Bristol Temple Meads recently became the UK’s first ‘Station Innovation Zone’. Working in partnership with Network Rail and Innovate UK we’re helping the station to test new technologies designed to improve the passenger experience the station. 

In this episode we meet three innovators from the three companies who will be live trialling their solutions in the station over the coming months; Rosie Richardson from Createc, Rob Franklin from Jnction and Neal Byers from Workfromhub.

What are the exciting new products that they’ll be developing at Temple Meads, how could they make a difference for the travelling public, and what does success look like at the end of the trail phase? 

We also hear from one of the Catapult’s SME Accelerator Programme Managers, Poppy Driver, and our Ecosystem Director for Rail & Stations, Alan Peters.  

Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com) 

Show notes:  

To read our full announcement about Bristol Temple Meads becoming the UK’s first Station Innovation Zone, click here.  

The trio of firms – Createc, Jnction and WorkfromHub – have been chosen as part of the Station Innovation Zone programme that aims to test new ways of improving the rail passenger experience. 

Createc offers a LIDAR based crowd monitoring system called Situate which uses artificial intelligence to alert operators to incidents in real time and warn of concerning activity. A single sensor can cover large distances and be alert to people running or standing too close to the platform edge. 

Jnction has developed a passenger assistance app known as Aubin designed to help neurodiverse passengers and others who may find travel difficult. It provides journey information, accessible station detail and direct communication with carers and customer experience staff. 

WorkfromHub looks to install a remote workspace pod at the station which is bookable via a dedicated app. The remote workspace offers a quiet and private space to enable people to join a virtual meeting or get some deep work done during their time at the Station.

To learn more about all nine companies that showcased their solutions to Network Rail at Bristol Temple Meads, click here (this article includes links to the websites of all nine companies).

You can also catch up on some of our other rail-themed episodes by clicking on the below links: 

Reimagining our railways and stations

Great Rail Journeys of the future with Michael Portillo 

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!   

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. 

Bristol Temple Meads recently became the UK’s first ‘Station Innovation Zone’. Working in partnership with Network Rail and Innovate UK we’re helping the station to test new technologies designed to improve the passenger experience the station.

This episode is a brief taster of what the Catapult is doing at Bristol Temple Meads to create a safer and more seamless, social and sustainable station. We meet Susan Evans, Head of Passenger Strategy at Network Rail, Brian Wortman, Network Rail’s Programme Sponsor for the Station Innovation Zone, and Paul Wilson, the Catapult’s Chief Business Officer.

In the second episode on the Station Innovation Zone we’ll introduce the inovative UK companies who are testing new technologies in the station, and we’ll hear what they’re hoping to achieve.

Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com) 

Show notes:  

To read our full announcement about Bristol Temple Meads becoming the UK’s first Station Innovation Zone, click here.  

To learn more about the innovators honing passenger tech in Bristol Temple Meads Station, click here.   

You can listen to the following episodes by clicking on the below links: 

Reimagining our railways and stations 

Great Rail Journeys of the future with Michael Portillo 

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!  

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.   

Earlier this month the Catapult announced an exciting new venture which will see Glasgow Airport become the UK’s first ‘Connected Airport Living Lab’. With funding from Innovate UK the aim is to test new technologies designed to improve the passenger experience, boost productivity, and help the airport hit its sustainability targets.

This episode is a brief taster of what the Catapult is going to be doing with Glasgow Airport over the next 5 years.

How does this all fit with how aeronautical and digital technologies are changing the way we think about aviation. More fundamentally, how are we starting to think differently about how places, like airports, feed into the wider economy of a city region?

Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com) 

SHOW NOTES:  

To read our full announcement about Glasgow Airport becoming the UK’s first Connected Airport Living Lab, click here.  

You can listen to the following episodes by clicking on the below links: 

Reimagining our railways and stations 

Great Rail Journeys of the future with Michael Portillo 

Reimagining the UK’s ports & maritime economy 

Our maritime past and future with David Shukman 

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, please visit our website at www.cp.catapult.org.uk and 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. 

