Who should attend Cambridge Graphene Days 2015? 5-6 November

Booking online | Info | Why attend? Please call Maya on +44 1223 303500 for help booking and service.

Top 12 Reasons

1 Anyone with an interest in traction of business involving Graphene and GRMs

2 Anyone wishing to understand barriers to adoption and use of Graphene & GRMs

3 Anyone on a science and technology watching brief for Graphene and GRMs

4 Anyone with a startup or entrepreneurial idea for Graphene or GRMs

5 Anyone with business problems to solve that might be influenced or helped by Graphene or GRMs

6 Those wishing to understand the full uptodate and prioritised range of applications and those nearer to and further from market

7 Anyone wanting to get an IPR landscape & investment level update for Graphene and GRMs

8 Anyone wanting to meet new industrial and business entrants into the Graphene and GRM areas

9 People wanting to build quality networks or ecosystems in this set of fields

10 Sector specific players seeking to access solution providers

11 Solutions providers seeking to understand customer pull in a range of sectors

12 Those in related areas of technology such as nanotech, IoT, cleantech who wish to see the potential and synergies with Graphene and GRMs

Booking online | Info | Why attend? Please call Maya on +44 1223 303500 for help booking and service.

The Value of Value Networks

Value Network Analysis resembles but is more valuable than balanced scorecard.

In Value Networks we begin by writing down the list of stakeholders: companies, customers, suppliers, influencers. This may be as many as 50 different players, actors. These are represented as nodes or elements in the system.

We then add connections or links between the stakeholders which have interactions or “flows”, which are directional, between the two nodes or elements. The flow can be money, goods, services, information, or some other intangible. There may be as many as 200 links, and if we focus only on tangibles, this may reduce to 100.

One can work out a current value network – that which is going on now. And one can then take a given change or disruption in the marketplace that is expected or beginning to happen, and consider what the value network might be expected to look like in the future.

How for example are the money flows changed? What new players are there?

Having analysed the value flows in the future in this way, we are now able to look into a suitable sub-network, centred around a key player such as a typical, key customer type, and the appropriate subset of the network related to this player.

Examples of insights from both money and money + intangible analyses are potential impact on cash flow at focus players.

Cambridge Investment Research team contains experts who can lead blue chip and innovator business teams in this method.

 

Top 12 Reasons to attend Smart Grids & Cleanpower 2014 Cambridge

Links:  Conference Home | Brochure | Book now | Info |Speakers & Synopses

Top 12 Reasons to Attend SGCP14

1. See and mingle with 40 top speakers
2. Influence the debate – audience reverses & open panels
3. Build your network – new and old partners & clients
4. Pleasant dinner roundtable in Cambridge with decision makers and influencers
5. Help innovators at smaller and large companies
6. Debate fracking rationally
7. Debate energy pricing & market structure
8. Debate the energy vs internet cultural challenges
9. Help increase grid resilience
10. Learn all about smart grids and energy
11. Get latest updates in markets
12. Challenge your assumptions
SGCP14 Logo
SGCP14 Logo

AGENDA – DAY 1 – EXECUTIVE BRIEFING MASTERCLASS DAY JUNE 3
10:15 – 11:00 Session 1: Introduction Smart Grids & Energy – led by Gavin Jones, Business Development Director, ElectraLink
10:15 Introduction to Day 1
10:20 Definitions
10:30 Basics
10:40 Trends and Drivers
10:50 Review & discussion

Coffee break

11:15 – 13:00 Session 2: Technology led by Dr Andy Stanford Clark, CTO Smart Energy, IBM
11:15 Demand Side Management (DSM) – the key to the smart grid
11:30 Case studies
11:40 Smart Meters & AMI | Interoperability
12:00 Distributed generation – Alan South, Commercial Director, Solar Century
12:30 Renewables and storage, markets and intermittency – Graham Ford, Mansion Partners
Review

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch networking & meetings

14:00 – 16:00 Session 3 Markets – led by Mike Wilks, Director Smart Energy, Poyry
14:00 Social & Innovation Cartography in grids and energy
Key players – visions, strategies and what they are doing
Porter’s Market Characteristics & Forecasts
14:45 Demand Response Economics – Anneesha Patten, Poyry
15:00 Big Data, Data sharing & privacy – Gavin Jones, Business Development Director ElectraLink
15:20 Monetisation of energy management systems – Pilgrim Beart, Founder AlertMe & 1248.io
15:40 The Industrial Internet – Dr Amyas Philips
Review

