Connected Places

The UK has a powerful story to tell when it comes to regenerating our towns and cities in the wake of industrial decline. We haven't always got it right, and yet we've learned a lot along the way. So as we face the daunting task of decarbonising our entire built environment, what lessons can we glean from the real estate and property sectors? What does the road ahead look like in this current moment of profound disruption? And where might the opportunities lie for investment in new technologies and the connected places of tomorrow?

Our guest on this episode is Liz Peace CBE, who has 35 years' experience in government and the property sector. Liz spent her early career in the Ministry of Defence before moving into the property sector and becoming Chief Executive of the British Property Federation (BPF). Liz retired from the BPF at the end of 2014. Among many other roles, she Chairs the Architectural Heritage Fund and Real Estate Balance - the property industry's leading diversity organisation - as well as the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, and the Sponsor Board for the Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal Programme.

She also serves as a non-executive Board Member at the Connected Places Catapult.

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

Show notes:

To register for our Integrated Place Planning for Net Zero event on 11 May, click here.

To be part of our inaugural Connected Skies event at the British Science Museum in London, on 17/18th May, 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!

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!

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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.

Brazil is a vast country with 16% of the world's fresh water and home to most of the Amazon Rainforest – often referred to as the lungs of the planet. But the frontline of the climate crisis in Brazil is not only protecting its forests, important of course as they are.

The fight is also being fought in Brazil's cities. Like Sao Paulo - the 4th largest city in the world. In fact, Sao Paulo isn't just a city. It's a state that's home to around 20% of the Brazilian population.

In this episode, we visit Brazil to hear about the innovation economy from the President of Invest Sao Paulo, Gustavo Junquiera. And we hear how a company in Sao Paulo, and a company in Cambridge, here in the UK, are tackling climate change together. Dr. Thomas Martin, Founder of MeteoIA and Dr. Jessica Ocampos-Colina, Founder of CamNexus are using artificial intelligence and sensing technology to anticipate and plan for climate-related challenges in Sao Paulo's water supply and distribution network.

Their collaboration has been made possible by the Catapult's Latin America Net Zero Challenges project, which is being delivered in partnership with Invest Sao Paulo and IdeiaGov, and with the support of the UK Government's Science & Innovation Network.

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

Show notes:

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.

Are you one of the 14 million people in the UK with some form of disability? Or do you know someone who lives with a disability? Then you'll probably know how hard it can be to use public transport - whether it's getting on and off a bus, or navigating the complex, stressful and often-confusing environment of a train station.

We're working with innovators to find solutions that will make it easier for people to live active lives. In this episode of the Connected Places Podcast we speak to some of those innovators about how artificial intelligence, gaming and sensing technology is revolutionising how we get from A to B.

It's all part of the UK Government's Inclusive Transport Strategy and the Department for Transport (DfT) is working with technology companies to help find the products and services that could make a real difference in people's lives by removing barriers to travel for people with additional needs.

One of the programmes it's using is called a Transport Research and Innovation Grant (TRIG). It's a way of funding proof of concept research projects that are all about not just improving the UK's transport system, but helping to grow businesses and the wider economy.

And the Catapult's role in this?

As part of our strategic partnership with DfT we're providing wrap around support to government and business, to make sure that the good ideas that come out of these grants don't fail for the wrong reasons.

In this episode we meet some of the companies who participated in the 2021 Accessibility TRIG (formally known as A-TRIG) and what they got out of the programme. We speak to Chris Thompson, CEO of You.Smart.Thing, Fredi Nonyelu, CEO of Brite Yellow, Mark Robinson, Founder of Chrome Angel, as well as Christine Hemphill, Managing Director of the inclusive research consultancy, Open Inclusion, and the Catapult's SME Development Programme Lead, Rebecca Goulding.

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

Show notes:

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.

It's been another eventful year at the Connected Places Catapult and we've got a lot to look back on as the year draws to a close!

We've had some great conversations with thought leaders across government, business, cities and industry - from London to Mexico City to New York. We've brought you news from our ground-breaking events on active travel, the innovation economy and the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission. And of course, when it comes to harnessing the business opportunities that come from technology and innovations that are shaping the connected, sustainable and low carbon places of tomorrow, we were excited to be at the summit of summits – the UN's COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow.

