Innovation for sustainability 14. Mike Pitts

Mike Pitts is Deputy Challenge Director, Transforming Construction at Innovate UK (LinkedIn, Twitter). Innovate UK is the UK’s national innovation agency, supporting business-led innovation in all sectors, technologies and UK regions.

Our conversation covers:
– How a publicly-funded innovation agency tries to nurture innovation and contribute to economic success, especially on Net Zero, leveling up and increasing UK exports.
– The importance of storytelling in innovation in particular, and in change more widely.
– The importance of deeply integrating sustainability, so that the stand-alone ‘sustainability’ job is made obsolete.
– How Innovate UK tried to shift key parts of the construction industry.
– The innovation required wasn’t just of new technologies, but of techniques, including: tacit know-how, process innovation and business models. Therefore, a novel innovation in one sector can come by learning from another sector.
– Addressing the challenges that sustainable construction often has much higher upfront investment and lower unproven running costs, which means that the developer is unwilling to risk the higher upfront investment because they cannot be sure the extra upfront cost (with a lifetime benefit) will be covered by a higher sales price.

The book I mention which covers the importance of story is Gaia Vince’s Transcendance.

I also mention the Net Zero Review by Chris Skidmore (known as the ‘Skidmore Review’). I also briefly mention Michael Gubb’s innovation chain.
 

This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters.  You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.

Listen to the episode:

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‘Innovation for sustainability’ interview series passes 2,500 downloads

Time to celebrate! Innovation for Sustainability (for ISR) has passed 2,500 downloads!

Huge thanks to all the interviewees —13 so far. They cover quite the variety: corporates and start-ups; for-profit and for-purpose; incubators, venture funds, finance houses and finance ministries; contributors from UK, Europe, India and Aotearoa New Zealand.

And, of course, thank you to the listeners — whether students, who might feel they have to, or others. I hope you have enjoyed them and learnt from them too. I’ll be recording more interviews over the coming weeks.

Click the ‘continue reading’ link below to have a list of all the episodes.

Innovation for sustainability 13. Beverley Gower-Jones

Beverley Gower-Jones has two roles:
(1) the Founder and Managing Partner of the Clean Growth Fund, which” invests in companies with products and services focussed on driving clean growth in the low carbon economy”; and
(2) CEO of Carbon Limiting Technologies, which “works with industry and government to commercialise low carbon innovations and accelerate clean growth”.

Our conversation covers:
-The need for a UK-based Venture Capital fund focused on early stage companies (pre-revenue or just about generating revenue) who need to build a commercial demonstrator to stimulate the next phase of their success.
-The different investor demands on a software vs hardware businesses.
-The story of founding the fund, and the personal and technical challenges of that.
-Why she sought public as well as private finance. And why they both, in her view, have to be exposed to the risks equally.
-The constant need, when doing innovation, to overcome inertia, where people choose to improve their current approach rather than explore the next. The book I mention is ‘The Modern Firm’ by John Roberts.
-Addressing the challenge of being a first-timer.
-The constant need for entrepreneurs to be able to describe a plausible route to investors to exit, with larger returns.
-The importance of government industrial strategy, especially the Skidmore Review on the economics of Net Zero.
-Their own playbook of where a company needs to get to as it grows, called the Commercial Readiness Levels (inspired by NASA’s Technological Readiness Levels).
-How getting to Net Zero will mean whole-of-society, whole-of-economy shifts. Every part of our lives will be touched. There will be a need for invention and diffusion everywhere.

This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters.  You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.

Listen to the episode:

Innovation for sustainability 12. Alyssa Gilbert and Naveed Chaudhry

Alyssa Gilbert is the Director of Innovation at Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. She is the boss of the second speaker, Naveed Chaudhry who is Head of The Greenhouse at the Centre for Climate Change Innovation, now known as Undaunted, at  Imperial College.

Our conversation covers:
-How the Grantham Institute at Imperial is trying to support climate-related innovation through ‘Undaunted’.
-How the Greenhouse operates as an incubator and accelerator of climate-related entrepreneurs.
-The example of Notpla, who do packaging solutions are made from a material made from seaweed and plants that disappears naturally.
-How they used the status of the university to create a lobbying voice for climate-related industries that don’t yet exist.
-The approach at the Greenhouse: trying to get applications from beyond the usual groups; using a bootcamp to select based on the potential of the technology and the team; the ‘germination’ and ‘propagation’ phases.
-The importance of the Skidmore Review of Net Zero, and what’s needed from government now is strong policy direction backed up by resources.
-Undaunted as a vehicle for connection and collaboration on climate-related innovation, starting in London but engaging around the rest of the world.

This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters.  You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.

Listen to the episode:

Innovation for sustainability 11. Kyle Grant

Kyle Grant is Founder at Oxwash, an on-demand and laundry service made simple and sustainable (LinkedIn).

Our conversation covers:
-The role of a start-up CEO.
-Transfering the skills of a NASA Life support systems engineer to laundry.
-How Oxwash can be the operational back-end of many circular fashion companies, and so is (1) an example platform business and (2) a pocket of a possible ‘access economy’, where people don’t own things but have access to them (as many people do with music and Spotify now).
-Oxwash expansion plans are both more physical business in the UK and licencing IP overseas (as Ocado has done with online groceries).
-Innovating how clothes are dried, from heat to sound.
-How companies can be satisfied with ‘local maxima’, and so  stay with technology and techniques which are not the best they could be. (Think of that as accepting the view from the top of a hill when there is a mountain a bit further along the path.)
-The value of going through process of doing the B-Corp accreditation, as a way to learn good practices which have been codified into a standard.
-How a carbon price would provide a level playing field.
-The different innovation approaches they have adopted: from Agile to NASA’s Technology Readiness Levels and Toyota’s Lean Management.

