East Suffolk Council

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a partnership of councils, or a council-owned company. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself. This award will go to the council that can best show how its use of digital technology is significantly improving outcomes for its residents and/or place. It is not primarily for a council that can show it has systematically transformed its approach to technology or has devised as solution for a specific area of its work, but it is for a council that can demonstrate how its digital acumen is transforming its local area, for instance with regards to the effectiveness of key services and how they support residents. Among the attributes you may seek to showcase in your entry are the benefits of data sharing; how your organisation is ensuring it supports people before they fall into crisis; and how ground-breaking collaboration between local partners has had a significant impact on your local population. This award is designed to recognise vision and farsightedness but may also be suitable for councils which have used their existing digital technology approach in a new or innovative way in their pandemic response.

After a successful pilot project, East Suffolk Council has recently delivered a hugely ambitious and innovative programme to install free to use WiFi and footfall tracking technology in our market towns. Using our data-analytical and marketing capability we use this technology to support our vision to help our towns, businesses and communities thrive. With the addition of innovate project spin-offs to benefit our communities and sharing data with other councils and relevant organisations to get the best from the technology, we ensure our district is a wonderful place to live and work.