It’s been another eventful year on the Connected Places Podcast and we’ve got a lot to look back on as 2022 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 two well-known TV personalities here in Britain – the BBC’s former Science Editor, David Shukman and one of Britain’s most well-known rail enthusiasts of Great Railway Journeys fame, Michael Portillo.

We return to the world’s 4th largest city - Sao Paulo, Brazil - where a UK and a Brazilian company have teamed up to tackle the effects of climate change in the city’s water supply.

And there's the inspiring story of the innovators who are using gaming technology and artificial intelligence to make public transport more accessible for people with disabilities.

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: 

How are tech innovators making it easier for people with disabilities to use public transport? 

How are companies in Cambridge and Sao Paulo tacking climate change in Brazil?  

Reimagining the UK’s ports & maritime economy 

Our maritime past and future with David Shukman 

Reimaging our railways and stations 

Great Rail Journeys of the future with Michael Portillo 

Also, to find out more about the UK Government’s Transport Research & Innovation Grants (TRIG) 2022, click here. Applications close on 15th January 2023 so don’t be late!

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, please 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.

The fight against climate change will be won or lost in cities. We’ve known this for some time. The question is, What do cities need to do financially to rise to that challenge?  

How can they strengthen their business cases for net zero investment? And if their plans are brought together and aligned in a new and creative ways, could they generate greater scale, volume and predictability in ways that might make them more attractive to investors? 

To answer this, the Connected Places Catapult has teamed up with the UK’s Core Cities and London Councils to create the UK Cities Commission for Climate Investment, or 3Ci. The aim is to the leverage the combined scale and clout of the UK’s cities to mobilise investment into low and net-zero carbon projects across all of the UK’s largest cities, not just individual ones.

3Ci was launched in the lead up to COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, so in this episode we hear about the momentum that’s been growing behind 3Ci over the last year. We hear how the UK’s cities have started having a closer, more collaborative conversation with banks, pension funds and private investors.  

We hear from:  

• Cllr Susan Aitkin, Leader of Glasgow City Council 
• Mayor Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol 
• Cllr Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council and Chair of London Councils 

• Prof Greg Clark CBE, Chair of 3Ci 
• Chris Sood-Nicholls, Managing Director and Head of Regional Development, Lloyds Banking Group  
• Pete Gladwell, Group Social Impact & Invesment Director, Legal and General 
• Lesley McEwan, Assistant Director (Government & Infrastructure), Deloitte 
• Ingrid Holmes, Executive Director, Green Finance Institute 

• Josiah Lockhart, CEO of Changeworks 
• Steve Turner, Director of 3Ci 

The 3Ci partnership is now widening to include Metro Mayors, Combined Authorities, Scottish and Key Cities, Counties and Districts and a growing number of private investors, financiers, advisors, developers and built environment technology professionals. Innovate UK has also been providing core funding for 3Ci and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is providing programme support.  

Theme music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)

Michael Portillo’s Great Railway Journeys have captured the imaginations of millions of TV viewers as he explores the vast world of rail travel, its fascinating history, and what it can reveal about a country.

In this episode Michael shares his thoughts on how far we’ve come in Britain when it comes to our railways, and what we need to be thinking about in the future.

As well as a broadcaster and film maker, Michael is also a former Member of Parliament. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s he held a number of senior Ministerial roles in the Governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Minister of State for Transport. Looking back on his time in government, as well as his travels and film making adventures, he reflects on how the rail industry has changed over time, the political obstacles that have held Britain back, and what our priorities should be now.

This episode is the full interview with Michael, excerpts of which were included in our previous feature on “Reimagining our railways and stations”. In that episode we explored how innovation and new technologies are shaping the future of the rail industry as it rises to the huge challenges the 21st Century is throwing at it. Like the disruption of a global pandemic, the need to decarbonise our economy, the march of digital technology, and the importance of putting people and the passenger experience at the heart of all of that.

