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_Since the dawn of the jet engine, our experience of flight has remained almost unchanged. Now, however, we stand on the cusp of a third revolution in aviation. Ben Griffiths, a leading UK commentator on aviation, industry and technology, and a pilot himself, casts an eye to the future.
This article featured in the print version of the
Connected Places Magazine in spring 2022
Author:
BEN GRIFFITHS
The Wright brothers took to the air in 1903, and since that moment flight has been engrained in our consciousness. Aircraft have advanced decade by decade. However, our experiences of flight – the routes aircraft take through our airspace and the transfers to and from points of departure – have broadly remained the same.
But the next age of flight won’t look anything like this. Billions of dollars have been invested across a spectrum of aerospace technologies that will change how we travel and move freight by air forever. At its heart, aviation is about connecting people and places – whether human beings or freight – above the world’s surface. The global pandemic reinforced two profound truths. Firstly, people desperately missed seeing each other face to face. Secondly, COVID-19 grounded aircraft in huge numbers and brought about a realisation that skies devoid of noisy, polluting airliners are in fact desirable.
So what is the way forward? What if we could pursue humanity’s dream of flight and need for connection in a way that radically reduces its impacts on our planet?
To reach net zero by 2050, zero-carbon-emission aircraft will need to be in service by 2035. For that to become a reality, the UK will need airports, ground services, infrastructure and a regulatory framework capable of supporting this: a mixed economy of electric-and hydrogen-powered aircraft alongside others fuelled by (for the time being) kerosene, jet fuels and Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs). That’s the foundation for the future of flight that Connected Places Catapult identifies in the Department for Transport-commissioned Blueprint for Zero Emissions Flight Infrastructure (ZEFI).
The infrastructure upgrades proposed will require major international airports and regional airfields alike to operate during a complex cross-over period, with aircraft and technologies of differing maturities and legacy buildings and infrastructure functioning while new facilities are constructed.
These are significant challenges, for sure and concerted effort and combined expertise from governments, academia, innovators, manufacturers and carriers are required. However, these efforts herald economic opportunity for the UK, the Aerospace Technology Institute contends.
Some estimates forecast an uplift in civil aviation market share from 12% today to 19% by 2050 and increasing the sector’s gross value added to the economy from £11 billion to £36 billion and the number of aerospace jobs from 116,000 to 154,000.
Cue the era of battery-powered and hybrid-electric demonstrator aircraft, hydrogen propulsion systems and electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL). This new generation of aircraft will fly autonomously thanks to modern, digitised air traffic systems managed without a human in the link. Uncrewed drones will zip around our airspace delivering life-saving medical supplies to hospitals – perhaps even the latest gadget to your doorstep or last-mile delivery agent – while fare-paying passengers take off from and land at a network of new drone- and vertiports.
Such exciting developments are no longer persistently just out of reach over the horizon. Many are here already, as a burgeoning new industry evolves. Indeed, we already have operational cargo drones and quadcopter demonstrators.
That the technology can get there is a given. The stumbling blocks they face, then, are of a different nature to finance. Public perception remains a major hurdle. As is providing the necessary infrastructure to enable new types of vehicle to land, refuel, load and unload passengers and freight and to navigate the skies above us. All this must develop in a concerted and co-ordinated way if we are to experience such a radical transformation in our lifetime.
The green agenda is a major driver. Carriers such as easyJet, whose CEO Johan Lundgren is vocal on the subject, are increasingly under pressure, particularly from a generation of younger customers, committed to an environmental perspective, to clean and green their operations.
“To reach net zero by 2050, zero-carbon-emission aircraft will need to be in service by 2035.”
While aviation today only makes up some 2–3% of carbon emissions, it also creates other nuisances such as noise, contrails and NO2 emissions – issues that must also be addressed. Additionally, aviation is projected to grow significantly. If other significant emitters such as housing, road transport and electricity meet their reduction targets, the sector could find itself an outsized contributor to UK emissions.
It is widely acknowledged that aviation cannot decarbonise overnight. For now, the use of SAFs and carbon offsetting via systems of credits will allow the sector to start doing its bit. Smaller initiatives, such as reducing single-use plastics, replacing diesel-fuelled ground tugs with electric vehicles and improved recycling, will turn micro improvements into compound benefits. In the medium-term, batteries are becoming more viable, thanks to developments in the car industry. Soon we will see short-hop transport – small aircraft, and up to four passengers in flying taxis – take-off with electric powerplants.
Further out, hydrogen propulsion systems may hold the answer to medium-range air travel. Long-haul travel such as flying from London to New York is unlikely, any day soon, to switch away from traditional jet fuel. The energy density required is just too high.
So what are the technologies that are going to appear in our skies and how will they interface with our cities and modalities?
Despite their futuristic appearance and reputation, drones have a century-old history, dating back to World War I and the inter-war years. So properly speaking, drones are an innovation rather than an invention – a redeploying and updating of existing technology.
Today’s proliferating drones have a wide range of applications, including: monitoring climate change, post-disaster surveillance, search and rescue, delivery of time-sensitive medical supplies to and from remote locations; ship-to-shore deliveries and small-scale commercial cargo delivery.
And these possibilities are just the start. Advisory firm PwC predicts that by 2030 drones could contribute a £42 billion uplift to the UK economy, bringing £16 billion in cost savings, with 76,000 drones operating in our skies (a third of them in the public sector) and 628,000 jobs in the ‘drone sector’. PwC has further estimated the global drone industry’s worth at £127 billion.
When it comes to commercial cargo, manufacturers and operators (sometimes one and the same) compete around factors such as payload, flight speed and range. In this market, distributors like DHL and UPS sit alongside aircraft manufacturers like Airbus.
Increasingly, the action and interest lies around the bigger craft, such as Pipistrel’s heavy cargo vertical take-off and landing (VTOL). Pipistrel, which is based in Slovenia and Italy, has been hailed as one of the frontrunners in electric aviation, having created a light two-seater aeroplane, and is now to be acquired by Textron, home of traditional aircraft brands Cessna, Beechcraft and Bell.