16:05 Tea break

16:30 – 17:30 Session 4 Innovation – led by Rob McNamara, Founder, Smart Grids GB
The status quo & change challenges
The value & funding of innovation – Steve Dawson, VP Consulting, Sentec
17:10 Discussion
Summary of Day

19:00 – 21:15 Roundtable dinner at King’s College, Cambridge

AGENDA – DAY 2 – SMART GRIDS 4 JUNE
Session 1 Smart Grids & Collected Intelligence
10:00 Dr Justin Hayward, Director, Cambridge Investment Research, Introduction
10:05 Gavin Jones, Business Development Director, ElectraLink, Chairman’s Opener
10:10 Rob McNamara, Founder, Smart Grids GB, The Value of a Smart Grid to Great Britain
10:20 Audience Collected intelligence, Comments & questions for day speakers and panellists from audience – one minute each
10:50 Stephen Cunningham, CEO, UK, Ireland & Nordic, Landis & Gyr, Keynote: Managing Energy Better – The landscape for smart grid
11:10 Panel with speakers and chair

Morning coffee & showcase of products and services

Session 2 Connected Intelligence: servers, networks, meters, fast data analytics & grids
Dr Sean Cochrane, Director Cyan Technology A connected energy network through metering and lighting
Dr Paul Wright, CCM National Physical Laboratory Smart grid measurement
John Di Stasio, CEO Sacramento Municipal Utility Department (SMUD) Jt Keynote: Smart grid intelligence and risk, Smart grid intelligence and risk
Martin Dunlea, Global Industries Lead, Utilities, Oracle, Jt Keynote: Fast Data, Actionable Data
Panel with Peter Drake, Managing Director, Intelligent Networks

Lunch networking & exhibition of products & services

Session 3 Smart Cities & Infrastructure: real systems solutions at scale | the industrial internet
Michael Clark, Programme Director – Low Carbon London UK Power Networks, A Smart Grid for London
Rich Hampshire, Principal Consultant CGI, End-to-end smart grid & consumer engagement
Philip Burr, Director of Product Marketing Arkessa, Case study: an M2M platforms for IoT Solutions
Chris Wright, CTO, Moixa Technology, Smart Direct Current
Dr Andy Stanford Clark, CTO Smart Energy, IBM, Keynote: Smarter planet works
Panel with Tony Rooke, Sustainable Strategy Director; Smart Cities & Innovation, Infosys

Coffee networking & expo of products & services

Session 4 Plenary Policy debate grids and energy: innovators | funding | regulation & reforms
Dora Guzeleva, Head of Network Policy Ofgem, How regulation can be a win-win for stakeholders
Ian Ellerington, Head of Innovation, DECC, The key role of innovators in changing the energy industry
Steve Dawson, VP / Dr Mark England, EVP Smart Grid, Sentec, Routes to market for energy innovators
Pilgrim Beart, Founder, AlertMe, Keynote: UK energy management innovation in global markets
Panel with Chairman – followed by Chairmen’s summaries

Drinks networking

AGENDA – DAY 2 – CLEANPOWER CONFERENCE 4 JUNESession 1 The Energy Trilemma: Resilience | Affordability | Targets & transition technologies
10:00 Mike McCreary, Director, Cambridge Investment Research, Introduction
10:05 Jeremy Nicholson, Senior Advisor, EEF, Energy Intensive Users Group, Chairman’s Opener
10:10 Peter Sharratt, Director – Sustainability Services, SBP (spin out Deloitte), Guiding future investments for property, infrastructure & sustainability needs
10:20 Audience Collected intelligence, Comments & questions for day speakers and panellists from audience – one minute each
10:50 Dr Bernard J Bulkin, NED, Ludgate Investments (former Chief Scientist BP) & Cambridge Univ., Keynote: The Energy Trilemma
11:10 Panel with speakers and chair

Morning coffee & showcase of products and services

Session 2 Fracking in Focus
Professor Andy Woods, Lead Scientist, CU BPI, Science & the Risks and rewards of fracturing for shale gas
Marieke Beckmann, Research Lead National Physical Laboratory, CCM, Emissions measurement in fracking
Dr Tony Smith, Technical Director SLR Consulting Separating Myth from reality – Fracking and the social licence
Joel Price, COO San Leon Energy, Experiences of shale development in the EU
Michael Bradshaw – Professor of Global Energy Warwick University Keynote: The impact of the US shale gas revolution on UK gas security
Panel with moderator Professor Woods CU BP Institute

