They are Future Cities Catapult. Their mission is to advance urban innovation, to grow UK companies, to make cities better. They bring together businesses, universities and city leaders so that they can work with each other to solve the problems that cities face.

From their Urban Innovation Centre in London, they provide world-class facilities and expertise to support the development of new products and services, as well as opportunities to collaborate with others, test ideas and develop business models. They help innovators turn ingenious ideas into working prototypes that can be tested in real urban settings. Then, once they’re proven, they help spread them to cities across the world to improve quality of life, strengthen economies and protect the environment.

Their Cities Lab provides data analysis, modelling and visualisation capabilities to understand and elucidate city problems, while on-the-ground demonstrators in their network of collaborating cities provide opportunities for testing new approaches in-situ. Combined, they help us discover which new ideas can have the biggest impact on their urban environments. By bringing together the UK’s top architects, engineers, designers, academics and business professionals, they can help them transform cities on a global scale. They will strengthen the UK’s ability to turn excellent urban innovations into commercial reality.

They specialise in urban strategies, connected cities and urban data science. They use these capabilities to focus their work on three core themes: integrated urban planning, healthy cities and urban mobility. They can provide impartial advice about the most effective products and services – both off-the-shelf and bespoke – to help cities make the most effective use of their investments. They’re about making innovation happen in cities.