The EpiCentre in support of the West Suffolk Business Festival, is hosting a sustainability event, in partnership with the University of Suffolk and Innovate UK EDGE.
This expert-led event for SME’s interested in understanding how to future proof through sustainability.
Join like-minded thinkers looking at innovative ways to implement products and solutions to achieve a more sustainable business that benefits the bottom line.
Agenda
08:30 – Arrival refreshment and breakfast bites
09:00 – Welcome
09:05 – Introduction to Smart Homes, Dr Hannah Steventon – University of Suffolk
09:30 – The business case for Sustainability, Fenando Centeno – Innovate UK EDGE
10:00 – Questions, summary and close
Dr Hannah Steventon is a Research Fellow at University of Suffolk in the Suffolk Sustainability Institute, where she leads the green infrastructure theme, and work on green infrastructure, digital innovation in public sector infrastructure, natural systems including air quality, infrastructure for sustainability, smart house and future living, and rural economies. Hannah has a wide interest in environmental and geographical sensing and data analysis.
Hannah has worked at Univer sity of Suffolk since 2019 on the DfT-funded Smarter Suffolk project with Suffolk County Council, BT and other partners. Smarter Suffolk built a county-wide Live Lab of thousands of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, measuring environmental and traffic conditions across the county to showcase competing innovative technologies. Big Data sets are accumulated for analytics applied to a range of Local Authority services. Existing and new communications networks are enabling the IoT deployment, in part using the existing powered lighting column infrastructure.
The UK is the first major economy that has passed a Net Zero law. In addition, increasing customer demand for sustainable products and disruption in supply chains are becoming key drivers to accelerate the uptake of sustainability by SMEs.
Fernando Centeno, Senior Innovation & Growth Specialist – Sustainability, Innovate
UK EDGE – has extensive background in innovation and sustainability. Fernando is a highly experienced entrepreneur, consultant, coach and mentor with a track record of helping companies bring innovation to market in the cleantech and circular economy sectors. Fernando has advised a plethora of start-ups and SMEs on strategy, marketing, equity finance, grants, product development and sustainability, improving their innovation expertise.
Fenando will go through simple steps that go from the design of a Sustainable Business Model to the implementation of an Action Plan and impact assessment of sustainability performance on financial performance.
The West Suffolk Business Festival is delivered jointly by partners from a broad range of business support organisations and we are proud to put together a diverse schedule of events that looks to the future and towards business growth and opportunity.