CONNECTED DIGITAL TWINS SUMMIT

Speakers

Jesse Norman was appointed Minister of State in the Department for Transport on 26 October 2022.

He was previously Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office from 7 September 2022 to 26 October 2022. Before that, he was Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 2019 to 2021, where he managed the COVID-19 furlough scheme and set up the UK Infrastructure Bank.

Jesse has been the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire since 2010.

Jesse was previously Paymaster General, and held ministerial roles in the Department for Transport, and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. As a backbencher, he was a member of the Treasury Select Committee 2010 to 2015, and Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in 2016 to 2017. Jesse was made a Privy Councillor in 2019.

Before entering politics Jesse was a Director at Barclays. He also researched and taught philosophy at University College London, and ran a charitable project in Communist Eastern Europe.

Jesse is the author of numerous books and pamphlets, including ‘Compassionate Conservatism’, ‘Edmund Burke: Politician, Philosopher, Prophet’ and ‘Adam Smith: What He Thought, and Why It Matters’, which won a Parliamentary Book Award in 2018. Jesse was Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year and The House Backbencher of the Year in 2012.

Jesse has degrees in Classics (Oxford University: MA) and philosophy (University College London: MPhil, PhD). He has held various academic research fellowships, and was elected as a Two-year Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford in 2022. Jesse is an enthusiastic cyclist, hill-walker and amateur jazz musician.

As the Director of the Digital Twin Hub, Justin Anderson is dedicated to fulfilling the Hub’s mission by aligning and amplifying the Digital Twin ecosystem, with the goal of accelerating the adoption of innovative solutions that address system-level challenges.

Prior to his role at the Digital Twin Hub, Justin served as the Global Head of Technology COE at KPMG International, where he was responsible for assessing the impact of technology on various industries, supporting the firm’s Digital Transformation program, and providing training on emerging technologies to a global team of 80,000 consultants.

Justin’s passion for technology and its intersection with policy, business, and society is evident in his establishment of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence, which serves as the authoritative voice within the UK Parliament on all matters related to AI. Additionally, Justin has played a key role in developing BSI PAS 212, a standard for data interoperability that has been widely adopted in Smart City programs worldwide. Justin also serves as a member of the BSI Innovation Committee, contributing his expertise to further advancements in technology and innovation.

As the Vice President and General Manager of Autodesk Tandem, Bob Bray is leading Autodesk’s newest business initiative to transform the built asset lifecycle with Digital Twin technology and solutions. Bob has significant experience developing new products and markets, managing distributed development teams, running successful open-source projects, and evangelizing products and technology. He is well versed in cloud computing, big data, and web-based application development technologies with a demonstrated ability to bridge technical and business strategy. In his 20+ year tenure at Autodesk, Bob held a number of key leadership roles in AEC product management, engineering management, software architecture, and software development.  He led the development and launch of several critical new products including BIM360 Design and Autodesk InfraWorks. Bob holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Missouri.

David is a leading practitioner in asset management with 23 years of experience within the water industry. He specialises in the whole life management of water and wastewater physical assets.

Implementation of strategic plans, initiatives and transformation has been a recurring theme throughout David’s career. He thrives on continual improvement with the capability to manage change, whilst influencing and motivating diverse teams. David is passionate about embedding the principles of asset management, improving asset management capability and driving value from assets.

He is experienced in asset management policy and strategy, asset planning and resilience, capital investment decision making, operations and maintenance decision making, technical standards and legislation, asset information strategy, asset information systems, asset data and knowledge, asset performance and health monitoring, risk assessment and management, audit and assurance.

Dr Justin Buck is a senior data manager in the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC). His current research focuses on the interoperability of environmental digital twins and he is co-investigator on the NERC funded “Piloting an Information Management Framework for Environmental Digital Twins” (Pilot IMFe) project. Within Pilot IMFe he is investigating the steps towards establishing a community of practice for environmental digital twins. He is also a member of the UN Decade of the sustainable ocean digital twin of the ocean interoperability action (T URTLE).

Mark Coates is Bentley’s International Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, where he helps to inform and guide government, policymakers, business leaders, and decision-makers globally on the benefits of digital transformation.

 

A former quantity surveyor with an extensive background in global project delivery, Mark first began working in the construction sector 33 years ago. He has worked with Thames Water, United Utilities, ICI, Highways England, The Olympic Delivery Authority, and Crossrail.

 

For the past ten years, Mark has been working in digital transformation and has seen the great advances made in sectors by adopting digital ways of working. He has worked on numerous infrastructure projects, consulting asset owners and their advisors on technology adoption to attain better project results while being conscious of time, cost, and quality.

 

Mark is a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation and recently served as vice-chairman and chairman of the British Water Forum for the last two years. Mark also serves on the Strategic Board of the UK’s Digital Twin Hub and is a member of the Institute of Government and Public Policy’s advisory board.

