She has held numerous prestigious positions, including Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Nottingham, Executive Dean at the University of Southampton, and Director at the National Institute for Health Research Wessex CLARHC. 

Keynote: 17th October, 2024 9:15 – 10:30

 UK Competitiveness Director, CBI

He heads up the CBI’s first UK Competitiveness department, helping political and industry leaders tackle some of the UK’s biggest economic challenges. 

Keynote: 17th October, 2024 9:15- 10:30

Chief Customer Officer, British Business Bank

She is responsible for creating and delivering the Bank’s market engagement strategy and is responsible for Brand Marketing, Communications, Digital & Direct Marketing, Sustainability, Partnership Marketing, Public Affairs, and the UK Network team.

Keynote: 17th October, 2024 9:15 – 10:30

Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

He delivers independent and impartial scientific advice to Ministers and policy makers across the DESNZ portfolio. Paul also works closely with the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, other Departmental CSAs, and the department’s Chief Economist, to strengthen the links within and across departments, encouraging effective engagement and knowledge sharing, and to support delivery of a robust evidence base to underpin DESNZ policy decisions. 

Closing Keynote: 18th October, 2024 12:00 – 13:00

UKSPA Companion Member

Catherine is Executive Director of Dance City, the dance development agency for the North East. She was CEO of Kielder Observatory for 4 years, successfully guiding the organisation through the pandemic and through a business planning process, creating a happy, vibrant, high-profile, and high-performing organisation for sustainable growth. Prior to that, Catherine was Director of the North East Centre of Excellence for Satellite Applications, building the fastest-growing space cluster in the UK. Catherine was instrumental in turning the North East Technology Park from “two buildings in a field” to a £100M pioneering science park, was Vice-Chair of the United Kingdom Science Park Association, a Board Director of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP), founded the global network, Women in IASP, and sat on the Women’s Advisory Board for the North East Chamber of Commerce. 

Chair, Science Parks Celebrating the Past and Looking Ahead to the Future: 17th October, 2024 11:00 – 12:20

Consultant and UKSPA Honorary Member

Jonathan has been a science park development and investment specialist since the 1980s.  He was one of the first professional advisors to help science park owners build generic, flexible laboratory buildings during the 1990s, and in the early 2000s worked to help found consultancy business Creative Places – evolving knowledge and skills around place making and knowledge transfer so that science parks and urban districts focussing on science and technology could be helped to perform to their full potential.  Jonathan retired at the end of 2023.

Speaker, Science Parks Celebrating the Past and Looking Ahead to the Future: 17th October, 2024 11:00 – 12:20

Nigel took on the role of Science Park Manager at the new Malvern Hills Science Park in 2000 and attended his first UKSPA meeting soon after. He joined the board a couple of years later and has held the role of Treasurer, Secretary and Chair. He presented a paper on green design at the IASP meeting in Bejing in 2005.  He spent 8 years in local politics, including as as Deputy Leader of Herefordshire Council, Cabinet Member for Finance and Chair of Audit and Governance, from which he recently retired

Speaker, Science Parks Celebrating the Past and Looking Ahead to the Future: 17th October, 2024 11:00 – 12:20

Chair, UKSPA

John is Business Growth Director for Sci-Tech Daresbury, one of the national science and innovation campuses in the UK.  He worked for Unilever, ICI and Ineos over a period of 15 years in a variety of roles in engineering, sales, marketing & global business management both in the UK & USA.

Chair, Science Parks Celebrating the Past and Looking Ahead to the Future: 17th October, 2024 11:00 – 12:20

CEO, IASP

International networker and CEO of IASP, a worldwide membership-based association linking science & technology parks, innovation districts, areas of innovation, knowledge cities, tech zones and other innovation spaces since 1984.

Speaker, Science Parks Celebrating the Past and Looking Ahead to the Future: 17th October, 2024 11:00 – 12:20

Director, Place and Levelling Up, Innovate UK

Dean Cook is Executive Director for Place at Innovate UK. As part of the Senior Leadership Team, Dean has responsibility for working across the Innovate UK system to embed ‘Place’ more widely across Innovate UK’s Programmes and activities. 

Speaker, Science Parks Celebrating the Past and Looking Ahead to the Future: 17th October, 2024 11:00 – 12:20

Principal & Global Director, ESG, Avison Young

Jon Gibson is a global director of sustainability at professional real estate services company Avison Young, based in the UK. Jon oversees the sustainability strategy for the company, working with global leadership to embed transformational change to deliver better financial, environmental and societal impact. Jon works closely with Avison Young’s leadership to help grow sustainability capability and track record in delivering integrated advice and services to clients. Avison Young’s advice enables our clients to address sustainability challenges and opportunities whilst generating long term value for their assets and organisations. Jon has an exemplary track record working with clients in the both the public and private sector; including landlords, developers, investors, occupiers and lending banks. Jon is a regular industry speaker and holds memberships of several committees in industry bodies who engage with policy, best practice and advocacy, including membership of the sustainability committee of the British Property Federation (BPF).

Chair Sustainability – ‘The Issues’ 17th October, 2024 13:15-14:15

ESG Director, Bruntwood Sci-Tech

 Alex leads Bruntwood’s response in driving performance of the business’s existing portfolio while implementing and overseeing decarbonisation and energy reduction strategies as part of the firm’s broader goal to reach net zero by 2050. He recognises the importance of broader environmental and social sustainability, supporting Bruntwood SciTech’s purpose of ‘Powering Economies through Innovation in our Cities’. He focuses on creating ultra-efficient, low carbon buildings while also providing end-to-end solutions for customers, such as water and waste management, biodiversity and sustainable transport.  Alongside chairing Manchester’s Climate Change Partnership Commercial Retrofit Task Group, Alex is also a member of the UK Green Building Council’s Commercial Retrofit Task Group. 

Speaker Sustainability – ‘The Issues’ 17th October, 2024 13:15-14:15

Director, Surrey Innovation District/Surrey RP

Caroline is a mechanical engineer by background and brings a wealth of over 20 years of experience of working with early-stage technology companies to accelerate their innovations into the marketplace and a strong track record in developing enterprise support programmes and incubators, creating innovation ecosystems. At the University of Surrey, she is the Surrey Innovation District Director, focusing on supporting the business community to innovate and grow by connecting the student and research knowledge and facilities of the university and enabling an innovation ecosystem that solves global challenges for a better future. Her portfolio includes the Surrey Research Park, Sector Programmes, SETsquared Surrey incubator and S100 investment club.

Speaker Sustainability – ‘The Issues’ 17th October, 2024 13:15-14:15

Group Managing Director & Principal -Silcock Leedham and ZED

Jason has over 3 decades of experience as a Building Services Engineer and Sustainability Consultant with considerable experience in both the Private and Public sectors. He has a proven track record of working on new build projects and the refurbishment of existing and listed heritage buildings. His experience covers a wide range of sectors. Jason has successfully delivered projects from £10k to £150M in value and has been the framework lead for several Clients. His technical skills are complemented by his experience of sustainability and energy, in particular on Net Zero Carbon developments and refurbishments. He sits on the Leeds Beckett University Think BIM steering committee and is a fellow of the Leeds Sustainability Institute.

Speaker Sustainability – ‘The Issues’ 17th October, 2024 13:15-14:15

Director, Business Leader | Science UKIMEA, ARUP

Tim leads the science business area, across the UKIMEA region for ARUP. He leads on strategy and business development, maintains relationships with clients and manages a portfolio of projects.

Tim is a chartered engineer and experienced team leader, having led multi-discipline teams in delivering engineering solutions on complex highly serviced buildings from concept design phases through to fully coordinated detail design and construction.

Speaker, Sustainability Parallel – Energy Performance / Benchmarking / Tools 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Associate Director, Building Performance at Arup

Tom Randall is a Chartered Building Services engineer at Arup specialising in investigating and advising on improving the operational performance of buildings. 

Tom leads work, across all major sectors including laboratories and higher education, working alongside client teams to identify how buildings are performing, both in terms of energy efficiency and meeting functional requirements. Then providing advice on how to improve operational performance both through technical interventions and systemic changes so improved performance is embedded and sustained.