Lunch networking & exhibition of products & services

Session 3 Energy markets: competition & pricing
Mike Wilks, Director Smart Energy Poyry, Energy market structure: could do better?
Hen Cooke & Emilia Melville Buro Happold, TSB-funded case study: domestic demand response & smart grids
Doug Stewart, CEO Green Energy UK, The role of alternative suppliers of energy
Ashleye Gunn, Programme Director Which? , Consumer policy and market solutions
Neil Pennington, Programme Director: Smart, rwe nPower, Keynote: Vertical integration, other structures and the real effects on energy supply prices
Panel with chairman

Coffee networking & expo of products & services

Session 4 Plenary Policy debate grids and energy: innovators | funding | regulation & reforms
Dora Guzeleva, Head of Network Policy Ofgem, How regulation can be a win-win for stakeholders
Ian Ellerington, Head of Innovation, DECC, The key role of innovators in changing the energy industry
Steve Dawson, VP / Dr Mark England, EVP Smart Grid, Sentec, Routes to market for energy innovators
Pilgrim Beart, Founder, AlertMe, Keynote: UK energy management innovation in global markets
Panel with Chairman – followed by Chairmen’s summaries

Drinks networking

VENUES
Murray Edwards College, Buckingham House Conference Centre, Cambridge, England, CB3 0DR – state-of-art tiered auditorium, excellent, light networking & exhibition spaces, meeting areas, great food, plentiful coffee. CIR invites you to become one of the best business delegates in the world, nurturing your business development and personal and corporate success by leaning into the value network & having fun at the same time. And the Roundtable Dinner is at King’s College, Cambridge. It doesn’t get better than that!

HVM Graphene+ 2014: from research events to a grounded applications business event

Quick Links: Conference Home | Brochure | Bookings | Detailed Info | Speaker Biographies and Synopses

The Oxford 15 May edition of HVM Graphene+ 2014 is looking a delicious lineup of highly interesting and grounded talks by a dozen entrepreneurial and large player speakers.

There will be less hype about graphene and less naiveté about its automatic dominance. It will be challenged by the full gamut of functional materials, their pricing strategies, manufacturing utilities and applications.

So join us on 15 May – we are already more than half full, bookings are flowing in from senior and eminent guests, and the event is set to bring together some really interesting people.

Book now – speaking roles are complete. But places & exhibition stand positions in great positions for this conference are now limited & continue at lower cost!

Best wishes

CIR Team 2014

01223 303500

Quick Links: Conference Home | Brochure | Bookings | Detailed Info | Speaker Biographies and Synopses

HVM Graphene Conference Cambridge 2013 Programme Lineup!

HVMG13 Information | Bookings

Programme for 5 November 2013 HVMG Conference

 

Opening Session – Introduction & Graphene Basics: Functional Materials
10:00 Mike McCreary, Director, CIR Strategy
- Conference introduction
10:05 Professor Peter Dobson, Oxford University Nanomaterials – Chairman’s Introduction
10:20 Prof Andrea Ferrari, Cambridge University 
& Head, Cambridge Graphene Centre
Overview of the Applications of Graphene
10:35 Dr Patrick Frantz, CEO, Cambridge Graphene Platform
Low Cost Graphene & 2D Layered Material Inks for Printed Electronics
10:50 Dr Steve Thomas, CIT Ltd
Conductive materials – market uses & experiences
11:05 Panel with speakers & moderator & Prof Johnny Coleman Trinity College Dublin
11:30 Coffee break
Session 2 – Additive manufacturing, electronics, photonics
11:50 Dr Mike Banach, VP, Plastic Logic
Shaping the next industrial revolution
12:05 Dr David Brown, CTO, Canatu
Scaling of Carbon NanoBud film production for commercial apps in touch and display devices
12:20 Dr Richard van Rijn, CTO, Applied Nanolayers
High volume quality manufacture of graphene
12:30 Dr Kate Stone, Novalia
Creative printed electronics
12:35 Peter Towler, Director, BritonEMS part of OSI Electronics – What to expect from an EMS Supplier

12:40 Panel with Moderator Professor Ferrari & Dr Rob Harvey, AtomJet

13:05 Lunch and Exhibitions
Session 3 – Commercialisation Cases & other materials & applications
14:05 Dr Krzysztof Koziol, Chief Scientist, Cambridge Nanosystems Ltd
14:15 Professor Jonathan Coleman,
Layered materials: from tiny things to advanced applications
14:30 Professor Richard Palmer, Founder, Nanoscale Labs, Birmingham University
Prospects for massive scale-up from nano research in biochips & catalysis
14:50 Dr Nathan Hill, Strategy Director, National Graphene Institute – Commercialisation strategies

15:10 Panel with Moderator Del Stark CEO, Nanopro

15:30 Tea break
Final Session – Strategy for UK HVM & Graphene
16:00 Dr Jani Kivioja, Head, Nokia Research Center
Graphene – What is the commercial viability of short term applications?
16:30 Nick Coutts MA; Former IBM VP, CIR Strategy
Routes to Value for Graphene
16:40 Dr Martin Kemp, NanoKTN
Graphene commercialisation – Summary of industry consultation workshops
16:55 Professor Sir Michael Gregory CBE, Head, IfM
High Value Manufacturing Roadmaps
17:05 Panel with Professor Sir Mike Gregory CBE; Chairman’s Summary
17:30 Networking & Drinks Reception

Please contact 01223 303500 to speak to the organiser of HVMG13 directly.