Keith is Managing Director of Fujitsu’s Centre for Cognitive and Advanced Technologies, dedicated to revolutionising decision-making and the scaling and speeding the adoption of emerging technology. Keith is a Fujitsu Global Distinguished Engineer, and a Fujitsu AI Subject Matter Expert. He previously served as an Expert Advisor to the UK Prime Minister on Defence modernisation & the Integrated Review leading also on UK space strategy in No10, and advising on national strategies on emerging technology.  A former 18-year Intelligence Officer in the RAF he has served in Iraq, completed three deployments to Afghanistan, deployed to Abkhazia (Georgia) with the United Nations, to Mali alongside the French, and served on exchange with US Air Force in Las Vegas. Keith now continues his service as a Group Captain in 601 Squadron, leading on Science, Technology and academic liaison. He holds a doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford, an MA (with Distinction) in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism from King’s College London, and a BA (Hons) in History, Politics and International Relations from the University of Lancaster. He is a Fellow at the world’s oldest and the UK’s leading defence and security think-tank RUSI, and at Oxford’s Changing Character of War Programme. He was last year awarded the Director’s Fellowship by Cambridge University’s Judge Business School where he is completing his Executive MBA.

Kjell Eriksson is a Vice President at DNV with more than 30 years of international experience from the oil, gas and energy sector. He has managed DNV’s operations in the Middle East, Asia and Norway. He is currently globally responsible for building new services and business models for digitalization of the energy sector in close collaboration with key customers.

Jonathan is the High Value Manufacturing Catapult lead for Cyber-Physical Infrastructure responsible for a range of client work and grant funded programmes focusing on the adoption of bridging our cyber and physical worlds together. He is a specialist in digital twins and the possibilities of having connected high quality data. He is responsible for research across a range of manufacturing areas delivering solutions and solving specific challenges to understand the value of digital technology through wider business transformations.

Mark is Head of Digital Security & Resilience at EPSRC, part of UKRI. He leads on EPSRC’s cyber security and digital twinning strategies, plans, and investments, whilst connecting across UKRI, building communities, networks, and capacity to develop national capability. Mark has played a leading role in the coordination of UKRI’s thinking and engagement with external stakeholders on digital twinning. Before joining UKRI, Mark was a senior manager in the fire and rescue service. He has an MSc. in Fire and Explosion Engineering and a Post Graduate Certificate in Strategic Leadership and has much experience of leadership in collaborative and partnership settings.

He believes in a world that operates to its full potential and that to get there we need Cyber Physical Infrastructure which of course means DIGITAL TWINS! Whether he’s podcasting, speaking, talking on panels or advising clients Henry is committed to navigating the complexities of procurement, incentives, training and data science to deliver amazing outcomes for his clients.

Henry is an accomplished leader of Research and Development programmes who led the information management programme at CDBB as part of the UK BIM Framework.

Henry is now a successful innovation consultant leading the delivery of an independent review of Cyber Physical Infrastructure and leading the development of a new strategy for government investment. Henry holds board positions on climate, diversity and digital panels such as Zero Construct, CIC 2050, Women in BIM and Digital Twin Fan Club.

Developing and delivering research programmes, digital twins, policy, guidance and executive support Henry has successfully delivered millions of pounds of research with an approach

Paul is a recognized leader in innovation and metaverse for major events and venues. He has worked on 6 Olympic Games, 2 Commonwealth Games, the Qatar 2022 FIFATM World Cup, and advised INTERPOL on crowd management.  

Paul founded OnePlan, an event planning platform that creates a digital twin environment for event planners, hosts, and suppliers to collaborate and develop site plans in real-time. OnePlan is used by over 25,000 events and venues in 110 countries.  

As an official digital twin software and GIS mapping supporter to the Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Games, OnePlan will create digital twins of all venues in the metaverse and is the first startup to become an Olympic Games partner. Through Paul’s leadership, OnePlan is revolutionizing the way major events and venues are planned and executed.

Ben is responsible for ORE Catapult’s activities across the Smart Operations and Maintenance (O&M) portfolio. His primary mission is to make offshore wind O&M smarter, safer and greener – helping build UK content in the supply chain by leveraging Industry 4.0 practices from within and across sectors.

Building on the Catapult’s existing expertise and portfolio of O&M support, Ben’s area of responsibilities include data & digital projects, robotics & autonomy, advanced tooling, clean maritime, circular economy and decommissioning. Based in the Humber, Ben also supports the growth of the Operations and Maintenance Centre of Excellence (OMCE) in Grimsby.

Joining the Catapult team in 2019, Ben came from leading the Aura low carbon energy programme at the University of Hull. Before moving into renewables, Ben worked in military aviation in both Australia and the UK where he was involved in operations, training, capability development, programme management and technology development.