Speaker, Sustainability Parallel – Energy Performance / Benchmarking / Tools 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Sr. Principal, CPP Wind Engineering, Inc.

Brad Cochran has over 30 years of experience conducting dispersion modeling studies for laboratory, hospital, and data center ventilation design. He holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado.

In recent years, Brad has led the development of new design and control techniques to minimize the energy consumption for laboratory exhaust stacks through the implementation of VAV technologies. He has successfully designed and employed VAV exhaust systems for more than 300 laboratories throughout the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Brad is a current member of the I2SL international board of directors and a Distinguished Speaker for I²SL. Recently he has been an active participant in the development of the Labs2Zero program.

Speaker, Sustainability Parallel – Energy Performance / Benchmarking / Tools 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Design Director, Mace.

Martin creates a collaborative environment that allows teams to explore design solutions that mitigate and eliminate design risks, whilst maintaining programme and costs. He is a firm believer in innovation with the use of MMC and digital solutions to deliver design quality and excellence. Martin has led the design for schools & academies, healthcare facilities, Life Science & Pharmaceutical projects, and sport/leisure.

Martin is currently responsible for the day to day running of the design function for the Life Science sector project at Plots 23 – 26 Oxford Science Park.

Speaker, Sustainability Parallel – Facilities and Infrastructure, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Chair, LDA Design

Frazer Osment is the Chair of LDA Design and leads the Board. He has a broad understanding of the forces driving change in urban and rural environments and specialises in helping places and organisations adapt to these. He believes that a successful strategy is based on listening and engaging with people. As an experienced masterplanner and urban designer he is capable of translating strategy into clear and implementable proposals that successfully address the challenges of climate change and nature recovery. Frazer was the masterplanner for the Exeter Science Park and has advised extensively on the design of commercial developments. His work on the Exeter Science Park challenged the traditional model for such development, emphasising a place-led approach which drew strongly on the character of the landscape in which it was set. Frazer has advised on major new settlements and town and city centres all over the UK and is a leading advisor to Homes England. He initiated the Liveable Exeter programme for Exeter City Council which aims to direct a transformational housing delivery programme to lever investment into the streets, spaces and infrastructure of the city. In 2021 Frazer led research for the RTPI on spatial solutions to decarbonise transport. In 2021-22 he played a key role in the preparation of model design codes for net zero and nature recovery working with the RTPI and RSPB.

Speaker, Sustainability Parallel – Facilities and Infrastructure, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Head of Future Energy Systems Research & Development, EDF Energy

Rebecca is the Head of Future Energy Systems R&D at EDF Energy. She leads a team of research engineers innovating to deliver EDF’s purpose of helping Britain achieve Net Zero, with focus areas including Flexibility & Storage,  Decarbonisation of heat & mobility, and Hydrogen & e-fuels.

Speaker, Sustainability Parallel – Facilities and Infrastructure, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at Queen Mary University of London and the Vice Principal for Health for Queen Mary’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.

Professor Caulfield graduated in Medicine in 1984 from the London Hospital Medical College and trained in Clinical Pharmacology at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, he developed a research programme in molecular genetics of hypertension and translational clinical research. Professor Caulfield was appointed Chief Scientist for Genomics England in 2013, charged with delivery of the 100,000 Genomes Project on whole genome sequencing in rare disease, cancer and infection. He worked with NHS England to co-create the National Genomic Test Directory, which offers equitable access for 56 million people to appropriate genomic tests. Professor Caulfield was awarded a knighthood in 2019 for his leadership of the 100,000 Genomes Project. He is a member of the Barts Health NHS Trust Board, the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, the MedCity Board and is President of the British Pharmacological Society.

Chair, Life Sciences Plenery, 17th October, 2024 14.15-15.15

Executive Director, Cambridge Health Partners

Kristin-Anne Rutter is a trained medical doctor and former McKinsey partner who devised and is now leading the implementation of the life science strategy for Cambridge.

