Highlights from the Connected Places Summit - 2025

In this episode we meet Dan Labbad, CEO of the Crown Estate - an independent commercial business, created by an Act of Parliament, with a diverse portfolio of UK buildings, shoreline, seabed, forestry, agriculture and common land. Dan sat down with the Chair of the Catapult, Prof. Greg Clark, shortly after giving a keynote address to the Summit our second Connected Places Catapult Summit held in in London on 19-20 March. They discussed the Crown Estate’s approach to long-term stewardship, the future of placemaking, the role of innovation and new technologies in creating that future, and the challenges of navigating profound change and uncertainty. Dan has a long background in global property and infrastructure. He previously held senior leadership roles at Lendlease, including CEO for International Operations, where he oversaw business expansion across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Dan has previously served as a Director of the Green Building Council of Australia, and more recently as Chairman of the UK Green Building Council. The recorded sessions from the Summit are now available to view online, and you can also subscribe to our newsletter now to find out all about our plans for our next Summit in 2025!   Connected Places Summit website: https://cp.catapult.org.uk/summit/connected-places-summit-2025-wrapped/  Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com) 

In this episode we meet Andrew Barr, President of Hitachi Europe in conversation with Becky Wood at our recent Connected Places Summit, held in London on 19/20 March. Hitachi Europe was one of our strategic Summit partners and we are very grateful for their support. Andrew and Becky sat down in the margins of the Summit to discuss Hitachi’s approach to innovation in rail, the work they do in the energy sector, navigating the clean transition, and how data and digital technologies are changing how we think about rail, energy and place. Andrew is President of Hitachi Group’s Regional Headquarters for Europe, Middle East & Africa - the company’s largest business region outside Japan. He has had a career spanning 20 years at Hitachi, and under his leadership he’s played a leading role in shaping the company’s global strategy and expansion – and that includes helping governments, cities, and customers cut carbon and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future. Becky is a partner in EY’s infrastructure consulting business, and she’s lead a number of complex and high-profile transport infrastructure programmes for the UK’s Department for Transport, as well as Crossrail, Thameslink, Intercity Express, and the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade programme. The recorded sessions from the Summit are now available to view online, and you can also subscribe to our newsletter now to find out all about our plans for our next Summit in 2025!   Connected Places Summit website: https://cp.catapult.org.uk/summit/connected-places-summit-2025-wrapped/ Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com) 

Last week was a big one for the Connected Places Catapult. On the 19/20 March we hosted our second Connected Places Summit, in the heart of London. In this episode we hear from some of the leading voices who spoke at the Summit...  Sir Andrew Haines from Network Rail on the future of Britain’s railways and transport connectivity; Dan Labbad from the Crown Estate on the future of innovation in placemaking, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram on the opportunities of devolution, Victoria Hills from the Royal Town Planning Institute on unlocking growth through planning, Prof. Sarah Sharples from Department for Transport on the emerging technologies that will revolutionising how we get from A to B.   Keynote talks will soon be available on the Summit website, and you can also subscribe to our newsletter now to find out all about our plans for our next Summit in 2025!   Visit the Connected Places Summit website Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com) 

Every year the UK spends £380bn on third party suppliers - £60bn of that is spent by local authorities - so it is vital to ensure we are getting the best value from the goods and services we buy. A big part of any public budget is not just the question of what things to buy, but how can we be more creative in how we buy, especially when it comes to innovation. So, in this episode we want to revisit what’s happening in the world of public procurement, and what’s being done to not only improve the UK’s procurement landscape, but also make it more innovation-friendly. We were recently up in Leeds at UKREiiF – the UK’s Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum – where we hosted a panel on the future of innovation procurement. We were joined by Emma Frost, Chair of the UK Innovation District Group, Amabel Grant, Chief Executive of Bloom Procurement Services, and the Catapult’s own Rikesh Shah, Head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre.   Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)  SHOW NOTES:  Applications for the SES Awards are open until 31 July 2024. Interested organisations are invited to submit their programs and initiatives for consideration here. You can learn more about the work of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC), a new partnership created to inspire, upskill and empower public authorities in innovation-friendly procurement procedures. You can also learn more about what the UK Government is doing to improve our public procurement regime by visiting the Transforming Public Procurement landing page where you can find webinars, factsheets, summary guides and even a checklist to help prepare for when the new rules come into force. To find out more about the work of Bloom, a professional services facilitator specialising in public procurement, click here to learn more about ‘NEPRO BloomSustain’.   If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on Connected Places, please email: [email protected]. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!  To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, visit cp.catapult.org.uk and do sign up to our newsletter!  

The UK is positioning itself to be a global hub for innovation by 2035. But how do we make sure that the innovation economy creates opportunities for people and communities from all corners of the country? Getting this right has implications not just for businesses and research institutions, but also for the life chances of people and communities who have typically been marginalised or overlooked by the innovation economy. So in this episode we explore some of the latest thinking on inclusive innovation and what it means for places - specifically one of the UK’s most diverse and vibrant city regions: the West Midlands.   We’ll be hearing from Emma Frost, Chair of the UK Innovation District Group, Pam Waddell OBE, Director of the Innovation Alliance for West Midlands, James Muscat-Sharpe, Co-Founder of Birmingham Digital Futures Innovation District, Monder Ram, Director of Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship, Alex Cousins, Business Director for Devolved & Local Government  for Connected Places Catapult and Catherine Hadfield, Principal Place Development Lead for Connected Places Catapult. Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)  SHOW NOTES:    Register your interest for next year’s Connected Places Summit in 2025 on the Summit website. If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on the Connected Places Podcast, please email: [email protected]. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!  Follow the show! Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.   

Last week was a big one for the Connected Places Catapult. On the 20/21 March we hosted our first ever Connected Places Summit, in the heart of the City of London. It was a big one because even though we run multiple events throughout the year, this was the first time we’ve run a 2-day Summit which brought together all of our flagship projects under one roof. But it also included a keynote programme with some of the most influential thinkers and leaders from across government, business and academia. Over the two days had 220 speakers, 27 companies exhibiting, 30 supporting partners, and 850 people joined us in person and 1000 people joined us online. We are also very grateful to all of our partners, including of course Innovate UK, our strategic partner for the Summit, Department for Transport, and our headline partner, DNV. Keynote talks and other sessions will soon be available on the Summit website, and you can also register now to find out all about our plans for our next Summit on 2025! Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)  Register your interest for next year’s Summit in 2025 on the Summit website, where you can also view videos of our keynote speakers. Join the IPEC network (mentioned in the episode) by clicking here. If you'd like to get in touch with your feedback, comments and suggestions on what you'd like to hear more of on the Connected Places Podcast, please email: [email protected]. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!   Follow the show!  Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.   

Ask any Londoner what the city’s greatest challenge is and they’ll probably mention the housing crisis or, more specifically, the affordable housing crisis. Over the last 40 years, London’s population has boomed from 6.9 million in 1980 to 9.6 million today. London now hosts 6 million jobs, £1.5 trillion of housing assets and a £4 trillion property asset base. All of that growth has put enormous pressure on the affordability of living and working in London. In this episode we meet Graeme Craig, CEO of Places for London – an innovate, TfL-owned property company that is transforming how under-utilised public land can be developed with the private sector. What does this new model of place-making mean for London’s people and communities, and how might a different approach to property investment help tackle some of London’s persistent challenges? Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)  Show notes:   To register for our inaugural Connected Places Summit, being held in London on 20-21 March 2024, click here.   To learn more about Places for London and their ambitions as a company, click here.   To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, visit cp.catapult.org.uk and do sign up to our newsletter!    Follow the show! Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.   