Janet is a Director at KPMG with over 25 years of experience in major and mega project development, delivery, and assurance. She has experience in carbon and sustainability at both strategy and project delivery levels, and is a member of leading industry carbon forums. She has worked on major projects including Thameslink, the South West Route Capacity Programme, and Crossrail. She is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Member of the Association for Project Management, and Chair of the Major Projects Association Sustainability Ambassadors Group.

From a software development background, Lee is a technology leader with over 20 years’ experience in creating, shaping and managing cross-functional teams to drive and deliver innovative solutions. Passionate about cross-industry collaboration, Lee has worked with government, defence, national security, intelligence, and the private sector to leverage cutting edge solutions to solve complex business challenges. Proven track record in strategic technology initiatives, Lee is committed to delivering scalable and secure solutions that optimise operational efficiency and drive sustainable growth.

Sarah Hayes is an economist specialised in data and digitalisation and works as an independent consultant to Connected Places Catapult. Sarah leads on engagement for CReDo the Climate Resilience Demonstrator project. She led the first phase of CReDo through the Centre for Digital Built Britain and set up the pilot project to show how it’s possible to share data across energy, water and telecoms sectors to increase climate resilience across the infrastructure system. Sarah was the lead author on the National Infrastructure Commission report Data for the public good which set the vision for a National Digital Twin as an ecosystem of connected digital twins.

Emma leads a team of bid professionals to support the business and our partners to design and develop successful concepts and proposals that deliver compelling solutions. During her career Emma has delivered end-to-end bid management capability from value proposition design and capture management, win strategy development, stakeholder analysis, and mapping technical solutions to customer success criteria.

As part of this work, she has led bid teams of 40+ subject matter experts across a number of market areas including educational IT, new build school programmes, highways capital works and maintenance, local regeneration programmes, and most recently supporting R&D satellite enabled solutions. Throughout her career Emma’s focus has always been on ensuring the quality and solutions align to customer need to support their ambitions and continued success. To achieve this, she has built high performing teams who are continually looking to identify continuous improvement activities to drive their performance and value.

Emma was the Project Sponsor on a recent, Innovate UK funded project: Developing Digital Twin Prototype capability to engage the Investor community. In this role Emma secured the services and expertise of Jacobs to collaborate with a team from the Satellite Applications Catapult to develop a Roadmap, ‘Art-of-the-Possible’ virtualisation, and engagement materials to showcase the value of this evolving capability to the target audience.

Chris is a Senior Innovation Leader bringing whose career than bridged the academic, corporate and public sectors. He has held significant leadership roles at experience at Connected Places Catapult, University of Oxford and Imperial College London, having previously led global university engagement and technology scouting programmes for BlackBerry UK Limited. He started his career with UK Research & Innovation (EPSRC) with a variety of roles focused on on research, innovation, strategy and skills development.  Chris has diverse technology and sector interests spanning infrastructure, ICT, chemicals and nanotechnology and is driven to build partnerships that support discovery, new product innovation and impact more generally.

Charles brings over 25 years of experience delivering projects of all scales across multiple sectors. His deep understanding of the application of geography helps him find ways of making GIS accessible to ordinary users in wide-ranging environments, from consumer mapping to enterprise and business-critical systems. He is committed to ‘reducing barriers’ to the use of geospatial techniques across society. Charles is also passionate about educating the next generation of data scientists in the application of geography.

As Global Leading Professional – Digital Twins, Ben leads Royal HaskoningDHV’s digital twin agenda, bridging the gap between the physical and digital to tackle the challenges of a world in transition. An expert in digital innovation, Ben has worked in both commercial and technology leadership positions, combining his extensive knowledge of physical assets with the latest digital capabilities to meet the varied needs of organisations and governments across the globe.

As a consultant Peter has worked directly with clients in the built environment and construction industry to use and implement information management, building information modelling (BIM), asset management, digital transformation and digital twin best practices into their organisation, assets and projects. He seeks to overcome enterprise, government and global challenges by developing solutions aligned to global and national standards combined with current innovations and technology.

A Chartered Civil Engineer with 13 years of experience in the engineering industry. Peter has extensive built-up real-world infrastructure design and design management project, engineering and BIM management experience in areas spanning from multi-million-pound infrastructure projects to small property redevelopments. Has been responsible for bringing technically complex, multi-discipline projects together to client and stakeholder standards, using multi-disciplinary experience and knowledge of BIM.

Peter has worked with a wide variety of clients including; the UK Government, the Centre for Digital Built Britain, Network Rail, Transport for London, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), United Utilities and Heathrow airport

Miranda Sharp connects data and organisations to value, her interest is in the new business models that will be required when data is used as a business asset to make better decisions.   At the ODI she leads the team working on the value of data and she also acts as NED to TRL (the Transport Research Laboratory), trustee to the Centre for Cities think tank and member of the Mayor of London’s Infrastructure Advisory Panel.  Previously at the National Digital Twin programme, Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail, she has worked in value creation from data for over 10 years.

