Details of panellists who will participate in the Local Council Roads Innovation Group’s Innovation Festival have now been confirmed.
Delegates will hear from innovators and operatives who are driving forward new ideas to help deliver change in the sector.
The new event, which will take place from 6-7 July at Newark Showground, has been established to ‘make the case for innovation’ and will bring together local authorities, central government, the supply chain, associations and academia.
Day 1 of the event will include a session entitled ‘Meet the Innovators’ which will feature LCRIG’s Infrastructure Innovation Board and some of the LCRIG Steve Berry Think Exceptional Innovation Fund winners. The panel will discuss the challenges around innovation and how these barriers can be overcome. Participants from Innovate UK, Rees Jeffreys Road Fund and ADEPT will then take part in a discussion on innovation and the different funding mechanisms available to help both the public and private sector.
‘Meet the Innovators’ panellists include:
- Brian Fitzpatrick, Managing Director, Fitzpatrick Advisory
- Derek Stewart, Director, Community Models
- Sandra Smith, Operation and Procurement Manager, Connor Specialist Paving
- Richard Whitaker, NY Highways
Innovation discussion panellists:
- Carol Valentine, Highways Project Manager Live Labs, ADEPT
- Karla Jakeman, Connected Transport Innovation Lead, Innovate UK
- Andy Graham, Trustee, Rees Jeffreys Road Fund
On Day 2 an ‘Inspiring Innovation’ session will see the focus put on front line staff and heads of innovation, highlighting real life examples of how they are driving innovation through their organisations. It will highlight, through real examples, how operatives can be engaged at the design stages of innovative projects and the benefits of this. There will also be an update on LCRIG’s Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) which is being created to enable easier access to and procurement of innovative products, services and technology.
Inspiring Innovation panellists include:
- Darren Capes, Intelligent Transport Systems Policy Lead at the Department for Transport and Manager of Transport technology Forum (TTF)
- Tom Tideswell, Head of Innovation, Kier
- Will Young, Innovation & Efficiency Manager, Essex Highways
- Rowan Morrell, Area Agent, NY Highways
Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) session:
- Martin Duffy, CEO, Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG)
- Jason Sprague, Principal,
Exhibitors are able to request to be included as a qualifying innovator to be eligible for innovation funding and/or trials and the Infrastructure Innovation Board and delegates will judge the qualifying innovations.
Delegates will participate in innovation scoring across both days of the event where they will be invited to judge entries across various categories including: Water course management; Highway Defects; Green Estate; Winter Maintenance; Transport Technology Fleet & Equipment; Health & Safety; Retroreflectivity.
Find out more and register for the event here.
View the draft event programme here.