Air taxis and airborne passenger craft need somewhere to take off and land as well as charging and ground facilities. If advanced air mobility is to reach that wider public (as opposed to merely providing a more sustainable alternative to the helicopters of the super-rich) it will need a network of accessible ports or stations that interface with local transport points.
A business model that seems to deliver an answer has been dubbed ‘drones as a service’ or ‘infrastructure as a service’.
Urban Airport Ltd, for instance, has developed a compact and modular take-off and landing facility – a hub designed to integrate with other transport infrastructures – that can be set up on land or sea and even in a disaster zone. Urban Airport is due to open its first vertiport in Coventry this spring.
Traffic Management
PwC suggests that drone deliveries could be business as usual by 2030. Connected Places Catapult this year published a Droneport Design & Development Framework to address the planning, development and operational considerations of what are essentially mini-airports, with similar zoning, cargo, access, maintenance and safety considerations.
Furthermore, optimising the inspection potential of drones, automating and amplifying productivity across industrial sectors requires unified work in the field of Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) if drones and uncrewed vehicles are to operate safely and optimally in or alongside congested airspace. As the Connected Places Catapult Droneport Framework contends: the aviation community must rally around a common vision for success. With UTM, the aviation industry can collaboratively deliver safer drone operations in different sectors and assure routine operations.
CPC has initiated an Open Access UTM concept to encourage actors in this space to collaborate in a co-ordinated approach. Challenges remain. It is not clear how this broader airspace ecosystem would be commercialised, for instance, and there are technological complexities. However, automation is a key enabler for a future UTM system and government and industry commitment to maintaining a safe and viable national airspace is strong.
Air taxis
An emerging business model for small passenger aircraft or air taxis posits a four-person or five-person craft for one pilot and their passengers. As public acceptance of their viability and safety grows, the craft will be uncrewed, costs will decrease and revenues increase as services scale up.
For mass manufacturers of existing air vehicles, such as Airbus, the challenge is about creating a new market, new demand and innovation, as the airframer’s Head of urban air mobility strategy, Balkiz Sarihan, explains. “Having started with the Vahana fixed wing demonstrator developed in the company’s A-cubed incubator in the United States, Airbus has created CityAirbus, a 2.3-ton multicopter vehicle which can fly four passengers and can fully hover.An emerging business model for small passenger aircraft or air taxis posits a four-person or five-person craft for one pilot and their passengers. As public acceptance of their viability and safety grows, the craft will be uncrewed, costs will decrease and revenues increase as services scale up.
For mass manufacturers of existing air vehicles, such as Airbus, the challenge is about creating a new market, new demand and innovation, as the airframer’s Head of urban air mobility strategy, Balkiz Sarihan, explains. “Having started with the Vahana fixed wing demonstrator developed in the company’s A-cubed incubator in the United States, Airbus has created CityAirbus, a 2.3-ton multicopter vehicle which can fly four passengers and can fully hover.”
“The idea is for an efficient air transport service between strategic locations in urban and suburban environments, moving commuting into the skies in a sustainable way – both in terms of emissions and low noise. This has morphed into the CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL, with electric motors, which will have an 80 km range and cruise speed of 120 kmph.”Balkiz Sarihan, Head of urban air mobility strategy, Airbus
In the UK, Vertical Aerospace, founded by green entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick, has taken a partnership approach, working with Honeywell on avionics and Rolls-Royce around electric propulsion. Other partners include Microsoft, Avolon and carriers American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. The VX quadcopter will be quieter, safer and more cost-efficient than helicopters, Fitzpatrick contends, part of a flight technology ecosystem that opens AAM to a wider public.
In 2019, vertiport developer and operator Skyports and German air taxi firm Volocopter demonstrated how an advanced air mobility ecosystem could work with the unveiling of their Voloport in Marina Bay, Singapore. Voloport provides passenger facilities and charging points and could be operational by 2023–24. The vision is for a network of vertiports to service urban centres. As Duncan Walker, CEO of Skyports, explains, aircraft certification is the driver in this. “Vehicles are being tested and certified to a very high threshold. The next 24 months will be crucial on that front, and certification will trigger air taxi operations.”
Another Skyport initiative will see a vertiport opening in Paris in time for the 2024 Olympic Games, designed, built and operated by Skyports and situated at Groupe ADP’s Cergy-Pontoise airfield.
Meanwhile, airport operator Ferrovial plans to establish a network of 25 vertiports at UK airports. Supernal, formerly the urban air mobility division of Hyundai Motor Group, is investing in Urban-Airport to support its vertiport development plans.
These eVTOL technologies hold huge potential for cities and places, says David Hyde, lead on aerospace net zero at the World Economic Forum. But they need to be implemented in a way that works for cities. “Local policymakers will need to ensure congestion doesn’t simply shift from the road to the skies and that all communities have an opportunity to benefit,” he says.
Sustainable options for regional aircraft for inter- and intra-city hops could also soon become a reality. Colin Sach, founder of Sach Aviation, a financing advisory firm, says that existing but less used airports could be the first sector to go entirely green. Electric craft lead the way currently, but hydrogen or hybrid hydrogen-electric propulsion for craft of 50-60 seats and a range of around 300 miles are more viable as the technology matures. The next big step will be an operational one, Sach says, and is likely to require public funding, pointing to a number of routes in Scotland, such as Glasgow to Campbelltown and from the mainland to the islands, that receive capital grants to support small-scale air transfers.
The ATI says the optimum route to decarbonising aviation will come via acceleration of a large narrowbody and mid-sized commercial aircraft into service. It argues this would be less commercially risky than developing a narrowbody equivalent to a Boeing 737 because it would allow infrastructure development to be focused on fewer but larger hub airports. Once established, the solution could be rolled out to smaller airports.