 

Smart Homes: a hotbed for IoT?

SHCP13 | Bookings

Theme: Connected intelligence in 4 sizzlng sessions

1. Presence & the connected building; Services to the smart home; The comfortable, convenient home; Smart cities – smart citizens; Entrepreneur programmes; Access to innovation funds for SMEs;

2. Intelligent Water: monitoring, meters; sensors; controls; displays; integration.

3. Intelligent Heat & Energy; Heating smart communities; Storage & controls; Energy efficiency; Automation via devices;

4. IoT entrepreneurship;

Imagine you could be “present” in your home without having to be there, by influencing the many settings, appliances, deliveries, security remotely, and all with a minimum of fuss. It could be a matter of switching heating systems on and off from the airport. It might be changing the setting on a security system. The supply of your favourite food might not need to be updated because you are away for a week.

When you are there, the temperature in rooms will automatically adjust to the circumstances – without your intervention, unless you wish to make a change, for example, for visitors you believe may have different comfort zones. Your smart home automates intelligently for you.

A key aspect of this is service design: if, as the number of connected devices in the home increases, the complexity of managing the home goes up, then it won’t work for the householders. With the technology and automation needs to come simplicity in the service model.

So how can the internet of things be used to get our house to tell us (and our neighbours and the police) when we are being burgled, and switch on alarms and camera recordings that are sent to our smartphones via the web in real time?

How can our home automation systems minimise our bills as energy prices rise? Our energy use? Our footprint?

As regards heat and water technologies – how can new offerings help integrate into the smart home, smart community and smart city? And in the wider context, how can technology enable the “smart citizen” interacting at all the levels there?

And what programmes are out there for entrepreneurs to gain access to government matched funding for research or marketing of products and services in these sectors?

What can be done to reduce the allocation of funds to large utility players to the apparent exclusion of smaller companies who innovate strongly?

The 8th Smart Homes & Cleanpower Conference 2013 Expo (SHCP13 | Bookings) will take place at Buckingham House Conference Centre, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University CB3 0DF on 5 November 2013, and the forum will discuss the above questions in pleasant and relaxed modern conference surrounds, just half a mile from the beautiful mediaeval centre of the town.

The pricing is very modest at £100 for independent full-time entrepreneurs seeking investment & students; £195 for investors, government and academics (a £130 reduction) & £325 for full- and part-time executives.

Fast-track bookings can be made by calling 01223 303500 or hitting this mailto link and sending an email with name, affiliation, and telephone and the CIR SHCP13 Team will do the rest!

 

 

 

 

 

High Value Manufacturing Conference 10th Anniversary: Highlights of a memorable day

Conference homepage | Organiser Homepage | HVM10th Speaker Biographies | HVM10th legacy page

The feedback from senior delegates at the HVM Conference on 14 November was very positive, praising the quality of speakers, networking, business development value, and briefing content.

Summary of HVM 10th Anniversary Conference

The day began with a short talk from HVM strategy consultant and organiser Dr Justin Hayward in which he noted that Britain was on top of the world when it came to countries with over 10 Olympic Gold-medal per million inhabitants scores. This has been effected through lottery-funding, a form of funding that is effective and voluntary.

Justin also argued the points that government spending in the UK has been rising since World War II to a level well over 40% of GDP, and that this may be resulting in difficulties with releasing the potential of HVM from the UK.

Justin went on to note that the private sector has been becoming more confident in difficult times as it struggles to enable earlier-stage HVMs to find funding and grow without government intervention or bank or financial VC finance, instead working with angels, angel groups, superangels, corporate investors, large channel customers and crowdfunding while adapting business models so as to reduce the level of funding needed before testing the market.

Professor Sir Mike Gregory CBE, Head, IfM opened the conference as chairman that “manufacturing was back in fashion”. Sir Mike was upbeat in his appraisal of developments around HVM by the private sector in partnership with the government through the seven centres of the HVM catapult, which cover half of the 22 British competences listed in Sir Mike’s IfM report for the TSB in 2012.

