Local Hack Impact Programme

Introduction

Telefónica Tech recently hosted a two-day hackathon at its London headquarters, bringing together five UK councils as part of the Local Impact Hack Programme. The programme is a 10-week innovation sprint designed to help the public sector use artificial intelligence to solve shared challenges. 

 

This in-person event marked the midpoint of the programme and served as a catalyst for rapid prototyping, collaboration, and transformation. With support from Telefónica Tech and Microsoft experts, participating councils moved from validated use cases to working AI prototypes in just 48 hours. 

Local Hack Impact Programme

What Was Built: AI in Action

The hackathon focused on solving some of the most pressing and persistent challenges facing local government today. Rather than building generic tools, each team addressed a specific pain point that resonates across the sector: 

 

  • School Transport Eligibility: With thousands of applications submitted annually for school transport, many of which are ineligible, teams built AI-driven eligibility checkers. These tools provide instant feedback to families, helping them make informed decisions and reducing unnecessary administrative overhead. 
  • Pothole Maintenance and Assessment Management: Legacy tools for reporting and managing potholes are often outdated and inefficient. Councils developed modern, AI-enhanced solutions that use geolocation, image analysis, and predictive modelling to consolidate reports, prioritise repairs, and forecast deterioration enabling smarter, faster responses. 
  • Service Desk Management: Internal IT and service desks are often overwhelmed by repetitive queries and manual triage. Teams built virtual agents capable of classifying requests, estimating resolution times, and logging knowledge for future use, streamlining support and improving user experience. 
  • Translation Support: Many councils provide multilingual documentation to ensure equitable access to information for all residents, regardless of language background. Councils explored how AI-powered translation agents could support internal teams by automating document translation especially for languages not currently supported by existing tools, reducing reliance on external vendors and improving turnaround times. 
  • Context-aware Document Redaction: Processing of freedom of information (FOI) requests is time-consuming and resource intensive. Accurately redacting relevant documents is not straight forward and requires understanding of the scenario, the content, and the context of each request. Teams developed agentic workflows and tools to support complex redaction scenarios over various types of documents, intelligent enough to understand context, and flexible enough to tackle multiple scenarios.  

 

These challenges are not unique to any one council; they are shared across the public sector. The solutions developed during the hackathon demonstrated how AI can be applied responsibly and effectively to deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, accessibility, and service quality. 

Local Hack Impact Programme

A Culture of Collaboration

Beyond the technical achievements, the hackathon fostered a culture of collaboration, experimentation, and shared learning. Councils had the opportunity to: 

 

  • Exchange ideas and best practices with peers facing similar challenges. 
  • Work side-by-side with AI specialists to bring their concepts to life. 
  • Explore how AI can be responsibly and effectively embedded into public services. 

 

The energy and creativity on display underscored the appetite for innovation within local government and the value of creating safe, supported spaces to test bold ideas. 

Local Impact Hack Programme

What’s Next

As the programme moves into its final phase for this cohort, each council will participate in a closure session to review outcomes and define a roadmap for scaling their solution. 

 

Telefónica Tech remains committed to supporting councils beyond the hackathon helping them turn prototypes into production-ready solutions that deliver measurable impact for communities. 

Local Impact Hack Programme

Looking Ahead: Healthcare Innovation on the Horizon

The Local Impact Hack Programme is just the beginning. Building on the momentum of this successful local government initiative, Telefónica Tech is preparing to launch its next public sector innovation sprint this time focused on healthcare. 

 

With the NHS and healthcare providers facing mounting pressures around capacity, patient experience, and operational efficiency, the upcoming programme will bring together clinical, operational, and technical leaders to explore how AI can support smarter, safer, and more sustainable care delivery. 

 

Stay tuned as we continue to drive digital transformation across the public sector one challenge, one prototype, and one breakthrough at a time.