Innovation firm ZeroAvia has already flown a hydrogen-powered Piper light aircraft out of Cranfield Airport in England. Founded in California, ZeroAvia now has the rump of its business in the UK adapting existing aircraft with new propulsion systems using a hydrogen cell and chemical process to turn gas into electricity as it seeks to provide commercial flights by the middleof this decade. As part of the government’s ZEFI programme, the Catapult has been supporting ZeroAvia.
Airbus, meanwhile, is looking to hydrogen combustion akin to a traditional jet engine and has announced plans to test an engine with this on a converted A380 jetliner. With companies large and small pushing the envelope on the potential for hydrogen, this technology is widely touted as the most likely route for decarbonisation of larger aircraft in the near-term.
There is, however, a longer game to be played out for large-scale aircraft and long-haul flights. Entirely green technology does not meet the need of long-haul currently and development is still some way off. For the time being, SAFs will continue to play a role. Proposals from the European Commission from last year would see carriers blending a minimum of 2% of SAFs into their kerosene from 2025. That would rise to 5% in 2030 and 63% by 2050. Investment in SAFs is ongoing, however. In March, the UK government announced that Saudi Arabia’s Alfanar Group is expected to confirm a £1 billion investment to produce SAFs in Teesside, an initiative that would make it the first company to produce sustainable fuel from waste at scale in the UK – a welcome advance.
In the meantime, gains in fuel and aircraft efficiency should not be overlooked.
“Aircraft become 1–2% more efficient each year,” says Sach, “and efficiency is a huge driver given that fuel represents around 25% of a carrier’s costs.”Colin Sach, founder of Sach Aviation
Hydrogen remains the power of choice for zero-carbon emission aircraft, even if the challenges are steep, as Robert Thomson, a partner at consultancy Roland Berger and a former Rolls-Royce aerospace engineer, suggests. Liquified hydrogen must be cooled and stored on board safely. Hydrogen-powered flight will also require a system to take the fuel out of the tanks, convert it back to gas and deliver it to the engines.
The modification of the engines is comparatively straightforward, says Thomson. However, modifying the aircraft is complex and one issue is space. “The energy density per unit weight of hydrogen is three times that of jet fuel, so you need three times as much space on an aircraft to store it.”
An ambitious aircraft research programme is needed on technologies such as cryogenic hydrogen fuel systems, gas turbines and airframes for ground and airborne demonstration. Meanwhile, sustainable aviation fuel technology must also be advanced for the world will need both to achieve the net zero 2050 target.
While key technology and regulatory issues are still to be resolved, we will nevertheless reach significant milestones in the next 30 years – some of them close now to being realised.
On the vehicle certification and regulatory side, public aviation authorities such as the CAA and FAA are working hard to set standards that will help foster public confidence and acceptance, particularly for unpiloted flight.
In March, the pair agreed to work jointly to support the future of eVTOLs and other AAM aircraft to significantly benefit the public. A range of bilateral and multilateral discussions focused on certification and validation are to follow, with an emphasis on the high safety standards the public expects.
Changes on the ground – interfaces with existing transport networks and greener airports – are subject to wider planning and public policy initiatives. But the drive for green aviation is not in doubt.
Air taxis and eVTOLs will, say their operators, become operational in the near term. According to Roland Berger’s Thomson, we may see 15–20 seat all-electric aircraft coming to the market in the later part of this decade, opening up short routes such as London to Paris to green flight. By the mid-2030s, the introduction of hydrogen aircraft with 60–80 seats looks viable, he goes on. Later in the 2030s, we may see 150-plus seaters beginning to enter service and starting to replace conventional aircraft.
Alongside that, we’ll see a continued drive to improve aircraft efficiency and a remodelled, reimagined transport infrastructure on the ground that interfaces with the different modalities and their payloads, greens the transfers for humans and freight to and from their departure points and locates or even generates green fuels on site at airports and other transportation hubs.
The desired outcome isn’t in question: that future generations will enjoy quieter streets and skies, commute from city to city via emission-free aircraft powered by green propulsion and that populations in remote locations will see improved access to medical services, education, work and leisure opportunities.
Undoubtedly, there are technological challenges ahead and a co-ordinated approach to infrastructure, regulation and certification is needed. But it’s clear from the innovations and their achievements to date that the third generation of flight is coming into view.
Further Reading
Find out more about our work in aviation.
This article featured in the print version of the
Connected Places Magazine
Graeme Craig, CEO of Places for London
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.
London’s population has boomed in the past 40 years from 6.9 million in 1980 to 9.6 million today. The small business base has doubled from 500,000 to 1 million. The capital now hosts 6 million jobs, £1.5 trillion of housing assets and a £4 trillion property asset base. This growth has put enormous pressure on house prices and the costs of small business space.
That same growth, and the pressures that come with it, are impacting cities all over the world. Living, working and running a business in major cities is becoming increasingly unaffordable. At the same time, public authorities have not had the resources to allow them to plan for balanced growth, nor to build sufficient affordable housing and workspaces.
The result is under-utilised public land that cannot be easily developed by the private sector because it is associated with public infrastructure or services.
Transport for London (TfL) recognised that as it holds 5,500 acres of land – 1.5 per cent of London’s land mass – it needed to create the structures and processes found in a major property company, including pursuing joint ventures with commercial investors to co-develop its land.
Today, Places for London is a £1.8bn property company wholly owned but financially independent of TfL. With one of the largest property portfolios in London, we are committed to providing affordable spaces for people to live and work, investing in transport infrastructure, as well as supporting the shift to low carbon buildings, electric vehicle charging and sustainable transport. All of this feeds into the work we do to facilitate major town centre regeneration and world-class placemaking.
The good news is that everything we are doing has been done before somewhere else. We are in fact building on three traditions in successful public-interest property development:
Public transport and infrastructure authorities in other global cities have successfully densified public land uses by developing transport-connected homes, office, and districts. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, MTR in Hong Kong and JTC in Singapore are all examples of this approach.
When it comes to new investment models and approaches to creating great places there are many lessons we can learn from The Crown Estate, Grosvenor and others; those well-established estates who take a long-term perspective and shape great places within the city.