In this episode we take a look back at the people and stories we covered in 2021, and we cast an eye to what 2022 has in store for the Connected Places Podcast.

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

Show notes:

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.

Back in the summer of this year, the UK Government launched its Innovation Strategy which set out how the UK plans to become a global hub for innovation over the coming years. It recognised the critical role that place-based innovation is going to play on that journey.

One of the many things that place leaders need to take into account is not just how successful that economy is in monetary terms, but also how inclusive it is in societal terms. How can the innovation economy benefit everyone is a question we're interested in at the Catapult and earlier this year we announced a new Research Commission on Inclusive Innovation which is going to be getting under the bonnet of some of these issues, and identifying some of the best practice that's already emerging from across the UK.

Our guest on this episode is Claudette Forbes who's held a number of senior roles across local and regional government, including the London Development Agency where she led a £125m London-wide regeneration programme. She's also led numerous city development, economic development, and holistic local area regeneration programmes and she's a strategic adviser to local authorities, government, non-profits across the UK.

Claudette grew up in an inner-city area which was regenerated following race riots in the early 1980s, and she's passionate about combating poverty and deprivation in urban areas.

She's a faculty member of the Whitehall & Industry Group and she currently holds a number of Non-Executive Director positions including the Future of London, and the Connected Places Catapult.

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

Show notes:

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!

If you're interested in working on the Connected Places Podcast you can find out more about our Media Production Assistant role and how to apply here. Applications close 14th December 2021.

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.

How we design, build and invest in infrastructure is at the heart of how we'll decarbonise our economies, as well as harness the opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution. The coming decade is set to be the most consequential in living memory for infrastructure investment, especially for new, low carbon technologies and the industries of the future as we repivot our economies towards new zero.

In this episode we look at what this means for those larger connectivity projects like ports, airports and critical rail infrastructure? What's the role of government and industry. Where do public and private sector responsibilities lie? And how is the Connected Places Catapult playing a role in enabling new innovation and business growth? Prof. Greg Clark CBE, Chair of the Connected Places Catapult speaks to Dr. Nelson Ogunshakin, CEO of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr. Ogunshakin has more than 30 years' experience in planning, finance, delivery and managing major property and infrastructure investment projects around the world. He's also a board member of Transport for London, and he was previously a board member of Crossrail Limited as well as chair of the Investment Committee on the new £18 billion East-West Rail development in London. Among other leadership roles, Nelson is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Non-Executive Board member of the Connected Places Catapult.

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

Show notes:

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 read and download the Catapult's Net Zero Places Innovation Brief, which explores a number of new market opportunities in the active travel sector, click here.

To register for our upcoming event, 'Getting to Net Zero locally – a practical tool for local authorities' in partnership with OnePlanet, please click here.

To register for our 'Innovate at HS2: Net Zero & Safety Demo Day' which is showcasing disruptive, scalable technologies in the designing and building of railways, 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, 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.

Why has the Catapult been at the UN's COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow? Because so much of what was discussed, planned and negotiated in Glasgow had everything to do with cities, how we think about place, and how we imagine, design, build and finance places that are not just liveable, but also low carbon and sustainable.

One of the big questions we've been tackling is How can cities 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 Climate Investment Commission. 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. In the lead up to COP26 we published our City Investment Analysis Report and Glasgow has been an invaluable opportunity engage with businesses and the investment community.

In part I of 'Live from COP26' we heard from a number of voices from across the financial industry, including two of the UK's leading banks and two new banks in Britain's financial infrastructure. In part II we hear from Mayors and civic leaders from across the UK and what the challenge and the opportunity of net zero infrastructure means for places.

We also take some time to reflect on some of the other conversations that the Catapult has been having at COP26 with technology companies, asset owners and other place leaders.

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

Show notes:

You can read the Joint Declaration of the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission on our website, as well as our City Investment Analysis Report. You can also listen to the first podcast we did to introduce the Commission, as well as a follow episode on decarbonising transport in cities.

To read and download the Catapult's Net Zero Places Innovation Brief, which explores a number of new market opportunities in the active travel sector, 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!

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.

So why has the Connected Places Catapult been at the UN's COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow? Well, because so much of what's being discussed, planned and negotiated here in Glasgow has everything to do with cities, how we think about place, and how we imagine, design, build and finance places that are liveable, sustainable, low carbon and fit for the 21st Century.

