Corby working as key demonstrator location for €6.5 million European project

The fastest growing town in the country, Corby, is close to celebrating its first anniversary working as a key demonstrator location in a large European project called Cloud Opting thanks to Electric Corby CIC.

In April 2014, Electric Corby became a partner on the Cloud Opting project, which is being delivered with other European regions, such as Barcelona and Piedmont. The project aims to deliver a revolutionary new programme which could change how local governments work throughout Europe.

The programme will play a pivotal role in the development of new niche markets based on digital content which will spur job growth in the region. It could potentially lead to the transfer of European wide innovative services into the local area as well as the exporting of Corby based services throughout Europe.

The premise of the project is to deliver online public services to both citizens and third party companies, and to cut administration and IT fees for local governments. This comes at a time when local councils in England are facing an average budget cut of 1.8% with Corby in particular undergoing a 1.6% budget cut. 

The programme requires Electric Corby to work closely within a European consortium which has partners in Spain, Italy and Romania, ranging from some of the most innovative software architect and development firms in Europe, all the way to the Barcelona City Council.

CloudOpting spans three years and is bringing substantial European investment into the local area. The project itself is a €6.5 million programme and is funded from the European Union ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). From this, Electric Corby will bring €170,000 into the local economy.

Electric Corby is playing a significant role within this project, delivering 3 of the 13 experiments. The three experiments Electric Corby will be participating in are:

• Developing an energy consumption and generation monitor, which will be used to help organisations reduce their emissions.
• The creation of a Bus Portal for Northamptonshire, utilising live transport data to assist bus companies and the Northamptonshire County Council enhance their overall services
• Development of a business portal, which will facilitate the exchange of information and communication between local businesses, creating a catalyst for business growth.

This project places Corby on the frontier of technological innovation and illustrates this towns growing importance, and reliance towards Europe as Corby continues to go from strength to strength despite the many barriers it has faced throughout the years.

For more information and the latest updates on Cloud Opting, visit, www.electriccorby.co.uk/cloudopting.