Speakers

Mark undertook his doctorate, laminar-turbulent transition prediction techniques for supersonic transport swept wings in Cambridge and then joined Rolls-Royce Aerospace to design jet engine compressors. Since then, he has worked on turbo-chargers, combustion, oil tankers, HVAC and acoustics and spent 12 years as Principal Aerodynamicist at the McLaren Racing Formula 1 team followed by a brief stint as Chief CAE Engineer at Gordon Murray Design. Mark currently works as a Deputy Director at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) responsible for Programme Delivery of Science and Innovation for Climate and Energy. Mark oversees major energy innovation programmes in a £505m Portfolio including

Hy4Heat, CCUS, Industrial Fuel Switching, Energy Entrepreneurs Fund and the upcoming Clean Growth Venture Capital Fund.

Julie is Director of Technology and Innovation at Places for People, one the UK’s largest housing developers.

Julie’s objectives are to drive innovation across the placemaking activities of the organisation, identifying new technology and new business models that will create a step change in the property industry and across the entire value chain.

Part of this role is to incorporate technology into existing assets to optimise their performance, and to significantly improve customer experience. Driving the use of digital twins from design and planning on to asset management, through to identifying smart technology for the elimination of social isolation, illustrates the broad range of opportunities for proptech and placetech, for which Julie has responsibility.

Following on from her recent role at Siemens as global lead for Smart Cities, Julie seeks to now bridge the gap between the technology supply chain and the developers whose role it is to adopt and manage these systems and to seek wider adoption of innovative technology in the delivery of ‘places’.

Julie is a member of the Smart London Board and is Chair of the Managing Board of UKCRIC, the UK’s leading urban infrastructure research community.

Arlene Goode is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Water and Environmental Manager, and is Associate in Arup’s Water Advisory team. She has worked with and advised water solution providers in taking products to market and is currently leading Arup’s role as Network Integrator for the Hydro Nation Water Innovation Service for the next 3 years, providing support and opportunities for innovative businesses in Scotland to create and grow sustainable solutions for the global water and wastewater sector. The innovation service is designed to foster innovation, supporting Scotland’s vision to become a Hydro Nation.

David is passionate about playing his part in the generation that enacts a sustainable footing. Until 2016, David worked at Forum for the Future, an independent non-profit working globally to solve complex sustainability challenges, most recently as Director of Sustainable Business. He advised dozens of companies in the UK, USA and India on how they can be more successful by creating a sustainable future. Often that involved using futures techniques, such as scenario planning. He remains a contributing Affiliate.

Now independent, David is working at the frontier of shaping economic transformation, including: the Institute for Global Prosperity at UCL, with a global programme on ’the practice of economic transformation for global prosperity’; developing a ‘Gigatonne Lab’ to accelerate a rapid transition to a zero carbon world; as a Practice Advisor at the International Futures Forum, fostering practical hope and wise initiative in challenging circumstances; and, as Chair of EIRIS Foundation, helping responsible investors make a difference.

Karen is Director of the consultancy KML Interim Ltd. Karen has spent the past 30 years in several diverse sectors and a mixture of blue chip and SME organisations. Working for the Energy Saving Trust for over a decade provided Karen with broad sustainability knowledge, which was further strengthened in a role as a trustee and latterly Vice Chair of the community energy charity Pure Leapfrog. Karen has also recently provided key services for Grant Thornton to support the growth of small businesses in all sectors, with a particular interest in how smaller, ethically-driven entrepreneurial businesses can help drive a vibrant economy in London and deliver profits with purpose.

At Sustainable Ventures Susannah leads investment and accelerator activities for early-early stage start-ups. Susannah holds more than 20 years’ experience in start-up development and finance. Prior to Sustainable Ventures, Susannah held cleantech finance and operations roles at Tamar Energy, where she worked on anaerobic digestion projects, and Carbon Trust Enterprises, where she successfully created a low carbon property fund. Susannah has also worked as a venture capitalist for Impax Asset Management, a private equity fund dedicated to changing resource economics, and as an International Manager at HSBC Bank Plc.

Susannah is passionate about business models which aim to maximise the use of funds and resources to create sustainable enterprises that achieve specific environmental or social outcome; she holds Board and Trustee positions for both start-ups and charities focussed on environmental and social outcomes.

Rikesh is accountable for TfL’s engagement with market innovators that includes start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, academics, R&D institutes, accelerators, venture capitalists and large corporates. By shaping this eco-system of innovative companies and institutes, TfL’s multi-disciplinary Commercial Innovation function which launched in 2017 – set up by Rikesh – to define clear problem statements, engage with the most innovative companies from across the world, curate and incubate the best ideas and then scale them to support the delivery of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy.

 A wide range of challenges have resulted in innovators solving some of London challenges in areas such as promoting active travel, delivering more homes and reducing the adverse impact of roadworks using a innovative procurement techniques. Rikesh has also overseen TfL’s first corporate programme with Bosch as an 18 month pilot which entails TfL sharing key problem statements and data for Bosch and its eco-system to develop innovative prototypes and solutions.

Rikesh was previously responsible for TfL’s world leading open data strategy and set up a digital and data partnerships function. As a result of TfL’s open data, there are nearly 700 apps used by 42% of Londoners with over 14,000 registered users, mainly developers. This also resulted in shaping innovative partnerships with leading platforms including Apple, Google, Waze and Twitter aligned to the city’s goals. A recent study illustrated the overall value of open data to London to be worth £130m per annum.

Rikesh also is a member of the Smart London Board which is charged helping the Mayor shape his vision and strategy for London’s smart city agenda and investment in data infrastructure.

Rupert has been working in the field of Smart Cities and urban energy systems for 15 years. He is a past member of the Greater London Authority Smart London Board and has spoken at UK and global smart city events on the role that digital technology can play in facilitating urban regeneration.

In his role at Lendlease he is responsible for formulating and implementing Digital Technology strategy for their European projects.  He is currently working across a number of high profile urban regeneration schemes, including Euston HS2 over-station development, Silvertown, Elephant & Castle, International Quarter London, Birmingham Smithfield and Milan Innovation District.

Cam manages Technical Due Diligence for Green Angel Syndicate, a network of smart investors who are committed to the transition to a greener economy. We support early stage technology companies developing products and solutions for a more efficient and sustainable use of global resources.

This unique specialization, alongside the knowledge and experience of our members, creates exciting opportunities with the potential for attractive returns.

Brittany has spent 7 years in Civil Engineering and is a recognised thought leader, in building sustainable futures, within the Institution of Civil Engineers. She has experience in managing complex teams on challenging project. She and Jade co-founded an international NGO in 2016 (WASHable International) which is now being run by their Canadian co-founders.