After Sir Mike the audience enjoyed hearing from Will Barton, TSB Head of Manufacturing, details of the success story of Oxford Catalysts, going from an idea around Fischer Tropfe processes for production of clean energy and difficulties to a globally operating company in eight years.

Following this, Phil O’Donovan, a well-known entrepreneur and co-founder of CSR plc, discussed the fabless manufacturing business model and how this enables companies to scale yet keep on top of design and required in-house expertise as returns were to be dealt with by CSR rather than the manufacturer. Phil also said that tax for SMEs should be simple, founder-friendly, staff-friendly and stable, a comment which received nods of approval from many. He noted that the high growth “CSR ignored government and eventually they ignored CSR plc too”. CSR plc quickly went to over 1000 staff and became the market leader in bluetooth with a USD1 billion plus market valuation.

Sir Robin Saxby was next up, in a fantastic opening session. Sir Robin showed the now-famous “SWOT” analysis slide of the ARM business in 1990, at which point it consisted just of the 11 engineer founders and Sir Robin. Given ARM’s dominance now, the SWOT’s contents are an obvious source of great humour! But the point was made strongly that startups should take such analyses seriously. He discussed how SMEs can learn from larger customers’ needs. Startups, he asserted, should try to hire the best team and advisors as soon as possible and motivate themselves through share options in the company. Sir Robin finished by talking briefly about some of the technology startups he has invested in.

Plastic Logic, one of the headline sponsors of the 10th Anniversary HVM Conference, were represented by their new CEO Indro Mukerjee. Indro talked about the industrial revolution that is 3D printing, and noted that Plastic Logic was moving out of stealth mode.

Tonejet, another headline sponsor, spoke through CEO Ray Southam of their successes in bringing from invention to market the world’s first full colour photographic-quality digital can printer, with all the implications this has for the market for promotional cans.

Later in the day there were further keynote talks from an array of speakers, including 2012 Medicine Nobel Prize winner, Sir John Gurdon, who spoke of his “blue sky research” leading to reversible cells and of his educational experiences which to his teacher seemed unpromising to say the least! The audience was spellbound by this talk.

Nick Coutts of CIR Strategy, organiser and sponsor, gave a world-class discussion of Routes to Value, as applied to HVM, which he has pioneered.

Dick Elsy, the new CEO of the HVM Catapult talked about the seven centres across the UK and of government and private sector funding, and how these centres are enhancing advanced manufacturing through engagement with SMEs.

Sir Michael Marshall returned to the HVM conference with an interesting talk covering HVM Successes in Cambridge, and of how his family’s business has grown from a humble chaffeur startup in 1909 to a billion pound plus company in aerospace, automotive, specialist vehicles and owning the airport.

A very strong final panel consisted of Lord Sainsbury of Turville, Sir Michael Marshall, Dick Elsy, Nick Coutts and Professor Sir Mike Gregory CBE. Quite a group! The discussion will be summarised by CIR Strategy at the legacy website and announced first to delegates attending.

The upshot of the panel was a general positivity about what High Value Manufacturing is achieving in Britain and what the future holds for an efficient, well-supported competitive economy with mutilple key advantages in manufacturing.

Please keep an eye on www.hvm-uk.com for further news, reports and conferences on HVM.

Conference homepage | Organiser Homepage | HVM10th Speaker Biographies | HVM10th legacy page

iWATER Conference Summary: water innovations & EfW

The iWATER 2012 conference objectives of looking at the trends in water innovation needs, how to achieve energy from waste, the technology direction for water and waste technologies and to look at the potential cross-over strategies between the water, waste and energy sectors.

These topics were introduced by Mike McCreary of CIR Strategy. Mike spoke of the looming energy crisis and the recent water issues and suggested that as with most things environmental, there is an inter-linkage and inter-dependency that must be addressed to avoid the solution of one issue precipitating a crisis in another. With a water demand curve in some areas of England already significantly exceeding supply and an increasing population density meaning that available water resources per person per year are on average less than that of some Mediterranean countries, solutions for a UK water industry that already uses nearly 3% of the national electricity generating capacity have to mindful of other utility requirements.
The proceedings opened with the Conference Chair, Dr Hans Jensen, CEO of UK Water Industry, outlining what he saw to be the direction for the industry, namely innovation leading to affordable least cost, sustainable solutions that would allow for environmental extremities due to climate change giving good catchment management and the delivery of clean potable water.
The opening address was given by the Right Honorable Lord Smith of Finsbury, the Chairman of the Environment Agency. Lord Smith outlined the current pressures on the industry brought about by the last 16 months being the driest for 150 years leading to temporary ‘use bans’ as a result of ground water levels becoming perilously low, immediately followed by the wettest 3 months for 100 years leading to major flooding, sometimes in the same place!