This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters.  You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.

Listen to the episode:

Innovation for sustainability 10. Jolyon Swinburn

Jolyon Swinburn is a Senior Policy Analyst at The Treasury / Te Tai Ohanga in Aotearoa New Zealand (LinkedIn). The specific innovation which prompted the conversation was Jolyon working on Aotearoa New Zealand’s first green bond.

Our conversation covers:
-Aotearoa New Zealand’s approach to prosperity which cannot be captured by GDP through the Living Standards Framework and the Wellbeing Report.
-The fundamentals of what are a bond and a green bond.
-The steps they went through to investigate and then create the green bond.
-Using a third party sustainability ratings agency for credibility.
-Making sure that the green bond was funding transitional projects that would not happen otherwise (‘additionality’).
-The way in which raising a green bond is a signal from the government to international investors and national businesses on the desired direction of the economy.
-How governments pushing green bonds is forcing investment analysts to upskill on green issues.

This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters.  You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.

Listen to the episode:

Innovation for sustainability 9. Shama Skinner

Shama Skinner is an executive, entrepreneur, advisory Board Member and Edmund Hillary Fellow (LinkedIn). She was an early team member of Thinx Inc, the company with sustainable solutions to menstruation and incontinence. Shama had spells as Chief Product Officer, Chief Operating Officer and interim CEO.

Our conversation covers:
-Being a start-up with new innovations in a category (menstruation and incontinence) that had seen no new products for decades.
-Growing a new product which was part of the circular economy.
-Shifting who was involved in the innovation process, especially female engineers and faster connection with customers.
-Innovating how a category was marketed.
-Shifting a market, from stuck with predominantly single-use products to one where reusable products are so fast-growing that competitors have to respond.
-The tension between ‘Improve the current’ vs ‘Explore the next’ (that framing taken from a book I mention called The Modern Firm by John Roberts).
-For a start-up, competitive advantage comes from innovating faster than incumbents.
-Addressing ‘Period Poverty’ and the need for Universal Basic Services.

This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters.  You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.

Listen to the episode:

Innovation for sustainability 8. Chris Bean

Chris Bean is Serial Entrepreneur, Technology Developer, and Edmund Hillary Fellow (LinkedIn). He is the CEO and co-founder of REVOLUTION Turbine Technologies (RTT).

RTT is “developing reliable, scalable, and green energy solutions for powering mission-critical equipment in remote locations” as part of “the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future”.

Our conversation covers:
-How a niche new technology can be used to decarbonise energy use in gas networks.
-What it is like to be the CEO of a ‘ hardtech’ start-up, including the funding rounds.
-How to protect IP to ensure you capture value.
-How the innovation ecosystem is shifting to prioritise sustainability.

This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters.  You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.

Listen to the episode:

Innovation for sustainability 7. Chris Gagne

Chris Gagné is an Enterprise Agile Coach, Meditation Teacher, and Edmund Hillary Fellowship Fellow (LinkedIn). Chris operates through Approach Perfect, as the vehicle for coaching using the agile methods. Previously he has worked for or coached with many Silicon Valley start ups and Fortune 500 companies.

Our conversation covers:
-The similarities and differences of innovation in start ups and large corporates.
-The use of Agile and Scrum techniques to deliver innovation.
-The importance of learning quickly, iteratively and across functional expertise. In innovation the fastest learner is more likely to succeed.
-Not only do you need the ability to come up with the initial idea novel idea but you also need to have the infrastructure to commercialise it and to continue to develop it once launched.

You can get a deeper view on Chris’ thinking here.

Chris provides introductory videos to both Agile and Scrum on his website here.

(Apologies for the clunky start and end — amongst my first recordings!)

This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters.  You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.

Listen to the episode:

Innovation for sustainability 6. Leigh Hudson

Leigh Hudson (LinkedIn) is Sustainable Fuels & Carbon at International Airlines Group (IAG, which owns British Airways amongst others) and Board Member at Ikigai Capital, which aims to become a leading international, technology-neutral ‘energy transition platform’.

She role is developing new technologies for sustainable aviation fuel, by supporting innovators and influencing policy. A themes I took to her answers:

• Innovation for sustainability is part of the corporate strategy function, which would have been unthinkable a decade or more ago.
• There is an accelerating pressure for, and pace of, innovation for sustainable aviation fuels.
• Progress takes time, and therefore resilience, patience and a strong sense of direction. Leigh talks about working with a company for 10 years before getting to demonstrator stage. Some of that time was about getting the technology ready, some was about the demand for sustainable aviation fuels rising.

Some people find aviation controversial, and see it as a symbol of our unsustainable situation, seeing it as an addiction to a destructive form of consumption which is highly unequally distributed. For them, there can be no sustainable form of aviation, and effort put into it is a waste of precious resources at this crucial time.

But if technological innovation can deliver, then could there be sustainable aviation, which is not highly damaging in each flight? It is a big ‘if’, with many things needing to go right for there to be truly sustainable aviation. But that was why we were comfortable having this interview. Such innovation efforts are a legitimate part of creating a sustainable world for all.

This is part of a series of interviews about innovation for sustainability conducted for the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, as a contribution to a module in this Masters.  You can find out more about these interviews, and the module, here.

Listen to the episode: