Greater London Authority

The Greater London Authority is a tier of local government of London, based at City Hall, comprising the Mayor of London and the Assembly. The Mayor of London has set objectives around better digital services, data sharing, connectivity, smart pilots, digital skills and city-wide collaboration.

• City Hall follows a common design approach based on understanding and meeting user needs when developing new digital services and uses new platforms for policymaking, Talk London, and citizen participation through Make London.    
• Foundations are laid for joining-up data across London’s public services and work is well advanced on a new city data platform and governance. City Hall produces nationally recognised data services: Infrastructure Mapping Application (private data sharing to ‘dig once’); the Planning Datahub (live feed of all planning applications in the city); High Streets Data Service (detailed local economic data using spend and footfall from private sources) and the Cultural Infrastructure Map (open data on cultural assets).    
• Connected London is a ground-breaking mobilisation of Transport for London (TfL) and other public assets to improve digital infrastructure for Londoners and an opportunity to expand gigabit-capable internet speeds across London and prepare the way for 5G and emerging technologies. In addition, the London Plan sets the most comprehensive planning policies in the UK on fibre and mobile connectivity in future developments.   
• London played a major role in the success of the EU Sharing Cities programme by piloting smart technologies in Greenwich, building expertise in deploying and financing smart technologies to support the green transition and working with other European cities, as well as establishing a track record of mobility and green initiatives. 
• Opportunities for Londoners to access digital skills are now in place and a focus of the pandemic recovery programme.
• New institutions now enable collaboration at scale via the London Office for Technology and Innovation (LOTI) and TfL’s Innovation team.  The GLA and TfL’s developing expertise in open call approaches fosters both valuable innovation and partnerships with scale-ups and the tech sector.  The new Smart Mobility Living Lab, supported by TfL and QEOP, positions London as the place to trial new mobility services technology in a real-world setting.