One of the big questions we've been tackling is How can cities 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 Climate Investment Commission. 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. In the lead up to COP26 we published our City Investment Analysis Report and Glasgow has been an invaluable opportunity engage with businesses and the investment community.

In this episode we present some highlights from the events and conversations we've been convening at COP26. We hear from;

• Prof. Greg Clark, Chair of the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission
• Cllr Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council
• John Flint, CEO of the UK Investment Bank
• Ian Stuart, CEO of HSBC UK
• Carl Ennis, CEO of Siemens
• Elsa Palanza, Global Head of Sustainability & ESG, Barclays
• Susan Campbell, Investment Director for Sustainable Investment, Scottish National Investment Bank
• Stephen Pegge, Managing Director for Commercial Finance, UK Finance

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

Show notes:

You can read the Joint Declaration of the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission on our website, as well as our City Investment Analysis Report. You can also listen to the first podcast we did to introduce the Commission, as well as a follow episode on decarbonising transport in cities.

To read and download the Catapult's Net Zero Places Innovation Brief, which explores a number of new market opportunities in the active travel sector, 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!

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.

In this episode we bring you some of the highlights from our Active Travel Summit, which we held on 29th September, and what the road ahead looks like for collaboration, R&D, and commercialising innovation in this exciting and growing sector. The summit was a space to explore with innovators, city leaders, transport authorities, active travel commissioners, central government, business leaders and world-leading academics, how Britain can unlock the full potential of active travel to power the shift to healthy, net zero mobility.

Active travel is one of the most exciting areas of growth and opportunity within urban mobility - the kind of getting from A to B where your legs, arms and heart have to do their fair share of the work, rather than an energy consuming machine.

When we think about what more active travel in places means, it's about creating options for us to move more. This can have a massive impact on our physical and mental health, the air quality in our overly congested cities by getting more commuters out of cars and onto bikes and footpaths, and the UK's collective effort of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. But active travel is also about seizing a potentially huge economic opportunity!

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

Follow the show!

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify and Google 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.

Show notes

You can click on these links to read the two UK government reports that are referenced in the episode – Gear Change: A Bold Vision for Cycling and Transport, and Decarbonising Transport: Setting The Challenge.

To read and download our Net Zero Places Innovation Brief, which explores a number of new market opportunities in the active travel sector, click here.

You can also read and download free of charge the Catapult's new report on Hubs of Innovation which looks at the role of districts, corridors and quarters as hubs in the COVID-adjusted economy, as well as the accompanying Playbook for Place Leaders, a practical guide for establishing or growing an innovation hub.

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!

The innovation economy has become one of the defining features of the economic cycle, especially the role of innovation in the post-pandemic recovery and the wider 'levelling up' agenda. Yet there are stark differences between the innovation activity in different parts of the UK, and there is renewed focus on enabling the innovation economy to flourish right across the country.

On 23 September the Catapult hosted the UK's first Innovation Places Summit which brought together place leaders, businesses, researchers, policy makers and innovators from across Britain and around the world. The summit was the first of its kind and it explored some of the key questions facing business and place leaders in the innovation economy; how can innovation locations help to leverage foreign direct investment; how can we democratise innovation; how can we support SMEs; and how do existing hubs build on strong foundations and maintain momentum over time?

This episode is a whistle-stop world tour of some of the places of innovation from across the UK and around the globe that we heard from at the summit; from New York to Sydney, from Tel Aviv to Mexico City, we explore what it takes for a place to become a hotbed of innovation.

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

Follow the show!

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify and Google 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.

Show notes

Our Hubs of Innovation podcast series comes out of two reports that the Catapult recently published, 1) Hubs of Innovation which looks at the role of innovation hubs in the COVID-adjusted economy, and 2) the accompanying Playbook for Place Leaders, a practical guide for how to establish or grow an innovation hub. Both reports are free to download on our website.

On Monday 5th October we'll be running an event looking at how innovation procurement can drive new local transport services. Click here to register.

On Thursday 7th October is our Transport Innovation Expo where we'll be celebrating early stage innovation in the transport sector. Click here to register.

Then on Thursday 21st October the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission will present its findings on the up-front investment needed to address the Net Zero pledges in London and across the UK's Core Cities. Click here to register.