Vicky ParryLast night saw GeniUS! York triumph at the Living Labs Global Awards in Brazil. Shortlisted from 92 applicants down to just five, GeniUS! won the award for the proposal to take this pioneering approach to South Africa and pilot the GeniUS initiative in Cape Town.
This win means that Heather Niven from Science City York and Neil Wilford from City of York Council will be invited to Cape Town to help run a GeniUS! pilot there later this year.
Following the awards, at a global summit meeting today, the team will also get the chance to pitch the scheme to leaders from 21 Living Labs Global Award partner cities and 150 innovation experts from around the world.
Cllr James Alexander, Labour leader of City of York Council said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to export the city’s innovative listening approach to problem-solving. Only a few months in to the project we are already achieving national, and now global, recognition for the way York is working collaboratively to create better, long-lasting and relevant services for the city.”
Heather Niven, SCY’s innovation specialist, said: “We immediately recognised the parallel between Cape Town’s desire to develop an ‘innovation ecosystem’ between the business community, residents and city administration and our very own initiative. The GeniUS! scheme shows how we can collaborate with the private sector and our communities to increase our innovation capacity to make our city a better place to live, visit and work. I am delighted that it’s now being seen as a future model to explore opportunities for open innovation in other cities around the world.”
This month the team behind GeniUS! is also submitting an application for stage two of the NESTA Creative Councils programme for up to £250k to support some of the solutions and develop the project in York and beyond. The outcome of the bid will be declared by the end of May.
For more about the scheme click here.
