CityVerve

In Greater Manchester, everyday objects—from bus stops to streetlights to hospital beds—will be connected to a shared network to exchange data in real time. This matters because city services like transport, healthcare, and energy currently operate in silos, each with its own data and systems. A bus delay can cause missed hospital appointments, but no system connects the two. CityVerve aims to break down those walls by deploying Internet of Things technology at city scale, creating a single interoperable platform where transport, health, and energy systems can talk to each other. If successful, the project could transform how city services are delivered. A patient’s discharge from hospital might automatically trigger a booked taxi and a home energy adjustment. Traffic lights could respond to air quality readings. The same platform could help social care providers coordinate visits more efficiently. Greater Manchester, already a leader in devolved health and social care, intends to use this trial as a blueprint for other UK cities and globally. The project is not fundamental science—it is a large-scale demonstration of existing technologies, designed to prove that connecting city systems around people’s needs is both practical and beneficial.