We’re delighted to share that the Cambridgeshire Open RAN Ecosystem (CORE HDD) consortium, led by Connecting Cambridgeshire on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council, has been shortlisted for the Smart Places Award at the Connected Britain Awards 2025.

This recognition highlights the power of collaboration between local government, industry and academia to shape the future of connectivity. CORE HDD brings together partners including AWTG (Technical Lead), Benetel, Ontix, Gooii, Wolfram, the University of Surrey, and the University of Cambridge, working closely with Cambridge City Council to deliver the UK’s first city-centre pure Open RAN small cell network.

Deployed using street infrastructure such as smart poles and lampposts, the network is designed to address the real-world connectivity challenges of high-density areas, and has enabled an exciting range of use cases – from immersive AR experiences to smart traffic, air quality monitoring, and enhanced public safety.

A particular highlight was the live-streamed AR concert held at the Cambridge Corn Exchange earlier this year. This UK-first event demonstrated how high-speed, low-latency 5G connectivity can enable powerful new ways to engage with entertainment, learning and public services.

The CORE HDD project is part of the UK Government’s Open Networks Ecosystem (ONE) programme, funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to accelerate adoption of Open RAN technology across the UK.

We’re incredibly proud of this recognition and extend our thanks to all our partners for their innovation and dedication.

The Connected Britain Awards take place on 24–25 September 2025 at ExCeL London. Visit the Connected Britain website for more.

This article is based on a news post originally published 05.08.2025 by AWTG, the Technical Lead for the CORE HDD project.