Work on Hertfordshire County Council’s pioneering Living Lab initiative, for which it received a Local Growth Fund grant of £748,000 from Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), started in 2020 – the scheme is leading the way in ultimately creating ‘smart’ towns and cities across the UK. As well as Hertfordshire LEP, the County Council’s other partners on the scheme include Ocado Group, BT and the University of Hertfordshire.

In simple terms, the project has seen Hatfield Business Park become a ‘test-bed’ for ‘smart’ living, with a variety of innovations being developed there as viable solutions to tasks and issues we all face in our everyday lives.

The Living Lab has and will continue to provide experimental services to residents, local workers and students such as the driverless delivery of goods, while people will have the opportunity to help to shape these innovative concepts through a dedicated digital engagement platform.

This cutting-edge innovation, which includes the use of drones and robots, is being developed to test the way in which technology can seamlessly interact to make life better for everyone. The Hatfield Business Park is a perfect location for these trials - being home to a range of private businesses, the university and residential properties.

In the last year, the project has created an environment for future mobility solutions to be trialled and tested on the ground. A number of traffic and weather sensors have been installed, at the business park, which provide live data, while a ‘digital twin’ model has been developed. Fed by this traffic and weather information, the model will enable testing to see how new technology could operate in various environments before it is potentially implemented elsewhere in the county.

Richard Roberts, Leader of Hertfordshire County Council and Chair of Hertfordshire Growth Board, said: “The Hertfordshire Living Lab is such an important and exciting project, paving the way for how innovation and assistive technology will become part of our day-to-day lives in the future. The progress to date has been fantastic, with a dedicated environment for future trials of new technology demonstrating that our county is and continually at the forefront of such development, with the explicit aim of making our residents’ lives even better.

“Hertfordshire is already a hugely important location for many leading industries including life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and film, TV and media production. We want to ensure that our county becomes even more attractive to business, while improving sustainability – the Living Lab project is a shining example of these aims.”

Nitin Dahad,Chair of Hertfordshire LEP’s Enterprise and Innovation Board, said: “We have the exciting opportunity to explore the potential of advanced technologies to support smart-living. Harnessing the technical expertise of partners Ocado and BT, Hertfordshire Living Lab will provide a practical test-bed to highlight the possibilities of what a town of the future could look like: one that is green, healthy, efficient and thriving, and which improves the quality of life for residents while presenting new opportunities for businesses.

“This project has the potential to change the way towns and cities are shaped across the UK and beyond. We look forward to seeing the future unfold right here in Hatfield.”