A key feature of TfL’s past has been the ‘Metro-Land’ approach of linking new property development to transport network expansion, so that the development can help pay for the transport. This is how the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines were originally financed, and more recently Docklands Light Railway, Jubilee Line Extension, Northern Line Extension and Elizabeth Line.
Ultimately, we want to create a greener and more connected London through our places, properties and people. The people part is important to us because London is not just bricks and mortar – it is a fabulous and diverse collection of families and communities.
Graeme Craig, CEO of Places for London
We want to ensure that this real estate industry of which we are a part reflects the rich diversity of the capital. Since 2020, we’ve trained 5,400 Londoners in construction, over 2,100 of whom have progressed into work. Over the next three years, we’ll look to more than double that. Half of the people we have trained have a minority ethnic background and increasing numbers are women.
Keeping London thriving means minding this city’s gaps and supporting its growth. Not just the housing gap, but the skills gap, the clean air gap. It means tackling the long-neglected green spaces and all the spaces that allow every Londoner, every neighbourhood and every community to thrive.
I am excited about what lies ahead for Places for London. Our business plan includes £262m investment to support delivery of 20,000 new homes for London; £190m investment in our existing estate to deliver quality assets with improved environmental performance; and over £200m invested to deliver transport benefits on our network.
We don’t want to deliver that alone. Creating a more connected London is about working together more collaboratively. If you have ideas for how we can create a greener and more connected city together, we would love to talk.
Further Reading
Graeme Craig was also a guest on the Connected Places Podcast where he talks in more depth about the work of Places for London.
_Our railways have profoundly shaped the history of the UK, as well as much of its cultural and civic identity. But as Dr. Alan Peters explains, the future will demand as much imagination and innovative thought as the last two centuries have.
This article featured in the print version of the
Connected Places Magazine
Dr. Alan Peters, Ecosystem Director for Rail & Stations, Connected Places Catapult
Like many economic sectors today, the UK’s rail network has endured a rocky few years: the multiple challenges of reduced passenger revenue resulting from COVID; changing commuting usage patterns; and waves of industrial action, all whilst addressing the need to modernise the oldest rail infrastructure in the world.
Luckily, as we cast an eye to the future, the rail industry has a long track record of changing and adapting to society’s needs.
The first railway line in the world dates back to 1825 when George Stephenson linked the Durham towns of Stockton and Darlington. Fast forward a couple of decades, and the Great Exhibition in London saw rail make an impact on leisure travel as thousands of visitors benefitted from reduced-cost tickets included in the event admission price.
Over the following 200 years, the rail industry began to evolve organically. A simple method for getting people from A to B gradually became an ever more complex, interconnected system across multiple companies and organisations. But the inherent complexity within this emerging industry would, over time, make innovation more difficult.
Yet at its heart, rail is an industry forged in innovation and creativity. In stepping up to the daunting challenges of the 21st century, it needs to rediscover its long legacy of responsiveness if it’s to remain a cost-effective, accessible, sustainable and enjoyable form of travel. The good news is that change is happening in three important areas.
The UK Government’s 2050 net-zero target requires all segments of the transport system to move to greener fuels. It may already be an environmentally efficient way to move people and goods around but the rail sector has to continue to electrify lines. At the same time, it also needs to better harness the new technologies such as battery, electric and hydrogen systems for some routes.
The rail estate, which includes a large number of stations, depots and other buildings is also beginning to embrace clean technology to reduce its share of carbon emissions. And the business models are increasingly staking up too. Rolling stock companies are now close to the point where new diesel vehicles, with their long lifespans, will not achieve a return on investment before they need to be phased out.
Digital technologies are already creating better railways with better services and fewer delays. Modern signalling and train control technology is increasing line capacity and improving safety. Digital twin technology is also beginning to provide operators with insights into all sorts of different elements within a rail system – from a component level on a train carriage, right through to a whole route or even region.
As such, we’re gradually getting better at aggregating real-time data to improve predictive capacity. This of course requires better standardisation and sharing of data across systems and organisations. This is why the Catapult is so keen for the rail sector to play an active role in the Digital Twin Hub.
Rail must also compete with other forms of transport – even with other virtual experience technologies. This is particularly true of leisure travel, which is becoming more important for the sector. We need to start by doing the basics well (e.g., offer a safe, reliable service) while enabling rail passengers to enjoy their travel time.
How can stations improve their retail offer to make the most of the station experience? Improved internet connectivity across rail lines and stations should also give passengers options for better entertainment and remote working opportunities. Rail should also be accessible for everyone to travel confidently and comfortably.
This is why the Catapult is excited about our Station Innovation Zone, which is helping disparate organisations to better understand how best to inject creativity and innovation back into our stations.
Dr. Alan Peters, Ecosystem Director for Rail & Stations, Connected Places Catapult
The UK’s rail industry does have the right experts who are passionate about improving rail but we need to take our ambition and the speed of change to the next level. The creation of Great British Railways, a new public body to oversee rail transport,
offers the potential for us to make a bold step change.
The story of our industry is one of creativity and bravery. We have what we need to ensure that rail is a cost-effective, accessible, sustainable and enjoyable form of travel – but there’s much work to be done!
Further Reading
Learn more about our work across the rail sector.
_Money is tight. It has been for years in towns and cities up and down the country. Not only have public budgets been significantly cut, they have had to be completely re-imagined. So could a new approach to innovation spending save millions while also unlocking huge market opportunities?
This article featured in the print version of the
Connected Places Magazine
Every year public bodies in the UK spend £300 billion on third party suppliers. In local government alone the figure is £70 billion. A big part of buying goods and services with public money is the question of what to buy and how best to buy it.
Historically, the UK has been very good at this. Since the industrial revolution there has been no shortage of British innovations to tackle a plethora of economic, environmental and societal problems. From game-changing breakthroughs in the railways to the utilities infrastructure that revolutionised public health.