Ms Anna Carolina Tortora, an Italian/Colombian/Canadian MIT alumna with a background in Aerospace Engineering, heads the Department of Innovation Strategy for the ESO. Her mission is to accelerate the decarbonisation of the UK system to meet the country’s ambitious Net Zero targets by leveraging new digital solutions, grid technologies and services. She currently also heads up Virtual Energy System, to develop the first Digital Twin of the entire energy system in
the UK. Prior to NGESO, Carolina held the equivalent position in Rome at the Italian TSO, Terna Spa, where she successfully led the deployment of the largest high voltage connected Storage plants (batteries) in Europe. Today, Carolina is a senior advisor to some of the world’s most promising battery start-ups and the
recipient of numerous honours including being a featured speaker for 2017 TEDxRome, as well as being elected as one of Italy’s Top 40 under forty managers in 2016

Hari Vamadevan is an Executive Vice President and Regional Director of DNV’s Energy Systems UK & Ireland operations. He leads a 700-strong energy team with a focus on safety, efficiency, innovation, and digitalization. In particular, Hari is focused on balancing the short-term challenges of cost and production efficiency versus the long-term challenges of an energy transition to a deep decarbonized future.

Hari has over 30 years’ experience in both technical, management and leadership positions – onshore and offshore, upstream, midstream and downstream. He has worked at DNV for 16 years. Prior to this he was Managing Director for Jardine & Associates in London.

Hari has a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London.

Alison Vincent sits as a non-exec director and technical advisor to multiple private and public companies. She has previously held senior technical positions at organisations including Cisco, HSBC and IBM. Her roles have spanned cyber security, research and development, strategy execution, product management and business development. She has particular expertise in digital strategy, innovation and mergers and acquisitions. She is an ambassador for women in science and engineering and is a passionate supporter of the STEM agenda in schools. She has a PhD in cryptography from London University and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the British Computing Society and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. She is also a non-exec director on the board of Connected Places Catapult.

David Wagg is a Co-director of the new Turing Research and Innovation Cluster for Digital Twins and a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. He is an expert on nonlinear dynamics and digital twins for engineering systems. His research interests relating to digital twins include uncertainty management, interoperability, quantitative & qualitative validation techniques and knowledge models for interactive digital twins.  

Seb has a degree in Cybernetics and Computer Science and joined Laser-Scan (which became 1Spatial) in 1997 as a software engineer. After working on many projects and a broad range of software as a senior and then principal software engineer, he then moved into consultancy and then product management which provided insight into customer and industry needs and trends. After leading product management for a number of years, Seb is now CTO at 1Spatial

Anne-Marie is a partner in global law firm Pinsent Masons specialising in the delivery of major infrastructure projects and is co-lead of the Digital Twin Hub Governance and Trust Working Group with Sarah Cameron. In addition to being an expert in collaborative delivery models, NEC contracts and construction joint ventures, Anne-Marie speaks widely and is regularly published on the impact of cyber, data and technology issues in the built environment. Anne-Marie is a steering group member of the UK Net Zero Infrastructure Industry Coalition and, in 2022, led the Coalition in producing guidance for to infrastructure companies on making climate related financial disclosures.

Sarah Cameron is a Legal Director at Pinsent Masons LLP. Her main focus is on data, data sharing, IOT, AI, Connected Digital Twins and PETs. Sarah is co-lead of the Digital Twin Hub Governance and Trust Working Group with Anne-Marie Friel; Member of Tech UK’s Data Analytics and AI Leadership Committee; Member/former Chair of Governance Board for PETRAS SDTAP [Securing Digital Technology at the Periphery] Programme. Sarah is also involved in Pinsent Masons partnership with the Digital Leadership Forum on AI in Healthcare and Life Sciences. Sarah worked on the initial OAI and ODI data trusts work and report, contributed a chapter to the ADA Lovelace Report Exploring Legal Mechanisms for data stewardship and has been involved in some of our various data institution projects including Trusted Bytes and health data institutions since 2019; she was a contributor to London Data Charter project.

Joseph Otoo is a senior legal counsel and associate director at Arup, a global built environment professional services firm, where he provides legal, commercial, and strategic support in relation to the procurement and delivery of construction, engineering, energy and infrastructure projects worldwide. Joseph also acts as the UKIMEA region Digital Legal Lead, where he provides legal advice on Arup’s digital transformation efforts, focusing on areas such as intellectual property, data, and commercial model innovation. Joseph is a Visiting Fellow and member of the Centre for Construction Law at The Dickson Poon School of Law, where is teaches on the MSc Construction Law & Dispute resolution programme.