Music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com) 

Show notes:

To learn more about the UK’s first ‘Station Innovation Zone’ and how the Catapult is supporting Bristol Temple Meads station to trial new technologies, click here.

And if you’re interested in applying for our Station Innovation Zone Competition – we're looking for up to 10 innovators with technology, products or services which can improve passenger experience when travelling through stations – then click here to learn more.

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!

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.   

Britain has the oldest rail infrastructure in the world. Our railways have profoundly shaped our history, as well as much of our cultural and civic identity. But like much of our economy, the UK’s rail network has had a difficult few years; reduced passenger revenue in the wake of the COVID pandemic; changing commuting patterns; waves of industrial action; and throughout it all the need to modernise some very old infrastructure. And then of course, there are the daunting challenges that the 21st Century are throwing at it. The need to decarbonise our economy, the march of digital technology on the modernisation journey, and the importance of putting people and the passenger experience at the heart of all of that.

Historically the rail industry has a long track record of changing and adapting to society’s needs. At its heart, rail is an industry that was forged in innovation and creativity. Yet despite its pioneering history, the modern rail industry can still be a difficult space to innovate in. In this episode we’ll hear how innovation is helping the sector to rediscover its creativity in becoming a more cost-effective, accessible, sustainable and enjoyable form of travel.

We begin our journey with one of Britain's most well-known champions for railways, former MP and Government Minister, Michale Portillo. Along the way we also meet some of the innovators who are helping to write a new story for rail; like Nicolas LeGlatin, from Open Space, a company specialising in digital twins in stations; Steve Erdal from WordNerds, a specialist in language analytics and customer experience; Matteo Maccario whose company Pluvo is revolutionising air quality in stations. 

We also hear from Mike Bradley, an expert in inclusive design at the University of Cambridge, Kirstin Durie, Property Development Manager at Network Rail, Daisy Chapman-Chamberlain from the Knowledge Transfer Network, and Alan Peters, our very own Ecosystem Director for Rail & Stations 

Music on this episode is by Phil Ward Music (www.philward.com)

Show Notes

To learn more about the UK's first Station Innovation Zone and how the Catapult is supporting Bristol Temple Meads station to trial new technologies, click here. 

And if you're interested in applying for our Station Innovation Zone Competition - we're looking for up to 10 companies with technology, products or services that can improve passenger experience when travelling through stations - then click here to learn more. 

The Wright brothers first took to the air in 1903. That revolution started with the propellor engine. Only a few decades later the jet age began, and since then aviation has become an absolutely vital part of the global economy, as well as the lives of millions of people.

But what’s really interesting is that our experience of flight - the kind of aircraft we fly in, the routes they take through our airspace, where we need to go in order to get on a plane, and how the airborne goods that we buy to get to us – that hasn’t changed very much over the decades.

Yet it’s starting to change now.

The next chapter in the story of flight will look very different to the story that unfolded over the last century. And this has huge implications for how we think about places such as airports, new modes of flight like electric vehicle take-off and landing or air taxis, electric and hydrogen powered planes, and what sustainable flight looks like as we transition to net zero.

So in this episode, we turn our attention to the future aviation; to the airports, airlines and aeronautical technologies that have been taking us to the skies, and connected us to the wider world, and to each other, for over a century. What is the next century going to look like?

We also meet some of the innovators and industry leaders who are writing that new aviation story, like Captain David Morgan, Interim Chief Operating Officer at easyJet, Prof. Sarah Sharples, Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Transport, Arnab Chatterjee, VP - Infrastructure at Zero Avia, Michael Cervenka, President of Vertical Aerospace, Simon Earles, Director of Sustainability & Corporate Affairs at Bristol Airport, and Gary Cutts, Challenge Director at the Future Flight Challenge, and Katy Milne, former Head of Industrial Strategy at Fly Zero.