Today, the UK is continuing to make strides in turning great ideas into products and services fit for increasingly complex 21st century challenges. Barriers to entry for smaller companies wanting to try new ideas have reduced, and there is more diversity of thought with different types of innovators entering the market.
Yet obstacles remain.
Too often companies are left trying to sell to customers who are not ready to either purchase or integrate those products and services into their supply chains. So public procurement is broadly perceived to be a problem – a barrier that gets in the way of doing creative and interesting things, the reason not to do anything.
It would be tempting to assume that this is mainly down to red tape – too many rules and regulations getting in the way. Yet research shows that the problem is not regulation or legislation, but culture.
According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) only 5% of CBI members feel that procurement incentivises innovation. Members were also of the view that it isn’t the rules themselves are the problem but the way they are being applied.
“Sometimes local authorities fall into a trap of trying to do everything themselves”, says Rikesh Shah who runs the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC), a support programme focussed on bringing innovation through public procurement.
“But public bodies need to work with the market, and a good starting point is to define the problem first, then go out to the market with a mission-focused approach so that you have the right conditions to successfully scale from the get-go.”
Rikesh Shah who runs the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC)
t mostly comes down to a lack of awareness amongst buyers in the public sector about what is possible, and a lack of confidence to experiment.
There can also be a large aversion to risk. This goes hand in hand with the fear of failure. Of course, change is hard, especially in the public sector. It is also difficult to do anything new at scale. So naturally, senior administrators worry about what the media or their political leaders might say.
Ultimately it comes down to winning hearts and minds.
Of course, there is a lot of hype out there about new and disruptive technologies, so it is vital that public sector bodies are intelligent clients. “If robotics or AI is the answer, great – let’s test it”, says Shah. “But my starting position is always: ‘Have we clearly articulated the problem?’ Only then should we go to the market for a solution.”
Horizon scanning is also important. The assets that public bodies procure today may still be around in many years’ time. So future-proofing spending on new assets, as well as understanding the totality of potential use cases is even more necessary in a time of rapid technological change.
One of the ways that the Connected Places Catapult is removing some of these obstacles is by linking UK companies with large public infrastructure bodies. For example an accelerator programme with National Highways to test new solutions for reducing the disruptive impact of roadworks.
The experience gives SMEs direct access to a large public contracting body and its Tier 1 suppliers which it otherwise would never have. One of the SMEs on the programme was RoboK, a computer vision company that uses AI to interpret video and CCTV in industrial workplaces. For their CEO, Hao Zheng, the accelerator was a chance to tweak and configure their product to the needs of a large public buyer in ways that would not have been obvious without direct access.
For RoboK it was a game changer. Speaking on the Connected Places Podcast, Zheng concludes, “At the end of the day a better product that delights the customer is going to be the one that sells.”
The Procurement Act 2023 comes into force in October 2024! To mark the occasion, IPEC is launching a month-long campaign examining the power of innovation in procurement. This will include sharing key insights, tools, and resources to help you transform your processes and maximise efficiency. Follow them on LinkedIn for all of the latest updates.
Further Listening
To hear more of the RoboK story, listen to the podcast episode, “What next for innovation-friendly procurement?”
_Railway stations are being reimagined as hubs for all sorts of activities and connections. Mike Walter asks if new thinking in one of England’s most iconic stations could be the future.
This article featured in the print version of the
Connected Places Magazine
Railway stations are places that many passengers rush through – ticket in one hand, coffee in the other – paying little attention to their surroundings as they hurry to catch their train.
But just imagine if the building – and the local area outside – were places in which you might want to pause and spend more time; catching up on work, or meeting friends. Could railway stations serve more of a purpose than helping people leave their town or city as fast as possible?
This is exactly what is being experimented at Bristol Temple Meads, which is quickly becoming established as a testbed for new thinking and technology.
Here the station is testing new ideas to make spaces safer to use, easier to navigate and more social, as well as providing a catalyst for opportunities to create a greater sense of ‘place’.
But it is not easy: Bristol Temple Meads is a challenging environment in which to introduce change, as it was built nearly 200 years ago in a time when it operated differently from today, with far more trains, different types of trains and far more passengers too.
“Railway stations can be much more than somewhere you get on and off a train, but places that can facilitate the way people work and live,” explains consultant Arup’s Transport Lead, Andrew Jenkins.
“Stations are interfaces for people arriving by several modes of transport and need to provide easy passage for a wide variety of users. But they are often crammed into old, crowded buildings that are right on the limits of their operational capacity.”
He adds that stations may one day be redefined as ‘mobility hubs’ – serving multiple forms of travel but with other facilities such as work and community spaces – giving people more reason to travel by train and a feeling they can stay in a station for longer.
Encouraging people to gather in stations could also help to reduce any feelings that railway lines divide local communities. Good quality mobility hubs, on the other hand, may provide a means of joining two sides of the tracks together, plus help to boost residential and commercial activity.
“The sheer level of access we have had to staff – to really understand the problems they are facing – is the biggest thing we have had from the entire programme.”
Rosie Richardson, Createc
New thinking at Bristol Temple Meads is being demonstrated through the ‘Station Innovation Zone’, hosted by Connected Places Catapult on behalf of Network Rail. Three innovative companies have been trialling new solutions to make stations safer, and more seamless to use and social.
Createc tested a crowd monitoring system to warn of concerning activity at stations, Jnction showcased a passenger assistance app to help neurodiverse individuals find their way around, and WorkfromHub demonstrated a remote workspace pod that can be booked via a dedicated app.
A second cohort of entrepreneurs for the Station Innovation Zone will soon be selected to trial their technologies, and a ‘playbook’ has been created to show other cities or countries how to create such a Station Innovation Zone from scratch.
One major ambition at Bristol is finding ways to more closely align Temple Meads station with the city, whose centre is over a mile away. Redevelopment is planned around the rail site at ‘Temple Quarter’ over the coming decade, and Connected Places Catapult is working on a design competition with three local colleges and two universities to help reimagine the station space and provide ideas for improving onward travel.
