In the first stage of the competition Brighton & Hove has been awarded one of 20 grants of £50k to draw up a proposal designed to show how new approaches to delivering a good local economy and excellent quality of life will be delivered while reducing environmental footprint and increasing resilience to environmental change.

The £50k grant was awarded after submitting a first stage outline that looked at:

• the ambition, size and scope of the proposed demonstrator;
• the potential value of tacking the various problems and opportunities;
• the systems that will be integrated;
• the innovation in the proposed approach;
• the way the proposal leverages other investments in infrastructure.

In the second stage, the Technology Strategy Board, which is funding the project, will be looking for proposals that:

• show the integration of multiple systems in novel ways;
• tackle specific challenges in the city;
• have the potential for a large impact on the economy, quality of life and environment of the city;
• combine recent or current investment in city infrastructure with the demonstrator funding to create a more effective test environment;
• provide a platform that allows innovative companies, particularly SMEs, to test their ideas;
• have the potential for further development and use beyond the initial two years of funding.

After assessment and interviews the winning proposal will be announced in January 2013