Pilots are becoming platforms
Cities are moving from single-purpose pilots to shared platforms that several agencies use.
What it means for deliveryCommon data models and open interfaces matter more than any single application.
Smart City
Connected city services that the city itself can govern
Cities are connecting transport, utilities and public services, and need the data those systems produce to be shared safely between agencies and suppliers. We help public bodies and their partners build that foundation and the services on top of it.
- SenseCameras, sensors, transit and utility feeds
- Share (where our work concentrates)One platform with a common data model
- Govern (where our work concentrates)Access granted by purpose and by agency
- OperateCommand centres acting on live views
- Serve (where our work concentrates)Citizen services and open data
The question we hear most
How does a city connect its services and stay in control of its own data?
Most smart-city estates are built one project and one supplier at a time. The result is a set of capable systems that cannot share data, each with its own contract — and a city that depends on its suppliers to tell it what its own infrastructure is doing.
We help public bodies build the shared foundation first: a common data model, access rules written for each purpose, and open interfaces documented as they are built. The applications on top can then change supplier without the city losing its data or its history.
Four forces reshaping city services
The shifts changing what good delivery looks like here, and what each one asks of the teams doing the work.
Privacy is a public question
Data protection law and public scrutiny apply to every camera, sensor and citizen record.
What it means for deliveryPurpose limits and access rules have to be enforceable in the platform itself.
Operations are converging on one floor
Integrated command and control centres bring traffic, safety, utilities and services into one operations room.
What it means for deliveryReal-time integration across suppliers becomes the critical path.
Contracts outlive technologies
Infrastructure bought today has to stay serviceable for decades, through several changes of supplier.
What it means for deliveryDocumented interfaces and handover artefacts protect the city’s options.
Sectors we serve
The pressures differ inside an industry too. These are the parts of it our teams work in, and what sets each one apart.
Municipal corporations
Property, permits, sanitation and grievance services that touch every resident.
Transport authorities & transit
Buses, metro and traffic systems sharing schedules, positions and incidents.
Utilities
Water, power and gas networks with metering and SCADA data to put to work.
Public safety & emergency services
Command, dispatch and video systems where minutes and privacy both matter.
Smart city SPVs
Special-purpose vehicles running multi-supplier programmes on fixed budgets.
System integrators
Partners delivering city programmes who need a governed platform to build on.
How we can help
Each offering runs on its own or as part of a wider programme, and draws on the AI services, consulting practices and products listed with it.
Urban data platform
A shared platform where agencies publish and use data under rules the city sets, built on open standards such as NGSI-LD.
What you get
- A shared data platform with a common context model
- Data-sharing agreements expressed as access rules
- Open APIs and a data catalogue
- Dashboards for command and control centres
Mobility and municipal fleets
Buses, service vehicles and transit feeds in one live view, with service reliability reported from the data rather than from paperwork.
What you get
- Telematics for municipal and transit fleets
- GTFS and GTFS-Realtime feeds
- Vehicle health and maintenance queues
- Service reliability and route-adherence reporting
Delivered through
Citizen services and AI
Assistants that answer from published information in the languages residents use, and grievances routed to the right department with a person deciding.
What you get
- A citizen-service assistant grounded in published information
- Grievance triage and routing, with human review
- Accessible service design to WCAG and GIGW
- On-premises deployment where data must stay under public control
Delivered through
Multi-supplier programme governance
One record of scope, interfaces, milestones and acceptance across every supplier, so the city can see progress and change suppliers later.
What you get
- A shared programme record across suppliers
- Interface documentation and quality gates
- Milestone and acceptance evidence
- Exit and handover artefacts, written as the work is done
Frameworks we build evidence for
We do not certify compliance — your auditors and assessors do. We make sure the evidence each framework asks for is produced by the delivery process itself.
- ISO 37120 and ISO 37122International
- Comparable indicators for city services and for smart-city performance.
- NGSI-LD (ETSI)International
- An open API and information model for sharing context data between city systems.
- GTFS and GTFS-RealtimeInternational
- Open formats for transit schedules, vehicle positions and service alerts.
- DPDP Act, 2023 and GDPRIndia and European Union
- Notice, consent and purpose limits for personal data about residents.
- CERT-In Directions, 2022India
- Reporting cyber incidents within six hours, and keeping the logs to support it.
- GIGW 3.0 and WCAGIndia and international
- Government websites and apps that are accessible and usable by every resident.
Where teams usually start
Common first engagements in this sector. Most begin with a two-week, fixed-price discovery that leaves you with a costed plan whatever you decide next.
- A shared data platform across transport and city services
- Fleet telematics for municipal and public-transport vehicles
- A citizen-service assistant grounded in published information
- Open, documented interfaces so suppliers can be changed later
Products most used here
SyncV2X
Every vehicle, reporting in real time.
View productVisual Canvas
A whiteboard that stays attached to the work.
Included with SyncupHUBView productSyncupHUB
The delivery platform for the AI era.
View productDocument Spaces
Living documents, right beside the work they describe.
Included with SyncupHUBView productQuestions from Smart City teams
Yes. Our approach is zero training on your data, with private model routing for hosted models. Where the data cannot leave your control at all, we build the whole stack on your own hardware, air-gapped if required.
We keep the design model-agnostic and document interfaces as we build, with handover artefacts produced continuously — so another supplier, or your own team, can take over.
Routinely. We are often brought in to make a multi-supplier programme cohere, with shared interfaces, quality gates and telemetry.
Yes. Where a command and control centre already exists, we connect it to the shared data platform through documented interfaces, so it gains data from more agencies without being rebuilt.
Routing by workload
Clinical notes summaryPrivate
Policy questionsPrivate
Marketing draftsHosted
Hardest reasoningHosted
Private AI on your own hardware: when it is worth it, and when it is not
Running models inside your own boundary solves real problems — data that cannot leave, cost at volume, control over versions — and creates others. A practical way to decide, workload by workload.
NIS2 measures
Incident handlingRehearsed
Supply chain securityGaps
Vulnerability handlingIn place
Multi-factor sign-inPartial
NIS2 for engineering teams: the ten measures, read as work
The EU’s NIS2 Directive extended cybersecurity duties to thousands of organisations in manufacturing, transport, health, digital services and more. Most of its ten minimum measures are things engineering teams build and run.
Talk to our Smart City team
Tell us the constraint and the systems behind it. We will put an engineer who has worked with both on the call, not the nearest salesperson.
What the first call covers
- Your constraint, and the systems and suppliers behind it
- Where a two-week discovery would focus first
- Commercial options in writing within 48 hours
Other industries
- Banking & Financial ServicesAudit-grade traceability, regulated release governance and vendor risk controls.
- Healthcare & Life SciencesValidated delivery, evidence packs and controlled access to clinical data.
- Retail & CommercePeak-season readiness, performance engineering and rapid experimentation.
- Logistics & Supply ChainIntegration-heavy modernisation and real-time operational visibility.
- ManufacturingOT/IT integration, plant analytics and quality intelligence on the line.
- Technology & SaaSDelivery velocity, quality automation and platform scale-up support.
- AutomotiveConnected-vehicle platforms, fleet telematics and traceable software delivery.