While Paula takes a well-earned break, I have the honour of keeping the seat at the top warm this week!
It’s been an extremely busy and exciting week for the LCRIG team. As you will no doubt already be aware (although it would be remiss of me not to mention it again here), this week has seen the launch of not one, but TWO of our major flagship events for next year – the LCRIG Innovation and Learning Festival and Strictly Highways! The LCRIG team has been working tirelessly and meticulously to plan these events, while also listening carefully to your feedback. As a result, we’re excited to offer an abundance of enhanced features and added benefits in next year’s programmes. These events are always extremely popular, so please do register now to avoid missing out!
Meanwhile, the Sector Insights team has been hard at work analysing the results from our Innovation Survey, which will help shape the upcoming LCRIG Innovation Report, due for release early in the new year. A huge thank you once again to everyone who took part in the survey, We were delighted to receive such a large volume of high-quality, insightful feedback, and we look forward to sharing more findings with you from the survey in the very near future.
We have also been refining our Sector Insights plan for 2025. Based primarily on the feedback from our members, this plan is designed to ensure we can continue to respond effectively to sector needs and maximise member benefits. This year ahead is certainly shaping up to be a very busy and exciting one!
As part of our ongoing efforts, we will soon be launching the first of our themed sector working groups – a Specific Action Group focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI). A massive thank you to everyone who responded to the survey in our most recent Member’s Update. The response was phenomenal and has really helped us identify the most pressing areas where we can make a difference moving forward. In addition to the AI group, we will also be setting up a separate working group on Skills, as well as other initiatives based on the feedback from the survey. We will be asking for your expressions of interest in joining these groups in due course, so watch this space!
In parallel with the AI Specific Action Group, we will soon be issuing the first instalment of a new series of research-based factsheets on Artificial Intelligence and its applications across the sector. This will be a regular series running throughout the year.
Looking ahead to next week, I’m very much looking forward to joining the South East Regional Group meeting, where I’ll present and discuss some of the key findings from the Innovation Survey. I’ll also be attending the LCRIG Innovation Board meeting to discuss those findings as well as the Sector Insights plan for 2025.
And finally, with the festive season just around the corner (oh yes it is!), next week we will be launching our very first seasonally themed quiz, where you can discover which polar animal you most resemble based on your attitudes towards innovation… You heard it here first!
Dan Cullern, Head of Sector Insights