Durham County Council and Blaenau Gwent Borough Council have been selected by the Cabinet Office to receive a combined £1.25m from the GovTech Catalyst Fund.
Up to five winning companies will receive £50,000 to develop their ideas and the two companies that come up with the best solution will be awarded research and development contracts of £500,000 to build prototypes, which will be available to the public sector to purchase.
Brian Stephens, portfolio holder for neighbourhoods and local partnerships at Durham Council, said: “We have a wealth of technology expertise in the region that we look forward to showcasing through this competition.
“We are excited to see the applications and the development of an innovative, bespoke solution that will enable us to deliver even better public services based on the use of real-time data.”
The GovTech Fund was set up by the prime minister in 2017 to incentivise UK tech firms to produce innovative solutions to solve problems facing the public sector such as recycling, litter collection and street repair.
Minister for Implementation in the Cabinet Office Oliver Dowden said: “This fund will elevate British companies onto a global market while helping to deliver outstanding public services and improving lives for citizens.”