Speaker, Life Sciences, 17th October, 2024 14.15-15.15

CEO of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency

She trained in medicine in Oxford after completing a master’s degree by research in Pharmacology. Her interest in drug safety led to a career in medicines regulation which has spanned a number of roles in assessment, management and strategic development within the UK national authority. She was elected in 2012 as the first chair of the European Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee and until 2023 was co-Chair of the WHO Advisory Committee on Safety of Medicinal Products. Her special interests are in monitoring the outcomes of regulatory action, risk communication and patient involvement in the regulatory process.

Speaker, Life Sciences, 17th October, 2024 14.15-15.15

Geonomics England

Alice has worked in complex research and healthcare programe in genomics for the last 12 years. She has worked in Genomics England for since 2015 across it’s programmes in rare disease and cancer with a particular focus on helping define programmes of work and working closely with NHSE/I and other groups to help deliver them. Prior to that she worked at Cancer Research UK on the set up and delivery of their Stratified Medicine Programme. Her current role in Genomics England is leading the Generation Study.

Speaker, Life Sciences Parallel, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

CEO and co-founder of NanoSyrinx Ltd

Joe completed his PhD in Mathematical Biology & Biophysical Chemistry, at the University of Warwick and founded the company NanoSyrinx during his studies, submitting a thesis on the nanosyringe technology and its fundamental biology.

Speaker, Life Sciences Parallel, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Consultant

After 30 years within the biopharmaceutical industry, Andy recently established his own
consultancy business advising clients in the areas of strategy, policy development and
engagement.
Andy is Chair of the OxCam Supercluster Board (SCB).

Chair, Life Sciences Parallel Part 2 – Translating, Scaling and Manufacturing, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Executive Director and Head of Emerging Innovations at AstraZeneca

Hitesh leads a team of accomplished clinicians, biologists, translational scientists, and strategists. Together, they work towards discovering and developing new medicines and fostering fresh ideas. Utilizing AI and exploring indication expansion for existing drugs.

Speaker, Life Sciences Parallel, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Director of Real Estate Development, King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

He is leading a programme for the redevelopment of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ campuses, working with commercial developers and investors.  He is also responsible for new capital projects for King’s College London, with an annual recurrent investment of more than £50m.

Speaker, Life Sciences Parallel, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Senior Director of Computational Biology, Recursion Pharmaceuticals

Kelly Zalocusky, PhD is representing Recursion as Senior Director of Computational Biology, Joint Technical Team Lead of Recurison’s 10-year neuroscience collaboration with Roche/Genentech, and Site Lead for Recursion’s newly-opened London Office. Scientifically, her focus is on deploying high-throughput imaging and AI models for novel drug development in neuroscience. 

Speaker, Life Sciences Parallel, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Honorary UKSPA Member

Nick has achieved Chartered Director accreditation, is now a portfolio NED and strategic adviser and was awarded an MBE for services to the digital economy in 2019.

Chair, Digital Innovation Parallel, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Chief Futurist at Deloitte Ventures 

Varvn guides clients on making strategic choices, navigating technological disruption, reimagining their business, and launching bold ventures. He also leads the UK Deloitte AI Strategy & Innovation practice focused on advising c-suite and board-level leaders to unlock value from AI at pace. He spent time as an innovation fellow at the XPRIZE foundation, and the MIT Media Lab.

Speaker, Digital Innovation Parallel, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

Founder and CEO of Anekanta®AI and Anekanta®Consulting

Globally recognised Responsible AI and research brands committed to the effective, ethical and legal use of AI from Gen AI to high-risk biometrics technologies. Anekanta® has a strong focus on advising and mitigating risk with regard to the mandatory requirements set out in the EU AI Act, GDPR also emerging global standards.

In addition to her role in Anekanta®, she is an advisor on Responsible AI to a number of organizations around the world on a voluntary basis.

Speaker, Digital Innovation Parallel, 17th October, 2024 15:45-17:15

CEO, UNIP

Alice has been in the innovation sector since 2016, becoming CEO of the University of Nottingham Innovation Park in 2024. Alice is enhancing knowledge transfer opportunities and expanding the range of services offered to businesses within UNIP’s community as well as setting a bold vision for growth for the Innovation Park.

