Four Years and Counting: ICS.AI Sponsors the Here for Derby Awards 2026

Last Friday, ICS.AI was proud to once again sponsor and attend the Here for Derby Awards - Derby City Council's annual celebration of the people who go above and beyond for the city. This marks our fourth consecutive year supporting the event, a partnership that has grown alongside our work with the council on its AI transformation programme.

A Record Year for Team Derby

This year's awards, held at Vaillant Live on 18 September, were the sixth in the event's history and the biggest yet. Derby City Council received a record-breaking 361 nominations, from which a judging panel selected 42 finalists across categories including Outstanding Team, Inspiring Leader, Delivering for Derby, Working Smarter and Community Hero.

Opening the evening, Chief Executive Sam Dennis reflected on the calibre of this year's entries, thanking colleagues, the judging panel, and the Communications and Marketing team behind the celebration - and, of course, the evening's sponsors, without whom the event wouldn't be possible.

Proud Sponsors, Four Years Running

As long-standing partners of Derby City Council, ICS.AI was honoured to sponsor this year's event alongside SmartParc SEGRO, Vaillant Live, CDW and Wolseley Managed Services. Four years in, our sponsorship reflects a partnership that has moved well beyond a single project - it's a shared commitment to celebrating the people delivering services on the ground while we continue to build the technology behind them.

Andrew Smith, Chief Customer Officer at ICS.AI, attended this year's ceremony:

"It's always great to be there and see the awards in person. Hearing about the fantastic work happening right across the council - not just in the teams we work closely with, but right across every service area - is a brilliant reminder of just how much talent and commitment there is behind the scenes at Derby. It's a real privilege to be part of an event that celebrates that."

Building on a Big Week for Public Sector AI

The timing couldn't have been better. Just days earlier, ICS.AI joined techUK's Local Public Services Innovation Summit 2026, where digital transformation and agentic AI in "the council of the future" were front and centre of the conversation. Derby's work came up again and again as an example of what's possible when councils commit to AI transformation at an organisational level rather than through isolated pilots - a reminder that the themes being debated at a national policy level are already playing out, in practice, in cities like Derby.

Seeing that conversation continue into the Here for Derby Awards a few days later was a fitting bookend to the week: national policymakers and industry discussing where public sector AI needs to go, followed by a room full of people involved in making it happen.

Proud to Keep Building

At ICS.AI, we're proud to keep playing a part in Derby's AI transformation journey, and to be moving into the next phase of that work together. Congratulations to all of this year's finalists and winners - your work is what "Here for Derby" is all about.

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