The Catapult’s Ecosystem Director for Rail and Stations, Dr Alan Peters, said: “We are not just trying to support innovation to make the station experience as good as it can be; from the perspective of a station as a key entrance to the city, there are wider benefits to be had in terms of jobs and growth for the area too.”
“We’ve enjoyed working alongside other SMEs and having support from Connected Places Catapult. Being part of the Station Innovation Zone has been critical for our company’s growth.”
Rob Franklin, Jnction
Network Rail Project Sponsor, Brian Wortman, says the technology trials at Bristol Temple Meads have thrown a spotlight on what people want from their stations. “Are stations simply a means of accessing the rail system through ticket barriers, or can they be something more and provide economic and social value? We see our stations as being very much the latter as well. We have the opportunity here to showcase something drastically different.”
“For me, the big thing about the Station Innovation Zone is the change in mindset to do things differently,” Brian explains.
“There are not many more complex station environments than Temple Meads in which to try out innovation. If it works here, it can work in any of our managed stations.”
Further Reading
To hear more from Rob and Rose, listen to the podcast episode: “Bristol’s Station Innovation Zone – Meet the companies”
_Digital twin technology is solving a mind-boggling array of place-based problems from flood resilience to traffic management. When it comes to connecting and scaling however, the skills gap is huge. What is being done to equip place leaders with the digital tools they need?
This article featured in the print version of the
Connected Places Magazine
The technology is not new – digital twins were introduced at least 20 years ago in industries like aerospace, automotive and other manufacturing sectors. But now they are being adopted more widely, particularly by cities, as powerful ‘place-based’ innovations.
Digital twins have emerged as a transformational tool in how places are planned, designed and adapted for a future where resilience is key. What increasingly sets them apart is the ability to connect with myriad real-time data sources – and other digital twins – to create decision-making platforms for leaders that are no longer just the domain of data scientists.
Yet while the technology is not new, its application to place-based problems is, and it is not just a lack of awareness that often holds things back.
“It begins with value,” says Justin Anderson, Director of the Digital Twin Hub (DT Hub), hosted at the Connected Places Catapult. “That’s what should drive an organisation to embrace digital technologies and it needs to be understood and championed at the very top. It always comes back to value.”
Under the umbrella of the Gemini Alliance the DT Hub is on a mission to bridge the gap between its network across industry, government and academia, and the education providers to address the socio-technical skills needed to finance, design, build and connect digital twins.
This urgency to address the skills gap is why the DT Hub and Cranfield University have launched the Digital Twins for Senior Leaders course. The course is designed to give leaders a baseline competency in digital twin skills, developing awareness, knowledge and knowhow that will help build confidence in creating real world solutions.
“Our aim is to align buyer needs with seller capabilities”, says Anderson. “The DT Hub is uniquely placed to translate market intelligence into clear and concise skills requirements.”
As course leader and Head of the Centre for Digital Engineering and Manufacturing at Cranfield University, Prof. John Erkoyuncu explains how the course begins by asking leaders the question: “What is value?”
“We start with that prime question”, says Erkoyuncu, “then you can start to understand whether a digital twin can help in delivering that.”
“Leaders need to understand the potential for a digital twin to impact their organisation; what the use cases are, where they’ve worked, and where they haven’t. They need to know how to choose the right use cases, and how to build out a strategy that’s of interest across their organisation,” he explains.
Prof. John Erkoyuncu, Head of the Centre for Digital Engineering and Manufacturing at Cranfield University
For Erkoyuncu, the digital twin conversation with senior leaders requires delving as much into the decision-making process as the technology itself. There are significant questions to answer around how to design and develop digital twins, including the data that is needed, how to collect it, and how it compliments an organisational strategy.
Ultimately, the aim is for leaders to understand how digital twins can be enablers for making better decisions.
Since launching in 2023, the course has had its share of “a-ha” moments for Erkoyuncu. “The discussions we’re having are really fruitful,” he says. “Everyone is learning from each other and trying to understand how they can take things back to their organisations.”
But for both Erkoyuncu and Anderson, the Digital Twins for Senior Leaders course at Cranfield University is more than an important learning programme. By upskilling the right leaders in the right industries and sectors with a laser focus on unlocking value, the wider business case for connected digital twins is
also being strengthened.
“This isn’t just about filling the skills gaps, it’s ultimately about bridging the gap between vision and reality. That excites me.”
Justin Anderson, Director of the Digital Twin Hub
Further Reading
Register for the Digital Twins for Senior Leaders Course, delivered by the Digital Twin Hub in partnership with Cranfield University.
on the art of place leadership
_What are the key ingredients for making a town or a city a genuinely connected place? We asked five senior leaders to reflect on what is most important to them…
This article featured in the print version of the
Connected Places Magazine
Cllr Susan Aitken
LEADER OF GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL
When Glasgow hosted COP26, the UN’s Climate Change Conference, I realised how much we still had to learn about what investors need when assessing scalable, net zero projects in cities.
We want Glasgow to be the UK’s first net zero city by 2030 but cities aren’t necessarily geared up to deal with climate investments at scale. We’ve needed help to have serious conversations with investors in the green transition.
This is why I was proud to play a leading role in establishing the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission (3Ci). It’s so important for the public and private sectors to understand each other.
We can’t do this alone.
As a civic leader this is particularly important for me because Glasgow still bears the scars from an unjust transition away from our heavy industrial past. It wasn’t long ago that huge numbers of our communities across our city were abandoned and neglected. It was a human and environmental tragedy that we have lived with ever since.
That’s why I’m determined we don’t repeat past mistakes in the green transition to come. Across the UK we are going to spend hundreds of billions of pounds on delivering this.
It’s going to be change on a scale that hasn’t been experienced in the postwar era. It needs to happen quickly but we have to do it right.
My role is to make sure that every pound we spend delivers real benefits for both the environment and the citizens of Glasgow, helps to reduce the inequalities in our city, and creates a positive future for our young people.