Chair, Making Science Parks Inclusive, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Programme Director – Research & Innovation, University of Nottingham

Susannah is working on the evolution of the university’s newest campus- in the heart of city- and its transformation into a gateway for socio-economic and technological knowledge exchange and impact.

Speaker, Making Science Parks Inclusive, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Anglia Innovation Partnerships

Chief Executive Officer of AIP LLP – the team behind the success of Norwich Research Park working in partnership with UEA, NNUH, TSL, EI, QI, JIC, JIF, UKRI, BBSRC and Innovate UK.

Founder and Ambassador of Silverstone Technology Cluster

Speaker, Making Science Parks Inclusive, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Managing Director, Barts Life Science, UKSPA Director

Grant has a wealth of experience in the innovation, real estate and research sectors. He is currently MD at Barts Life Sciences, focussed on driving innovation into healthcare supported by substantial new real estate in East London dedicated for Life Sciences. He was previously CEO at Surrey Research Park and, prior to this, at Leicester Space Park, where he was responsible for the development of the new Innovation Park from concept to launch.

He has worked in both private and public sectors and has been involved in innovation across multiple sectors including clean energy, consumer electronics, space and healthcare. Grant holds an MBA from Oxford University.

Chair, Making Science Parks Inclusive, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Director, Digital Innovators West Midlands CIC

David spent 25 years promoting knowledge transfer through creating infrastructures to promote translation of new ideas and concepts into commercial reality, including 10 years the Babraham Institute and 15 years at Aston Science Park.

Founder and Ambassador of Silverstone Technology Cluster

Speaker, Making Science Parks Inclusive, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

International Head of Asset Management at Kadans Science Partner

He is responsible for asset management, property management and ecosystem management across Kadans’ pan-European portfolio. James brings significant life science experience to Kadans, having been previously Head of Life Science at C&W and having worked on some of Europe’s largest and most advanced centres for scientific innovation such as The Francis Crick Institute and Imperial College’s White City Campus. James has supported many organisations, both public and private in the development of their science & innovation strategy and will bring this extensive knowledge to Kadans to deliver new projects and support Kadans growing tenant base. 

Speaker, Making Science Parks Inclusive, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Director, Cambridge Science Park

Appointed as Director of Cambridge Science Park in August 2022, Jane Hutchins brings a wealth of experience of the science park sector and the innovative companies and people it serves.

Jane is also chair of the Cambridge Forum for Place, established by Cambridge University Health Partners and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority; a member of Anglia Ruskin University’s business advisory board; and of the Cambridge University Library.

Working in partnership with Trinity College Cambridge and managing agents Bidwells, Jane is responsible for delivering the College’s future vision for the Park

Speaker, Making Science Parks Inclusive, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Head of Engagement,  Surrey Research Park

With broad business experience acquired through diverse roles across the education, corporate, and charitable sectors, Kat Mack transitioned into a business support role for startups at the University in 2019, subsequently advancing to the Surrey Research Park, where she contributes to the excellence of the Innovation District.

As Head of Engagement at the Surrey Research Park, Kat’s focus is supporting business growth and community-building on the Park along with fostering collaborations between Park companies and both the University’s talent pipeline and its academia. She is leading on the establishment of a new cancer cluster within the Surrey Innovation District, fostering research collaborations between companies on the Park and the University, showcasing the region’s cutting-edge expertise to a global audience. Kat is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion and founded the Surrey Women’s Entrepreneurship Network, a sector agnostic, vibrant community which spans the wider innovation district.

Speaker, Making Science Parks Inclusive, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Venture Partner, Longwall Ventures

Rebecca manages early-stage life science and medical technology investments for Longwall Ventures. She for began venture investing in 2006 while at Oxford Capital, where she took responsibility for the Oxford Gateway Funds’ investments into healthcare and life science companies. She went on to become Director, Healthcare Ventures at Imperial Innovations (now part of IP Group). After a sabbatical break she joined Longwall Ventures in 2017 to make and manage investments from Longwall’s third fund, a £75m Enterprise Capital Fund.