His view was that we had to have an industry capable of responding to rapid change and that we had to educate the public/society that water was not an infinitely available resource. Innovation in products and processes had to develop draught resistant crops and better methods of irrigation and water use. Indeed, during the draught, several major corporations had reduced their consumption by, for instance, introducing low water methods of washing crops that had lead to an 85% reduction in consumption, and rainwater harvesting.
Building design had to be relooked at; current techniques wasted water by, for instance, requiring pure water to be used for sanitation purposes rather than grey water. This had to be a priority for new build and he cited his own agency as a leader in new thinking with the new Environment Agency HQ reducing consumption by 85% when viewed on a like for like basis with their previous HQ.
He then turned to one of the major industry issues, leakage. A staggering 25% of purified water does not reach the end user. He saw this as an absolute priority for the industry; the leaks have to be fixed. Both Business and Domestic consumers had to be educated in better and wiser ways of using water with innovation being the only way for growth. Demand and use management would be only way to cater for the new housing stock in the South East and prevent further water stress. Water efficiency is key for the future.
Lord Smith closed by summarising the challenges:

• Pressure for innovation

• Disseminate of good practice

• Make it easy for the customers to do the right thing; the green deal must include water.

• Incentivise the water companies to sell less water with OFWAT pricing allowing for the companies to innovate more whilst delivering less.
The mechanisms of change were Regulatory, Government and Pricing.
This excellent opening address led to a lively question and answer session with questions and statements including:

• What is the impact of the lack of genuine competition?

• The need for alternative methods for abstraction.

• The need for alternative storage, catch it when it rains!

• Interconnection between water companies in adjoining regions leading to a Water National Grid whilst being mindful of the energy demands if this entails a pumped system.

• Desalination is seen as a position of last resort.

• Catchment management, we used to lead the world, the new Public Water Resource Framework is driving the need for catchment management.

• The Government do not give enough incentives for innovation unlike, for instance Singapore.

• Market incentives/regulatory frameworks and incentives are all very well but political volatility is a problem for long term water infrastructure project commitment.
Steve Kaye, Head of Innovation at Anglia Water followed Lord Smith by presenting an industry view of the issues and challenges saying that the water industry works in isolation and that there is a need to look at other industries for solution ideas. Whilst feeling that extreme weather does drive innovation there is a requirement for supplier engagement to drive forward the business process leading to a cultural change in the industry and its’ supply chain. Anglia have adopted a suppliers ‘dragons den’ to speed the innovation process with a view to improving current plant and not necessarily just building new assets, e.g. the use of elliptical pipes to reduce the depth of trenches. He felt that there is a resistance to the use of smart meters due to a lack of a clear business case understandable by the consumers. There has been a slow take up of waste combustion from by product bio gas due to legislative issues. Looking further at the inflow and out flow aspects there is a need for ‘Intelligent Sewers’ and ’Intelligent management’ of pipes in terms of both pressure and flow management.

There is a growing problem in the industry from the use of farm insecticides that are now finding their way into the reservoir system. He closed by agreeing with the final floor comment after Lord Smiths’ introduction that the 5 year regulatory window restricts long term growth.
The issues of waste water treatment was then picked up by Kieran Healey, the Synergies and Integration Manager for Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies stating that Waste Water Treatment plants waste energy and generate waste. The plants need to use the bio gas generated within the process to drive generators and improve electricity consumption. With 62% of energy being used in biological management, innovation is required in the field of bio refineries producing bio gas for energy and usable by-production of plastic materials. Veolia are looking to establish themselves as the benchmark for sustainable growth.
After another Q&A session and networking break, Professor Annie Brooking , CEO of Bactest demonstrated their latest portable contamination tester, ‘Speedy Breedy’. This is a field deployable fast test capability that can be used for all new and repair pipe-work projects that require a fast Yes/No answer as to whether contamination is present or not. If a ‘No’ answer, then supplies can be connected but if a ‘Yes’ answer the results of test samples sent off to laboratories for parallel examination can be used to determine what is present and what remedial action is required.
Ian Bernard, Technical Manager of British Water then spoke of the work done within his trade association and of the roller coaster demand cycle due to the 5 year plan changing. With the UK spending £10 billion a year on capes and the world wide industry around £500 billion, there is a large market that requires focus and direction. Ian outlined the use of the BWISE data base of emerging technologies to assist investment decisions.
Picking up the theme of investment decisions, Andy Slater Director of Sensus concentrated on the need for all stakeholders to act in tandem to fulfil a smart water vision. He introduced conference to the need to make smart actually be intelligent and utilise the data available from an independent survey that looked at the issues within the industry. With 20% of water lost through leakage and leakage being linked to pressure management we have to move to intelligent water networks. The research also highlighted the need for media management to assist in cultural and behavioural change of consumers and publicise the wastage caused by both the industry and the consumer. The morning Q&A session was moderated by Fiona Griffith of Isle Utilities. Immediately prior to the lunch break there were ‘rapid pitches’ from Fiona regarding her Technology Approval Group (TAG), a global innovation forum for water utilities and operators and Laurie Reynolds CEO of Aquamatix who develop and apply web services and standards to connect sensors, actuators and people by working with water and wastewater organisation to enable the realisation of Smart Water networks and related applications.