If we plan properly the climate emergency can be one of the greatest opportunities for social and economic transformation that we’ve seen in our lifetimes.
Sophie Howe
THE FIRST FUTURE GENERATIONS COMMISSIONER FOR WALES
Everything is connected. What happens in terms of planning and designing infrastructure is just as important to public health as the NHS. Transport policy is, in fact, health policy.
In my former role as Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, I focused on the interests of those yet to be born, rather than pleasing voters. Our new Wellbeing of Future Generations Act places a legal requirement on public institutions and politicians to demonstrate how they have applied long-term thinking in their decisions.
Politicians have to show leadership, hold their nerve and find as many ways of conversing with citizens as they possibly can, while also being alive to the threat of disinformation. Leaders must look at those connections over the long term and work out where resources are needed.
Wales has introduced several policies that may be unpopular to some – such as 20mph zones, curtailing roadbuilding, and closing certain roads around schools to traffic. But this is about creating nicer places to live that improve human connections and health.
In Utrecht in the Netherlands, transport policy has been focused on freeing the city of cars and prioritising active travel. They restored a canal recently; and Cardiff is doing something similar.
Wales is also investing more in public transport and working to create 20-minute neighbourhoods. What is not to love about ambling around your city and breathing clean air?
I’m currently working with different countries and progressive corporates to roll out the same model we’ve implemented in Wales around embedding long-term wellbeing goals in decision-making; going beyond warm words to embedding pledges in systems of governance, ideally through legislation.
Sir John Armitt
CHAIR OF THE NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION
When it comes to infrastructure, the question has to be ‘Who is this all for?’ and the answer is always ‘the citizen’. Listening to the needs of individuals is often best achieved at a local level. The Commission has been saying for several years that there needs to be more devolution in the UK to provide the right level of funding to the regions and ensure more effective long term planning.
People need to be able to see that change can happen in a neighbourhood or a community and feel able to participate in local decision making.
We often find that local radio is trusted far more than national radio, and local newspapers are trusted far more than national broadsheets. The lesson here is there is an opportunity for local politicians to deliver on what people want.
But they need to be accountable, because individuals are more likely to see local representatives walking down the high street – and stop them for a chat – than their national counterparts. Local leadership is about those elected making promises about what they are going to do for a community, and then being able to deliver through having sufficient financial resource and the necessary powers.
Politicians have to work hard to maintain their relationship with the electorate, but must aim for pace of delivery over striving for perfection all of the time. Citizens understand infrastructure because they get to use it in all its forms first hand; but it is up to them to decide if they want to pay more to receive an improved quality of service.
And we’re also fostering innovation – those fledgling businesses with a great idea – we’re working with universities to support them with seed finance.
But my biggest leadership challenge is we haven’t had the leadership from central government. As Mayor I can announce something but businesses won’t come with me if there isn’t a clear direction of travel from the centre. That stability of vision is so important.
Devolution is a game changer. That’s how we can work more collaboratively locally. We’re going to get two more mayors in Yorkshire and I’m hoping that all four mayors will be a real force of nature when it comes to leading Yorkshire’s new industrial revolution.
Our region played a part in the first industrial revolution – we were part of the problem you might say – but we are also going to be the solution.
Dr Susie Mitchell
GLASGOW RIVERSIDE INNOVATION DISTRICT (GRID)
For the last decade I’ve had the privilege of leading the Glasgow City of Science and Innovation (GCoSI) initiative, which aims to raise the profile of Glasgow as a home for science and innovation, as well as new research funding and private investment.
I’ve just begun a new role supporting the development of Glasgow’s Riverside Innovation District (GRID), a partnership between the University of Glasgow, Scottish Enterprise and Glasgow City Council. With a strong civic mission, its ambition is to reimagine the city’s proud industrial heritage and establish Glasgow’s leadership in the industries of the future.
Over the years, place leaders in other cities have often asked me how Glasgow has created the deep co-operation and cross-sector partnerships that we enjoy here. Of course I’ll point to the progressive partnership models that connect the ecosystem like GCoSI, Glasgow Economic Leadership, and our innovation districts. These have been powerful and transformative catalysts for growth.
_Sarah Wray explores why fostering an innovation economy presents huge opportunities for cities to reinvent themselves and set a path to sustainable prosperity.
This article featured in the print version of the
Connected Places Magazine
Author:
SARAH WRAY
As the nation adapts to a post-pandemic, post-Brexit world, increasing global competition, and rapid technology advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, the UK has set an ambition to be an innovation hub by 2035.
Innovative firms grow twice as fast as those that fail to innovate and have wider effects on economic and social wellbeing. With 62% of all new businesses registered in cities, it is in urban areas where these ambitions will become a reality.
“Cities are where we have our scale,” says Stephen Jones, Director of Core Cities UK, an alliance of 11 major UK cities outside London. “From the research through to idea development and implementation, cities are perfectly placed to be at the heart of innovation.”
Cities are home to major universities, which are essential to innovation. Cities are also places where communities, businesses and others come together and enable both the idiosyncratic connections and structured conversations that innovation needs to thrive.
If social outcomes could mirror those in London, this would lift 250,000 people out of unemployment, 1.2 million out of poverty and increase healthy life expectancy by up to eight years.
Following de-industrialisation and the shift to a service-based economy, which concentrated economic output in London and the south-east, cities also need to harness innovation to chart their own futures.
Productivity within key sectors in major UK cities outside London is largely lower than the national average. These cities also fall behind when it comes to diversity of industries, which is key to resilience.
“Cities are lynchpins of wider innovation too”, says Marvin Rees, former Mayor of Bristol and former co-chair of Core Cities UK. “Cities will not be islands of innovation. UK cities provide us with global connectivity, as places to innovate, and could be better described as innovative nodes within the flow of global innovation.”
“We should also think hard about how we approach this,” he adds. “The opportunity to be an innovation node is not specific to tech. We also need social innovations, that bring inclusive, stable and resilient societies and democracies.”