Chair, Venture Capital, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

CEO – o2h

Prashant is the co-CEO and co-founder of the o2h group. He has led the design and execution of the Mill SciTech Park, an award-winning boutique renovation of a disused heritage site in Hauxton, Cambridge. The o2h group is headquartered in Cambridge, UK and has nurtured a footprint encompassing UK/USA and India. He is also a member of the UKSPA Board.

Chair, Venture Capital, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Head of UK Primary Markets, Head of AIM
London Stock Exchange

Marcus Stuttard is Head of AIM and has responsibility for Primary Markets in the UK across both AIM and the Main Market. He is responsible for the management and development of AIM, London Stock Exchange’s international growth market for small and medium sized enterprises.
Marcus has a particular focus on boosting access to finance for ambitious growth
companies. 

Speaker, Venture Capital, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Chief Operating Officer, FLOWW

Umerah Akram is COO of fintech Floww, the infrastructure for private markets. Prior to joining Floww, Umerah was at LSEG for nearly 20 years where she held various roles in regulation, policy, product and business development, focusing on how the market framework remains attractive for existing and potential companies and investors in LSEG’s markets and products. Her most recent role was Head of Private Markets. Passionate about how the capital markets can make an impact on innovation and the economy, Umerah is involved in a number of scaleup initiatives including the Scaleup Institute and the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Accelerator. 

Speaker, Venture Capital, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Lead Investment Director at Pioneer Group

Imelda manages a diverse portfolio of over 40 companies. Currently serving as a Board Director for several life sciences and med tech companies. Imelda brings a wealth of strategic insights with her background in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, biotech, and medical devices. PhD in Biotechnology; MSc in Intellectual Property and Business Licensing.

Speaker, Venture Capital, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Partner, Prism Ventures

Tej is an investment leader with more than twenty years’ experience across private markets including venture capital (life sciences and technology), private equity and real estate. He has been a Partner at Prism Ventures, a London-based life sciences focused fund of funds, Investment Director (Life Sciences) at the UK government investor, British Patient Capital and previously held roles as Head of Credit and Equity Risk at UK fintech Crowdcube and was CEO of a real estate fund focused on Eastern Europe. Tej began his career at Citigroup and was educated at the London School of Economics (Economics), UCL (Genetics) and Birkbeck (Biomedicine).

Speaker, Venture Capital, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

CEO, Exeter Science Park, UKSPA Vice Chair

Dr Sally Basker has been Chief Executive Office of Exeter Science Park Ltd (ESPL) – since March 2017, in which time she has created and implemented a scale-up business plan and strategy that has generated significant momentum and is on-track to grow ESPL threefold (200 – 700 client staff) by the end of FY2021.

Prior to being appointed CEO at ESPL, Sally had 15 years’ board/senior-level experience in the highly regulated aerospace, defence, navigation and nuclear sectors.

Chair, Future of Work, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Marketing and Business Development Manager, Babraham Research Campus

Samantha is Marketing Manager at Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, where she is responsible for developing and delivering the marketing strategy for the Campus. Previously, Sam was in Real Estate for a regional consultancy firm where she advised on the Life Science strategy amongst many other initiatives and prior to this, a global Real Estate firm working in marketing for residential and rural sales.

Sam has a degree in Marketing and Business Management, a mini MBA in Brand Management and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Chair, Future of Work, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Strategic Account Manager, Equiem

With over 6 years of experience in PropTech, Bastiaan specializes in implementing innovative technologies that drive business transformation and improve client operations. I have a proven track record of scaling business solutions and delivering impactful results for high-profile clients. Currently managing strategic accounts, leading the implementation of new processes, strategies, and product features across a portfolio of 50+ buildings.

Key successes include transforming a research campus into a thriving digital community. By introducing a new visitor management process and streamlining resource bookings, he helped the campus achieve an 80% active user rate and substantial engagement metrics. His ability to capture valuable insights on user behavior has enabled continuous improvements in the platform and significantly enhanced the user experience.

He is passionate about leveraging technology to create long-term, meaningful client success and seamless digital experiences.

Speaker, Future of Work, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Chief Executive, Centre for Cities

Andrew is the Chief Executive of the Centre and before that he was the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Policy and Research.

