As Scotland’s premier centre for oil and gas, it might be easy to write-off Aberdeen as a city not ready to embrace digital tech. But, through several initiatives, Aberdeen has shown itself to be a forward-thinking hub for technological innovation. Some of these programmes are committed to improving the O&G sector, while others are transforming Aberdeen into Scotland’s first ‘Smart City’.

Now, Aberdeen City Council, in a bid to offer more digital services for its residents and businesses, has cemented a partnership with digital enterprise group Incremental Ltd. and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Part of the Council’s Digital Transformation Programme, the deal will focus in particular on improving customer experience, bringing more digital tools to the Council’s workforce, and reduce the costs of delivering services.

According to Incremental, the Council hopes that by bringing more of these services online more persons will be able to conduct official business themselves, freeing up resources.

Neil Logan, CEO of Incremental Group said: “As a growing digital business located here in the North East we are particularly proud to have been chosen to work with Aberdeen City Council on what is an ambitious digital transformation programme.

“Alongside our partners PwC we are excited by the potential for digital technology to help create better experiences and improve service delivery for all the Council’s customers.”

Additionally, the partnership will also look to advance Aberdeen’s position as Scotland’s first ‘Smart City’, a scheme which the city won along with five others from up and down the UK. The Smart City initiative aims to bring a number of benefits to businesses and public sector services, such as trialling fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband – only currently available to 2% of the UK’s population and capable of surfing speeds of up to 1GBps.

A budget of £4.5 million has been allocated to underpin the work of the digital partnership. These funds will be managed through the Council’s Strategic Transformation Committee, which will hear cases from businesses before approving spending.

Aberdeen City Council Chief Executive Angela Scott said: “Alongside our Community Planning Partners, the Council has an agreed set of priorities for what we need to achieve on behalf of the people of Aberdeen.

“Ensuring continued investment in Aberdeen and its workforce to encourage a diversified economy, investing in our children so they have the opportunity to reach their full potential and supporting our customers and communities so that they are resilient and empowered.

“Underpinning all of this work is having strong financial management so that we can meet our priorities and get the best value for the public pound.

“This partnership is key to us realising these ambitions as we move forward and thus our work will be important to everyone in Aberdeen as we look to build a sustainable future.”