This highlights how without a purposeful strategy, growth can lead to inequity in cities.
As Mariana Mazzucato, founding director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, puts it in an opinion piece for Project Syndicate: “Putting growth at the centre of economic policymaking is a mistake. While important, growth in the abstract is not a coherent goal or mission.
“Before committing to particular targets, governments should focus on the economy’s direction. After all, what good is a high growth rate if achieving it requires poor working conditions or an expanding fossil fuel industry?”
She notes that governments have been most successful in catalysing growth when they have been pursuing other goals, such as NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon which yielded innovations in several sectors from aerospace to nutrition, that then went on to generate significant economic and commercial value.
A recent report from the UK Urban Futures Commission – a collaboration between the Royal Society for Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (RSA), Core Cities UK and Lloyds Banking Group – says that bringing the UK’s core cities in line with their European peers has the potential to add £100 billion (around five percent) to GDP each year.
“The cities of tomorrow need to be regenerative,” says RSA Chief Executive, Andy Haldane, in the report. “That is to say, capable of replenishing natural and social capital every bit as much as economic and financial.”
If social outcomes could mirror those in London, this would lift 250,000 people out of unemployment, 1.2 million out of poverty and increase healthy life expectancy by up to eight years, according to the report.
Experts have recommended practical ideas for cities to realise this future, through leadership, new funding models, and collaboration.
“One of the challenges of innovation is that while some of the levers are direct, most of them are indirect,” says Stephen Jones. “You have to create the right conditions for innovation to take place.”
The UK Urban Futures Commission calls on cities to form a City Coalition, made up of local government, business, universities and the community and to work with them to draw up long-term “local prosperity plans” defined in social, economic and ecological terms.
It also urges cities to put in place ‘new architecture’ for the delivery of these plans, such as a Cities Investment Hub to provide expert advice on investment projects, and Urban Wealth Funds – like those in Copenhagen and Hamburg – to manage and increase local revenues from public sector assets.
The Connected Places Catapult’s A Roadmap for Innovation-led Prosperity report series recommends that urban areas should “create a dedicated leadership resource” with existing or new staff to align the whole-city ecosystem around a shared vision and co-funded innovation programme.
Both reports stress the need to mobilise new sources of private capital, particularly in light of financial challenges.
According to the Local Government Association, amid an “inflationary storm”, councils in England face a funding gap of £4 billion over the next two years.
“The lion’s share of the financing of city regeneration can and should come from the private sector,” according to the Urban Futures Commission.
Practical ideas include establishing a ‘Cities Investment Compact’ with major financial institutions through which 5% of the assets of financial institutions are committed to local investments.
The Catapult outlines a role for Strategic Innovation Investment Frameworks which align public investment through a commitment to spend against an agreed strategy and business plan. The aim of the Framework would be to offer scale, stability and certainty for private and social investment in innovation based on local priorities.
A slice of the Strategic Innovation Investment Framework – such as 10% – could create a Catalytic Innovation Development Fund to focus on development finance for commercialisation and bringing products to market.
Connected Places Catapult also highlights the power of public procurement to drive innovation and investment – particularly through outcome-based programmes around areas such as public health, transport and net zero that have the potential to create new markets. The organisation urges cities to commit to channelling at least 5% of their annual spend on goods and services via innovation-friendly procedures.
“Places that use their spending power and their leadership roles effectively to stimulate innovation are positioned well to capture and to grow local skills and enterprise pools,”
Sam Markey, Ecosystem Director for Place Leadership at Connected Places Catapult
National support
There are also calls for more support at the national level, including a national innovation strategy with cities at its heart and a new statutory purpose for city councils that would place generating local prosperity on an equal footing to delivering core services. Other recommendations include an acceleration of devolved powers and more streamlined and flexible funding.
“Fiscal devolution is among the enablers that could bring UK cities in line with their counterparts,” comments Marvin Rees. “Devolution around tax could enable UK cities to develop long-term plans that transcend the electoral cycle and stretch 15 to 20 years into the future.”
He adds: “It’s important to recognise when local, city leaders are best placed to make decisions – and give them the authority and responsibility to do that through devolution. Long-term commitments from government, rather than short-term cycles of competitive funding, would provide the assurance that cities need to attract investment and develop local prosperity.”
Getting started
Some cities are already demonstrating the value of promoting innovation, with examples including Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter and the Pandemic Institute, Birmingham’s Future City plan for 2040 and Sheffield’s Innovation District.
The Belfast Region City Deal is credited with unlocking £1 billion of “transformative co-investment” which is slated to deliver more than 20 ambitious projects and programmes and create up to 20,000 new jobs.
Belfast has also demonstrated procurement innovation, having run over 75 civic innovation challenges that have channelled £10 million of public funding through the programme and benefited 200 firms.
City-regions such as Greater Manchester and Liverpool have established innovation boards, and Glasgow City Region’s new Innovation Action Plan includes the creation of a roadmap to make it easier for key investors to review Glasgow’s assets.
Rees highlights the City Leap initiative, which is a partnership between Bristol City Council and Ameresco Ltd to accelerate green energy investment.
“City Leap will see nearly £500 million invested in a range of large infrastructure projects in its first five years,” he explains.
Meanwhile, Bristol’s One City Plan for 2050 shows an “innovative style of city governance” and “radical collaboration” with a “common vision and set of goals that are owned by a city-wide coalition of partners, not just the council.”
With examples such as these, the Catapult’s Sam Markey is optimistic about the future for innovation economies in cities, despite the challenges they face.
“There is real and inspiring leadership at local level,” he says. “There is a sense of collaboration and willingness to work across aisles and across organisations.
“We have an important opportunity with huge potential to transform the economic trajectory of our cities and the people who live in them.”
Further Reading
Download the report, ‘Unleashing the potential of the UK’s cities’ by the UK Urban Futures Commission
Read Connected Places Catapult’s ‘A Roadmap to Innovation-led Prosperity’