Charles Lee of Futureneering opened the afternoon session on Energy from Waste with a discussion on the need for a closed loop approach to land fill avoidance and the use of local by-products to generate energy. Clearly, mass burn incineration is an alternative to land fill but would breach emission limits giving an impetus to localised sources. He also highlighting that ‘free in the field’ was not necessarily ‘free in the generating plant’ if it were to be transported for any distance. He then summarised the various energy recovery from waste techniques currently available but issued the cautionary note that Waste materials become valuable commodities as soon as a use is found for them.

Doug Stewart CEO of Green Energy UK followed Charles. He ran through the rationale behind the establishment of Green Energy UK. The company sources power from green suppliers and seeks to engage with ethical consumers who are willing to adopt a specific tariff structure. Interestingly, many of his suppliers were not in business at the start of Green Energy but have commenced as the market for sustainably produced electricity has grown. Part of the company rationale is to offer shares to all customers to ensure their continuing commitment to innovation in the green energy field. Doug showcased a number of his suppliers and customers and closed with an overview of the regulatory incentives and closed with his view that we have to:
• Use less electricity, not more!

• Capture waste as a resource

• Liberate the energy

• Increase public awareness

• Make something useful out of what we throw away

Philip Gaffney CEO of L2S2 picked up on these themes as he put the case for data clarity and availability in making the investment decisions necessary for measurable and sustainable change in the energy/water/waste industries. L2S2 has developed a framework for data collection, management, reporting and device control that can operate over real world networks. The Metabase system has been developed recognising that:
• Change is a constant

• Sustainability demands high efficiency

• Rapidly adapted, accurate, current information needed to respond and plan

• Highly detailed, immediate data from and feedback to operations is essential for efficiency
He overviewed some interesting applications of the data base including an Anglian Water Wet Well photography system whereby data from cameras inserted into sewers and pipes can be analysed in real time in the central control room enabling timely corrective actions to be made. Data generated in a variety of applications can be displayed in customised KPI dashboard form to allow informed executive decision making.
Nick Boyle CEO of Lightsource Renewable Energy followed with a presentation on how a solar installation or Power Purchase Agreement with Lightsource can benefit heavy industry users and property owners by cutting electricity costs and providing better control on budget forecasting. He started with a cost curve showing how Solar energy costs of generation has fallen from a price 10 years ago of €3.8M per MW to a current price of €0.5M per MW as the cost of solar panels has been driven down. Lightsource look for unused land/reservoir/roof space and via their financing collaborators Octupus Investments, they pay for the installation and maintenance of the solar plant and can return to the land owner a 20% reduction in energy costs. He ran over a number of options including a floating solar system for use on reservoirs and other systems linked to waste recycling centres. Lightsource believe their approach can generate 10MW per 50/60 acres of land giving a discounted saving of £14.7M over 25 years.

 

The final session of the day was introduced and moderated by Rupert Kruger, Head of Innovation at Thames Water. In his opening remarks Rupert reminded the conference that water supply was the ultimate closed loop supply and demand system with, for instance, Thames Water delivering 2M tons of clean water to customers daily and collecting nearly the same amount as waste in the sewers.

An overview of investment trends in the VC market and what investors look for in investee companies was then given by Francis Wright of Turquoise (Low Carbon Investment Fund). He started from the point that there are fewer independent VC’s and an increasing number of Corporate VC’s leading to a change in the dynamics of the market. Francis gave an overview of what investors are now looking for and indicated that the market is now demanding the shortening of investment horizons from 5 – 7 years down to 3 – 5 years.

