Building closer collaboration between Mexico and the UK

Dr Nicola Headlam of Urban Transformations delivered a keynote speech at a joint National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) in Mexico and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Smart Cities Workshop in Mexico City.

Her contribution (viewable ) focussed on the possibilities of urban living labs arguing that in terms of smart governance, smart technology and smart mobility there are many opportunities for the exchange of knowledge between the UK and Mexico.

The workshop was run under the auspices of the Newton Fund , an initiative aimed at strengthening research and innovation partnerships between the UK and emerging knowledge economies. Nicola focussed particularly on the need for hybrid spaces where urban knowledge may be meaningfully shared for use in tackling wicked urban problems.  The workshop brought together academic experts from both Mexico and the UK in order to develop key priorities for joint international research collaborations in this field involving the host agencies.

Having identified common interests and complementary areas of urban expertise with particular relevance to smart city solutions in Mexico and the UK, a Newton-funded research call on Smart Cities will follow.