Council to approve the required match funding to deliver the capital (£33,939) and revenue (£45,000) elements of the projects detailed in this report.

2.    Delegate authority to the Executive Director, Regeneration and Housing to enter into any necessary agreements to secure European Regional Development Fund funding