Inspired solutions needed to tackle city’s biggest issues

YORK is aiming to cement its position as one of the country’s most innovative cities by using the legacy of the famed scientist Archimedes to solve some of its most pressing issues.

A campaign has been launched to recruit residents, businesses and community groups to provide innovative solutions to challenges ranging from boosting enterprise and protecting the environment to improving the care of the elderly.

One of the world’s leading companies, Proctor & Gamble, has stated that more than half of its new innovations come from sources outside of the firm.

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York Council is now hoping to emulate this way of working and incorporate the principles adopted by the Greek mathematician and astronomer Archimedes, who famously had his Eureka moment about the law of hydrostatics while in the bath.

Initial suggestions include investigating if special paving could be installed on York’s busiest streets to generate electricity by converting energy from footfall, or using innovations such as timers on televisions to help prompt people with memory loss to take their medication.

York Council’s chief executive, Kersten England, said: “Open innovation has not yet been applied seriously to local authorities in the UK, and we want to demonstrate that we can collaborate with the private sector to increase our innovation capacity to make our city a better place to live, visit and work.

“We want to explore the potential for this process and to share the learning with other local authorities.”

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The campaign, dubbed GeniUS!, is part of the council’s joint partnership with NESTA, an organisation that promotes innovation in the UK.

The council has already been shortlisted as one of 17 local authorities from 137 entrants to take part in the NESTA Creative Councils Programme, which will involve the authority’s officials working with experts from Science City York. If the GeniUS! scheme takes off, York could secure £250,000 in funding to develop innovations.

A new website, www.geniusyork.com, will go live today to give people the chance to post their ideas and suggestions that could help solve some of the key challenges that the council and the city are facing.

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