ABOUT

Birmingham City Council has a long history in international innovation activities. This has included working with western and eastern European cities as well as international cities such as Singapore, and New York, often working in collaboration with multiple cities and universities.  Until recently, it has been part of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL), putting citizen-centric user design at heart of its projects. It has worked on large European research and innovation programmes such as Horizon 2020, Interreg projects as well as European Regional Development funding programmes. The Council was recognised as a leading digital Council in 2018 in the UK and was a ranked as the 3rd most Smart City in the UK.  Birmingham has the first UK testbed for 5G to accelerate its benefits throughout the region.   The Council has hosted international delegations from India, China and other international cities to share our strategy and policy development as well as learn and exchange best practice.

Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in Europe, serving 1.2 million citizens.  Birmingham is experiencing one of its most exciting periods of regeneration and development in recent times. We aim to be a city of growth where every child, citizen and place matters - and Birmingham City Council wants to make a positive difference, every day, to people’s lives. This underpins everything we do, whether that’s setting our priorities, making decisions or delivering services.  We are an outward facing city, with a long history of international engagement, including working with our three Chinese partner cities Nanjing, Changchun and Guangzhou.