Sadiq Khan
(Picture: PA Wire)The winners of a £1million City Hall challenge to design solutions to London’s problems and improve the city post pandemic have been announced.
Companies were tasked with solving some of the capital’s most ingrained problems – from poor air quality to crowded transport.
The ten winners of the Mayor’s Resilience Fund included an app for Covid safe travel, floating solar panels to power London City Airport and a project to make it easier to open a market stall.
The Mayor of London, in partnership with Nesta Challenges, awarded each £40,000 to work with local community partners to develop their solutions before September.
Sadiq Khan, said: “The pandemic has been the most challenging period in our great city’s history since World War Two. London is home to some of the most brilliant innovators in the world, which is why I set a series of challenges.
“The winners are using digital, data and technology to make a real difference to Londoners, from supporting local businesses and traders to green and renewable solutions for our city. They all show what great ingenuity we have here in London.”
Tris Dyson, managing director at Nesta Challenges, added: “I’m looking forward to seeing these brilliant ideas being developed further and implemented across London in the months ahead. The ceremony marks the start of a brighter, stronger and more resilient future for London and set an example on the world stage too.”
Mike Lloyd’s company JNCTION created the Aubin Journey Planner, an app which will allows users to map the quietest journey on public transport.
He said: “It was originally developed to help autistic people who may not like crowds travel. Most journey planners do quickest or cheapest route. But this is about minimising stress. If you get stressed out by going in deep tunnels or by large crowds then you can easily plan your journey around that.
The money will allow us to improve the app and crowding data so it can be ready in the next few months.”
Renewable Connections Developments designed floating solar panels for the Royal Docks, which would provide clean renewable energy directly to London’s City Airport.
Alison FitzGerald, COO of London City Airport, said: “With the ability to supply up to 40 per cent of the airport’s electricity via solar generation, this has the potential to be a significant staging post in the airport’s journey towards net zero emissions.
“We look forward to working closely with Renewable Connections and the Mayor of London’s team over the next year to move the project from concept to reality.”
