Research and Analysis

We've put in place a methodology to help City Hall's policy teams to develop strategy. This follows the open policy approach, and encourages teams to consult and share knowledge and ideas.

We deliver projections in the critical areas of the economy, labour markets and population, and have always underpinned Mayoral strategies. We have a track record of engaging Londoners in new ways, from the initial research stages, to consultation on priorities, right through to co-production and evaluation. 

We also have the Datastore, our interactive evidence base, backed up by state-of-the-art visualisation.

In some respects we are already in a fantastic position: the London Datastore is the most recognised city datastore in the world, and we have several innovative city-modelling products in development. 

There is still much we can do, though. Guided by the Smart London Board, we are pursuing funded research opportunities and strategic relationships with industry and academia. These new opportunities will aim to turn 'smart city demonstrators' into projects which will offer meaningful business and investment models. We are also a leading partner in the London Research and Policy Partnership bringing policy makers and urban researchers together in a systematic way.

The City Data Strategy is a much-needed way to ensure the secure supply and sharing of meaningful ‘city data’. It will also provide data suppliers and value generators with the right set of incentives to make the London data economy move faster still.

In recent years we have developed a series of innovative (often digital) services, for example:

• the London Schools Atlas
• our developmental work on the proposed pan-London 'Social Impact Bond for Children on the Edge of Care'. This demonstrates how we are trying to find new ways to respond to the funding pressures still evident across the public sector
• our Assistant Director is a board member of Funding London, which oversees funds aimed at growing London’s tech and creative businesses. As our experience in this increases, alongside our understanding of how technology and data can influence new business models in public services, we are keen to pursue plans to develop a Capital Innovation Club, with London Councils and London Boroughs

We will achieve genuine innovation with a work programme focussed on rising to city challenges and opportunities. We are gathering the right skills for this, from data scientists, to front-line workers, from economists to service design experts.