And, of course, we hear from the Catapult’s Chief Operating Officer, Rachel Gardner-Poole, as well as our Technology Innovation Leads for Aviation, Andrew Chadwick.

Music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)

***** 

Show notes:

If you would like to apply to be part of our Future of Air Mobility Accelerator Programme, you have until 11 September to do so. For more information, click here.

To find out more about our Zero Emissions Flight Infrastructure Blueprint, click here, as well as our ZEFI White Paper, click here.

To learn more about 11 SMEs that we’ve been supporting as part of the Future Flight Challenge, click here.

To learn more about the ‘third revolution of flight’ check out a fascinating feature article in our Connected Place Magazine, in which aviation journalist Ben Griffiths looks into aviation’s crystal ball – click here.

You can also learn more about how drones are being deployed in the housing industry, ports and harbours, search and rescue operations, monitoring coastal erosion, as well as the agriculture industry.

You can also access the repository of reports produced by the Fly Zero project, click here.

To download our report on Hubs of Innovation, click here, and you can also read our playbook for place leaders 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 Connected Places, 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.

In this episode, we meet David Shukman, former BBC Science Editor. For over 30 years David has been reporting from all over the globe on the profound changes that are happening in our environment, our seas, and the wider natural world. Having started his career with the BBC in 1983, he was appointed the BBC’s first science editor in 2012, a position he held until stepping down at the end of COP26 in Glasgow.

David has some fascinating stories to share from his time as a science reporter, and he’s also thought a lot about the future of the world’s oceans and the profound changes and innovations we’re witnessing here in Britain. This episode is the full interview with David, who briefly appeared on our recent episode on the future of the UK’s ports (episode 45).

In that episode we explored the innovation that’s happening the UK’s maritime economy, the role of ports as a powerful engine of regional growth and a potential gateway to new global markets and routes to foreign direct investment. We also heard from some of the innovators and port operators who are writing a new maritime story in Britain, like Bob Sanguinetti, CEO of Aberdeen Harbour and Nolan Gray, Freeport Director at Tees Valley Combined Authority. We heard from Anna Ziou, Policy Director at the UK Chamber of Shipping, as well as Mark Wharton and Sophie Peachy from IOTICS, a UK company specialising in data and digital twin technology.

Music on this episode is by Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)

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!

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.

The United Kingdom is a maritime nation. Our ports have long been hubs connecting Britain to the rest of the world. Yet if we think of ports as under-utilised hubs of innovation, things start to get exciting!

Whether it’s 5G, autonomous systems, or net zero infrastructure, our ports can foster diverse innovation ecosystems. They can also be powerful engines of regional growth, as well as gateways to new global markets and routes to foreign direct investment.

With the right vision and imagination, we have the tools and capabilities to write a new and exciting chapter in Britain’s maritime story.

This episode features a special guest, David Shukman, the BBC’s former Science Editor, who’s reported from around the world on climate change and the environment for 30 years.

We also meet some of the innovators and port operators who are writing that new maritime story, like Bob Sanguinetti, CEO of Aberdeen Harbour and Nolan Gray, Freeport Director at Tees Valley Combined Authority. We hear from Anna Ziou, Policy Director at the UK Chamber of Shipping, as well as Mark Wharton and Sophie Peachy from IOTICS, a UK company specialising in data and digital twin technology.

Music on this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions and Phill Ward Music (www.phillward.com)

Show notes:

To find out more about our Clean Maritime Demonstrator project in Aberdeen, click here.

To learn more about our work on the future of the UK’s Freeports, click here.

To learn about how our ports are increasing being seen as hubs of clean energy and innovation, click here.

To download our report on Hubs of Innovation, click here, and you can also read our playbook for place leaders by clicking here.

And to register for the Maritime Innovation Week, which the Catapult is participating in as part of London Innovation Week from 13th-17th June, click 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 Connected Places, 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.