Angela Baker is Data Assurance Programme Lead at the Open Data Institute. The programme is focussed on improving data sharing by helping organisations assess, build and demonstrate both trust in and the trustworthiness of data and data practices. Prior to this she was Data Access and Integration Programme Manager for EuroGeographics  with responsibility for facilitating access to National Mapping and Cadastral Agency data, the provision of pan-European datasets, including leading on European projects. Angela has a MA in Human Geography from Aberdeen University, an MSc in Cartography and Geo-information Technology from Glasgow University and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Kurt Dusterhoff represents Fujitsu’s Converging and Networking technology areas within the company’s global Technology Strategy Unit. With a focus on bringing technology innovation and societal need closer together, he bridges the R&D and business worlds to help find solutions that improve humanity’s long-term sustainability. Prior to joining Fujitsu in 2022, Dr. Dusterhoff enjoyed more than 20 years in the automotive industry, beginning with early in-car speech control and navigation systems. For the past decade he has provided strategic and technical market consultancy to regional and global automotive technology companies. Today, Kurt brings his technical curiosity and depth of transportation experience to Fujitsu’s Social Digital Twin project, exploring how understanding and modelling the types of decisions travelers make on a daily basis can create individual and collective changes that both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve transportation experiences.

Yalena is a leader in technology and data who has worked across Europe, Asia and Africa, implementing programmes with a focus on data and digital strategy, digital transformation, digital twins, software / product development, IoT, and cybersecurity. She is currently Director of Applied Data and Technology at Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership. Yalena works with clients in the public and private sector to implement technology and data solutions which contribute towards better environmental, social and economic outcomes. Current digital twin related work includes transport digital twins, and cross sector climate resilience digital twins.

Ben Ford is Technology and Innovation Manager – Operations for Network Rail. Originally a metallurgist, Ben turned to alchemy when he became an innovation consultant, helping small companies transform their opportunities. He built collaborative partnerships, bringing together capabilities, market demand and investment to create new customer added value. He came to the railway ten years ago to help promote innovation, championing SME engagement, pioneering new procurement mechanisms, and building closer relations with government bodies, and between rail industry organisations. With increasing digitalisation of consumption, he recognised the need for digitalisation of supply, for optimised decisions and service delivery.

Ben has increasingly focused on planning, operations, and improving customer insight. Covid allowed him to secure investment in the largest change in understanding rail demand since the 1970s, making use of telecoms data, foundational knowledge for the digital twin systems we need.

Liz is a dynamic, highly motivated and experienced leader with over 30 years’ experience. She is currently Assistant Director of Smart Cities at Sunderland City Council. Driving transformation programmes and digital and data initiatives throughout her career, she has a passion for person centred user design and ensuring digital and data enabled transformational change that makes a real and measurable difference.

Leading the delivery of the Smart City Programme for Sunderland, Liz is responsible for driving forward city-wide investment in next-generation digital infrastructure and use cases that will make a transformational difference across a city landscape. The opportunities afforded by digital twins have an important role to play in guiding this work and unlocking new insights.

Matt has worked in the water industry for over 20 years across a wide spectrum of roles in engineering, asset management, operations and customer management, and programme and change management. He is currently the Chief Data Officer for Anglian Water Services and serves as the Water Company Data and Digital Board member for the Government’s retail Market Operator (MOSL) for England and Wales.

He has an undergraduate degree from Edinburgh University, a postgraduate degree from Cranfield University and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Water and Environmental Management. For the last five years Matt has worked as part of the National Infrastructure Digital Transformation Task Group with a specific focus upon enterprise information management, advanced analytics, and digital twins.

Davin is Chief Data Officer at National Highways, with specialisms in the transport and the built environment sectors. He is passionate about data and digital centric change that enable step changes to businesses, lives, the economy and the environment. Davin’s experience in leading complex transformation programmes has given him deep understanding of the technical and non-technical risks and opportunities to make things happen and make them last.

Davin is a recognised thought leader and public speaker with articles published in Forbes magazine. He was voted by industry peers as DataIQ’s top 100 most influential people in data since 2019.

Mark is a keen champion of innovation through collaboration and is particularly interested in the transformation of the built environment and the infrastructure industry, including digital transformation, systems-thinking, connected digital twins, smart infrastructure, low-carbon sustainable solutions, product/platform-based delivery and the circular economy.

Mark was the Head of the National Digital Twin programme and contributed to the leadership of this ambitious programme to enable an ecosystem of connected digital twins across the built environment. For five years, Mark was Mott MacDonald’s Chief Technical Officer and was accountable to the Executive Board for technical excellence across the Group. As Strategic Advisor for Mott MacDonald Digital Ventures, he provides strategy-level advice to key clients on digital transformation, connected digital twins and broader industry transformation.