Andrew has nearly 25 years of experience working on urban economic policy working for public and private development agencies, consultants and research institutes.  He has also spent time in the US as part of the Churchill Foundation’s Fellowship Programme reviewing urban economic development policy and practice in American cities including New York, Washington DC, Boston and Chicago.

He is a regular media contributor and chairs and speaks at conferences across the UK and Europe on a wide range of urban and economic issues.

Speaker, Innovation Clusters & Hotspots, Plenary – 18th October, 2024 9:00-10:00

Pro Vice-Chancellor at Oxford Brookes University

Professor Tim Vorley is Pro Vice-Chancellor at Oxford Brookes University, and leads on Entrepreneurship and Enterprise. Tim has led a wide range of projects in the UK and internationally focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation, and is currently working closely with Innovate UK and UKRI on several projects. He has worked with a wide range of government organisations as well as serving as an subject expert with the OECD. Tim is a Board Member of the Scale Up Institute, and was recognised in the 2023 New Years Honours list and awarded an OBE for services to Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Speaker, Innovation Clusters & Hotspots, Plenary – 18th October, 2024 9:00-10:00

Managing Director of Oxford Innovation

Jo Stevens is Managing Director of Oxford Innovation with over 20 years’ experience of providing business development and incubation support to innovative, high growth companies. Prior to joining Oxford Innovation, Jo worked on several regeneration projects in the Thames Valley, developing opportunities for a range of social and community enterprises.

Appointed as Oxford Innovation’s Managing Director in 2017, Jo has previously had responsibility for the overall development of OI’s network of innovation centres. Jo led the research project looking at business survival and growth across 15 centres over a 10 year period, which was published in July 2014 and has also undertaken numerous feasibility studies for new innovation centres, undertaking site assessments, brand development, operating models and business plans for funding.

Chair, Innovation Clusters & Hotspots, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Director of Investment and Innovation, Oxford to Cambridge Partnership

Placi is an Innovation Ecosystems Specialist with over 25 years of experience in consulting. She possesses strong commercial acumen, expertise in funding strategies, and a passion for creating innovative and dynamic ecosystems. A TEDx speaker, she is a natural connector and advocate for collaboration, driven by the goal of fostering sustainable economic growth while enhancing the environment in her role at the Oxford to Cambridge Partnership.

Currently, Placi is the Director of Investment and Innovation for the Oxford to Cambridge Partnership, focusing on internationalization, sustainable economic development, and collaborative partnerships.

Speaker, Innovation Clusters & Hotspots, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Chair of UK Innovation Districts Group

Emma works globally on economic development, specialising in innovation ecosystems. She is highly experienced in delivering strategic integrated urban regeneration programmes. She worked on the London Olympic and Paralympic Legacy from bid stage to 10 years after the Games, overseeing all aspects of Innovation, sustainability, community and business development across Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. She led the formation of  SHIFT – the inclusive innovation district at the Olympic Park before moving to work as consultant supporting place-based innovation systems elsewhere.

Emma still works as a strategic advisor for SHIFT and a range of other innovation districts nationally and internationally.  She is also an Honorary Professor of Practice at UCL, and an associate for both The Business of Cities and Connected Places Catapult.

Speaker, Innovation Clusters & Hotspots, Parallel – 18th October, 2024 10:00-11:30

Director, SQW

Christine Doel is a director of SQW, a leading economic and social consultancy.  She has over 20 years’ experience of local and sub-national economic development, and much of this work has been concerned with policy-related research into the links between clusters, innovation and place.  At different times, she has worked on knowledge-intensive clusters in and around Cambridge, Bristol, Stevenage/Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire; and she led a study of the high performance technology and motorsport cluster associated with Silverstone.  She has also worked on emerging clusters linked to new technologies (e.g. associated with the transition to net zero aviation).   More broadly, she led a major study for UKRI which examined evidence on the relationships between investment in research and innovation, and place – and the range of associated potential outcomes.  Before joining SQW, Christine completed a PhD in economic geography at the University of Cambridge. 

Speaker, Innovation Clusters & Hotspots, Plenary – 18th October, 2024 9:00-10:00