In this episode we meet Professor Dame Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge; member of the House of Lords and an engineer by training. We talked about the UK Government’s ambition to become a science and technology superpower by 2030; what it’s like to straddle the worlds of academia, industry, and government; the role that data and digital has to play in making our national infrastructure more resilient; and how alloys in aeroplane engines react under extreme pressure! Julia began her academic career by studying metals, and the composite structures used in wind turbines. Her specialty was designing metal alloys that are resistant to cracks under pressure.  Over the years she went on to teaching positions at the Universities of Nottingham and Cambridge, as well as senior positions at Rolls Royce, the Institute of Physics, Imperial College, and she also served as Vice-Chancellor of Aston University. In 2007 Julia was appointed by Gordon Brown to lead the King Review, which looked at a route to decarbonising a major segment of the transport sector within 25 years, making an important contribution to the UK's plans to try and achieve Net Zero. Julia then became a crossbench member of the House of Lords in 2015 and is now the chair of its Science and Technology Committee, which is holding the government to account on its promise to make the UK a science superpower by 2030.    Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)  To register for our inaugural Connected Places Summit, being held in London on 20-21 March 2024, click here.   To learn more about the Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDO), the digital twin for climate change adaptation that is mentioned in the episode, click here. Also, learn more about the Digital Twin Hub which is hosted at the Catapult by clicking here.   To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, visit cp.catapult.org.uk and do sign up to our newsletter!    

It’s been another eventful year on the Connected Places Podcast and we’ve got a lot to look back on as 2023 draws to a close! In this episode we revisit some of the stories we’ve featured on the show this year, and the fascinating guests we’ve been able to have on. We hear from three companies making extraordinary strides on the use of connected digital twins to tackle real world problems; RoyalHaskoningDHV, National Grid ESO and IOTICS. We return to Bristol Temple Meads station where the UK's first Station Innovation Zone was launched earlier this year – how are tech entrepreneurs helping to make a Grade 1 listed station fit for purpose for 21st Century passengers?   We also meet Sir John Armitt, Chair of the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission, whose assessment of the UK’s national infrastructure hit the headlines in the autumn – how can innovation help to maximise infrastructure assets, and where are the opportunities for UK Plc? Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)  SHOW NOTES:  You can listen to the following episodes by clicking on the below links:  Digital Twin series   The power of digital twins with RoyalHaskoningDHV  The power of digital twins with National Grid ESO  The power of digital twins with IOTICS  Station Innovation Zone   Bristol Temple Meads – UK's first Station Innovation Zone  Bristol’s Station Innovation Zone Part II – Meet the companies  National Infrastructure   Reimagining national infrastructure – with Sir John Armitt  To register for our inaugural Connected Places Summit, being held in London on 20-21 March 2024, click here.  To learn more about the Digital Twin Hub, click here and to register for the Connected Digital Twins Summit being held on 20 June 2024 click here.      

Innovating isn’t easy. It's risky, it's fraught with failure, and there’s no guarantees of success. In this episode we meet two companies that have had to navigate the innovation rollercoaster to get to where they are. Both companies have been supported by the Connected Places Catapult at various points in their journey. They have each developed two ground-breaking products and collected some great stories to tell along the way. Our in-house journalist, Mike Walter, spoke to Eugene Bari, the CEO and Managing Director of Ecomar Propulsion and Dr Victoria Kroll, CEO & co-founder of Esitu Solutions. Ecomar Propulsion builds zero emission propulsion systems for the maritime industry, whilst Esitu Solutions is on a mission to improve road safety and reduce the number of driving accidents using virtual reality technology. Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)  Show notes:   To read the full article on Ecomar Propulsion or Esitu Solutions, click on the link. To read more articles in our ‘Meet the Innovator’ series, click here.    To register for our inaugural Connected Places Summit, being held in London on 20-21 March 2024, click here.   To find out more about what we do at the Connected Places Catapult and to hear about the latest news, events and announcements, visit cp.catapult.org.uk and do sign up to our newsletter!    Follow the show!  Don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Please also take a moment to write a review and rate us so that more people can hear about the podcast and what we do at Connected Places Catapult.