Steven Eglinton, BSc (Hons), FBCS, FBCartS, MIoD, MPWI

Steven is an experienced tutor, senior consultant, government advisor and public speaker with a demonstrated history of leading large-scale Asset Management (ISO 55000 series), Information Management and Digital Transformation projects for central governments, real estate/property, rail, water, energy, construction, and many civil engineering clients. He is skilled in making the business case, data governance, BIM (ISO 19650 series), Digital Twins, and team leadership.

Steven is both a Fellow of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and the British Cartographic Society – so mapping, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial analysis, surveying and geospatial solutions has always been a key part of his work.

Steven also is the founder and host of the BimTube podcast, who’s mission: ‘We want to build everyone’s digital knowledge with content and conversations to inspire and instigate ‘Better Information Management’ to enable – better decisions, better infrastructure, better services and better outcomes for our social, economic and environmental infrastructure.’ https://www.bim.tube/

Adam is Head of Strategy & Engagement for Digital Construction International (DCI) – a UK Government programme hosted at Connected Places Catapult; and Chair of a multinational public sector community, the Global BIM Network.

 

Adam has over thirty years’ experience introducing digital technology across a number of sectors and with governments, multilaterals and national programmes. He believes that driving digital change across the global construction sector will transform its performance and its output; and boost international trade. His roles combine digital innovation with stakeholder management with strategic change. He has an MBA from Kingston University and is doctoral researcher at Cranfield School of Management. He is a director at Autodesk and his start-up practice, CIMO Consulting.

John Erkoyuncu is Professor of Digital Engineering and Head of the Centre for Digital Engineering and Manufacturing at Cranfield University. His research interests include: digital twin (DT), augmented reality, and digitalisation of through-life engineering. He has a track record in leading research worth over £8M through EPSRC (most recent – PI: EP/R013950/1, Co-I: EP/R032718/1), Innovate UK, and EU. He has published over 150 scientific papers. John is Co-Chair of the Through-life Engineering Services Council, Member of the TDI – DT Working Group, Community Council Member of the Digital Twin Hub, Chartered Engineer with IET, Fellow of HEA, and Associate Member of CIRP. John is the Course Director for the MSc in Digital and Technology Solutions.

As head of the Data Literacy programme, David is responsible for growing the impact of the ODI’s data literacy training. This includes leading research to identify gaps in data literacy, the development of new learning experience and delivering new data literacy products at scale.

Since joining the ODI, David has introduced educational content that has helped transform governments and unlock over $15m for startups. Most recently, David has spearheaded the delivery of a new programme aimed at certifying a network of Data Ethics Professionals and Facilitators. David has applied his data science skills to build policy making tools for open data leaders, including the Open Data Barometer visualisation.

Before joining the ODI, David was a lecturer in the Web and Internet Science Group at the University of Southampton leading courses on open data and innovation.

Former Head of the UK Decentralised Energy Market function of E.ON, Commercial Director of a system integration company, and former Strategy Director of a leading battery,  solar and electric vehicle integration company. Formerly project director for one of the largest Innovate-UK smart energy testbeds and one of the Energy Data Taskforce workstreams where the issue of siloed industry data was identified as a barrier for whole systems optimisation.

An experienced professional engineer, Eloise leads the integration of technical activities across complex systems. A specialist in gas turbine engine design, she joined Energy Systems Catapult in February 2022, after 15 years at Rolls-Royce plc.

Eloise’s role is to develop and implement systems, tools and processes within complex projects to enable multidisciplinary teams to work effectively and efficiently. Eloise is currently Technical Lead for the Innovate UK Cyber Physical Infrastructure. She also leads a team of Systems Engineering Consultants.

Rob has over two decades of experience in the modelling and simulation sector with leading US and UK companies. In this time Rob has worked with public and private sector organisations globally and across industry sectors, including aerospace and defence, automotive, energy, industrial equipment, high tech electronics and healthcare, to help them realise the benefits of digital transformation and make better decisions faster and at lower cost. At Slingshot Simulations Rob is leading the company as they enable customers to use their place based decision intelligence and digital twin solution to accelerate their region’s journey to net zero and build climate resilience.

Anasol is a Principal Researcher at BT Group. She provides strategic insights and leads research efforts towards enabling digital twins, AI and immersive technologies in the context of BT’s network and field force operations. She has published extensively and produced multiple patents on these topics. She has 15+ years of experience leading international multidisciplinary projects and teams in industry and academia.

 

She is passionate about human-centred technology and how it will shape our future. She received the TechWomen100 2020 Awards and was shortlisted for the Computing Women in IT Excellence Awards 2018. She is a supporter of women in STEM, encouraging young women to pursue studies in STEM-related subjects.

 

Anasol is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Essex, where she holds a PhD in Computer Science. She is an IEEE Senior Member and Associate Editor in related peer-reviewed journals. She is also a Board Member of two non-profits: the Immersive Learning Research Network and the Creative Science Foundation.

Dr Oytun Babacan is an expert in the field of emerging sustainable energy technologies, specializing in the integration of energy storage, electric vehicles, and renewables into urban and rural city infrastructures. With a deep-rooted interest in decarbonization, Dr Babacan investigates pathways for transforming existing power systems through decentralization and electric power market reforms. He advocates for empowering individuals and communities, allowing them to have greater control over their energy choices and contribute to the transition towards sustainable energy solutions.

Dr Babacan obtained his BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from Boğaziçi University, followed by a Master’s degree in Mechanical Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He later completed his PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California San Diego, where he conducted ground-breaking research on solar resource forecasting, grid-connected battery module performance testing, and advanced power system modelling for cities and micro-grids adopting solar photovoltaics and energy storage systems.

Throughout his academic journey, Dr Babacan has gained extensive expertise in sustainable energy systems, which he further refined during his postdoctoral research in energy policy at the University of California San Diego. He then served as a Research Fellow at Imperial College London, contributing to cutting-edge projects in the field of distributed energy systems and electric mobility using machine learning and optimisation. Dr Babacan continued his professional journey as an Assistant Professor at Brunel University London before embarking on a new venture as the Founder and CEO of Evotrack, a company dedicated to advancing global electric mobility transition using machine learning and cloud computing.

Sophie brings a wealth of expertise in information management and the successful development of collaborative research and development projects. Her diverse background spans various industries, including construction, automotive, aerospace, defence, smart cities, rail, utilities, and social care. Within IOTICS, Sophie has discovered a fulfilling niche, leveraging a technology that enables secure and selective data sharing across different sectors and organisational boundaries.

Sophie has played a vital role in all of IOTICS’ deployments. Notable projects include the Rail Digital Twin Ecosystem in collaboration with Rolls-Royce Power Systems, the recent partnership with Porterbrook Leasing Company, the Digital Twin of the Construction Site for BAM Nuttall, and the establishment of a Maritime Digital Twin Ecosystem at Portsmouth International Port. Sophie actively fosters the growth of digital communities by building ecosystems of individuals, ensuring diverse stakeholder representation. She takes great pride in fostering digital cooperation and trust among these evolving communities.

Melissa Zanocco OBE is Head of Programmes for the Infrastructure Client Group (ICG), as well as one of the instigators of Our Vision for the Built Environment, and is committed to transforming the built environment sector to produce better outcomes for people and nature. She is Co-Chair of both the Project 13 Adopter Community and the Digital Twin Hub Community Council as well as a member of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s Deep Decarbonisation Initiative, World Economic Forum Digital Twin Cities Project Global Advisory Committee and Construction Leadership Council Task Force. She is also a member of the UN Women UK community, including as part of the delegation to the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women 2023.

Mark joined Connected Places Catapult in 2022 as Head of Skills Development working on skills-based initiatives to address skills gaps and shortages in multiple ecosystems, in various regions of the UK; he also co-chairs the Workforce & Skills Group for the Catapult Network.

From 2017 onwards, Mark was with HS2 Ltd in the role of Skills Stakeholder Manager, working with public sector organisations and the supply chain, tackling skills gaps and shortages in both professional and vocational areas. He represented HS2 on DfT working groups with other arms-length bodies, and chaired groups representing the construction and civil engineering sectors on various Local Enterprise Partnerships’ skills advisory panels. An advocate of apprenticeships, he set up and chaired the apprenticeship trailblazer to develop the Land Referencer Level 4 standard, now in its second year of successful delivery. A secondary school teacher by profession, his career has encompassed both the public and private sectors, in start-up SMEs and technology-focused large corporations.

David Buxton is Decision Lab’s founder and CEO. Driven by a passion for using tech to help businesses make better decisions, he has acquired a wealth of experience delivering industry leading solutions for some of the UK’s largest and most respected companies. He is an early adopter of digital twin technologies and a pioneer of decision intelligence platforms.

Decision Lab was formed in 2011 with a focus on delivering business modelling, simulation, and optimisation across industry verticals. Since then, Decision Lab has mastered and employed a range of modelling and data science techniques, including statistical and machine learning methods, data engineering, and software development and visualisation.

Led by David, the Decision Lab team is helping define the field of decision intelligence through the development of human AI teaming and AI-led decision arbitration.

Connect with David Buxton to learn more about how digital twins are being employed across industry sectors and discover more about how decision intelligence is leveraging enterprise platforms for greater success.

Zoe Jennings is Head of Climate Investment for the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission at the Connected Places Catapult. She has over 25 years of experience working and leading strategic energy and climate change programmes, in both the public and private sectors. As Head of Climate Investment at the Connected Places Catapult she works at the interface between local government and business, seeking to leverage the combined scale of cities to mobilise finance and drive investment into low and net zero carbon projects across UK’s cities.

Previously Zoe worked in local and London government for 15 years, including the GLA and the London Development Agency on climate mitigation and energy, air quality and waste programmes. She led the Mayor’s London Hydrogen Partnership and launched the first national RE:FIT framework, enabling retrofitting of public sector buildings at scale.

Before joining the Connected Places Catapult, Zoe led the SETsquared Partnership Scale-Up Programme at the University of Surrey, supporting ambitious businesses to grow through engagement with research and academia, large corporates, investors, and Government.

With over 12 years of experience, I have successfully implemented Industry X initiatives and spearheaded IoT and digitalization frameworks across diverse industries. My expertise lies in assisting organizations in achieving their business objectives by overseeing the entire value delivery cycle of IoT solutions. This includes identifying impactful use cases, designing robust solution architectures, cultivating in-house expertise, fostering strategic partnerships, and ensuring the realization of return on investment.

Currently, at Digital Catapult, I hold the responsibility of establishing an innovation framework that promotes continuous technological evolution and I focus on developing cutting-edge solutions such as Digital Twins and immersive experiences. Additionally, I oversee the operations of our Industrial IoT lab, where we showcase and demonstrate our advanced capabilities.

Furthermore, I lead the acceleration programs for proof-of-concept initiatives in Unified Digital Infrastructure. I am also involved in shaping Collaborative Research and Development proposals in Robotics, Industrial Digital Manufacturing, and SIF projects within the energy sector.

My experience extends to devising technology strategies to enable scalable IoT adoption across various sectors. I actively engage in forging valuable technology partnerships and nurturing innovative start-ups on a global scale.

Throughout my career, I have successfully led and delivered strategic digitalization projects that involve collaborative efforts across multiple technologies.

Stuart is the Strategic Business Development Director at the ODI. He is passionate about opportunities for people across society to use technology, data and machines to learn new skills and shape a better future. 

Stuart has a diverse entrepreneurial and executive leadership background, with experience in venture-backed, publicly listed and mission-led high growth technology, training and consulting organisations. 

Stuart has raised venture funding as well as built several businesses from cashflow. He is proud to have been founding Commercial Director at the Open Data Institute in 2012 and delighted to have returned in 2020 to support the leadership and team amidst an exciting new phase of growth. 

Outside of work Stuart is a keen cyclist, occasional amateur multi -sports competitor, fundraiser for the RNLI and a devoted dad to young daughters. 

Dr Wolfgang Schuster is an internationally recognised technology and business leader with over 25 years of experience and a focused approach to shaping and delivering complex strategies for new and emerging technologies. Wolfgang has expertise across a broad range of sectors, including intelligent and sustainable multi-modal mobility, cognitive cities, space and digital. He has a wealth of experience leading major international projects and programmes for industry, academia and government, including for Defence, National Highways, Department for Transport, Eurocontrol, European Investment Bank, and European Commission. Wolfgang is currently Executive Director at the Connected Places Catapult where his focus is on strategically enabling, accelerating and scaling ecosystem and cross-ecosystem innovation for cities, transport and place leadership.

Simon is Head of Digital Twin and Cyber Physical Infrastructure at Innovate UK, the UK Government’s Innovation Agency.

Simon’s career started in systems engineering before moving into business development, sales and consultancy. Simon’s expertise is in helping new sectors to thrive by enabling collaboration between startups and industry. At Innovate UK, he ran the Built Environment Innovation programme and led the development of Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) with the Government BIM Task Group. More recently he co-founded the Transforming Construction ISCF programme before moving to Digital Twins and Cyber Physical Infrastructure in 2021.

Prior to joining Innovate UK, Simon led the Connectivity Practice at Altran (Capgemini) following 10 years in the Automotive Electronics sector. Simon is a regular speaker on the London Tech scene and is happiest when fixing cars, boats or houses.

James Byrne is a Research Software Engineer working at the British Antarctic Survey. He comes from a industry based background in software development and DevOps, and now works on improving software engineering both within the polar science community and across environmental sciences. This has seen him involved in many more projects relating to Digital Research Infrastructure, Digital Twins and best practice software engineering. He regularly collaborates with NERC centres, as well as with partners such as The Alan Turing Institute. Additionally, he’s a 2022 Software Sustainability Fellow and advocate for open research and software.

Rhian works within EPSRC’s Digital Security and Resilience Team as the Senior Portfolio Manager responsible for Digital Twinning. Prior to joining the Digital Security and Resilience Team, Rhian worked in the AI and Robotics Team where she was responsible for the recent Hubs calls and Turing AI World-Leading Fellowships