Generally investors are looking for:

• Experienced Management Team

• Scalable business model

• Low capital intensity

• Market leading product

• Fast route to market

• IP protection or other barriers to entry

• For projects:

• No technology risk

• Long term price and volume certainty on feedstock

• Creditworthy counterparties for feedstock and offtake
Moving on from supply and investment, Dr James O Jenkins from the University of Hertfordshire gave a presentation entitled ‘Water efficiency by stealth: time for a rethink on how we use water meters’. The basic premise of the talk was that there is a very low level of consumer understanding regarding water usage and the need for meters. Water meters are normally inaccessible, normally 0.5m underground and therefore not checked by the consumer. Add this to a commodity consumers do not consider price sensitive, means that a 10% price increase results in a 1% drop in consumption, i.e. price would have to double to achieve a modest 10% consumption reduction. There is a public perception that all price increases go to ‘fat cat’ companies aiming to get rich from what is seen as a basic need. In plain words, there is institutional distrust of the water companies. The reality is that we need smart water meters that are visible and easy to use aimed at enabling consumer control over the amount of water they use. Consumers do not purchase washing machines and dish washers based on water consumption, more on energy consumption. Other countries, e.g. Australia where there is already a high awareness of the need for water conservation, have subsidised the purchase of water efficient machines to aid the consumers.

He closed with the following based on survey results:

• Consumers need to be targeted with a diverse range of policies:

• consumers were very positive towards the fitting of free water saving devices (70%)

• the subsidisation of more water efficient household appliances (75%)

• the offering of a rebate on their water bill, if they were to reduce their water usage (70%)

• Make all water meters accessible

• Use water meters to educate

• Cost-neutral regulatory framework is not effective

• Bolder and stronger regulation needed

• Effective and engaging resource management approaches are going to cost more – ‘nudge’ your customers!

⇒ Change by stealth!

Following the theme of water efficiency, Sam Bose, CEO of AquaMW illustrated how Energy and Water sectors are interconnected since copious amount of energy is required to treat, move and distribute water while significant amount of water is required in the energy generation process and for cooling the steam generated. This is more pronounced in the industrial sector with industrial processes generating heat and requiring enormous energy, water to run them optimally.

The session discussed the energy – water nexus in industrial processes and highlighted possible solutions to improve efficiency. The AquaMW products ‘Smart Water’ and Smart Energy’ are retro-fittable wireless network systems using cloud computing techniques for delivering actionable intelligence.

He closed with the conclusions that to gain Industrial Resource Efficiency there are ‘3 takeaways’:

• Reducing resource (Energy, Water) demand through conservation programs

• Data Analytics to unlock insight for process efficiency and improve plant performance

• Resource, System and Process efficiency are all connected which can be delivered through Conservations Programs

Following a Q&A session moderated by Rupert Kruger, the conference chair, Dr Hans Jensen, summarised the day’s proceedings:

• The industry had to learn to live with a volatile weather pattern

• The industry needs to ‘fix the leaks’

• Intelligent data and resource collation systems need to be adopted

• Innovative ways of directing scarce resources need to be adopted

• New product innovations need to be adopted

• That the energy and water industry need to share best practice regarding the re-use of waste and metering techniques

• There needs to be a concerted effort to promote public understanding of the issues and to gain public trust

Summary by Mike McCreary, CIR Strategy & iWATER Conference Moderator

Please contact CIR on 01223 303500 for more information on our strategic consultancy in routes to market, segmentation & focus strategy, market research and commercial diligence.

 

SGCP 2012 Summary Slides – iHEAT/HVM on Horizon!

The above conference took place on 14 June 2012 at Cambridge University’s Murray Edwards College, there were over 100 delegates including many innovating SME energy efficiency grids and power companies. The day was a great success, with over 25 talks across two streams, and there was an intriguing final plenary panel led by Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent, of the Guardian Newspaper, with Keynote: Lord Oxburgh of Liverpool speaking on the “boon or curse” of shale gas. The answer was that it was more of a boon than a curse.

The summary slides were delivered to delegates a few weeks ago, and are now available here.
http://www.cir-strategy.com/events/cleanpower/summary12.htm

Please do call +441223303500 if you wish to discuss the conference or its followups.

The next conferences are:

iHEAT 2012 – intelligent heating systems, covering accumulator tanks, energy accumulation for thermal stores, heat metering, measurement & controls, and intelligent automation for optimised low carbon buildings. A great set of business growth sectors.
This is the 6th in the HEAT Cleantech Series since 2007.
There will also be a Conference in parallel at the venue on intelligent water systems and on waste as resource, which will build on the HVM 2008 Conference on Resource Efficiency.

This conference is sponsored entirely from the private sector through ARM, the global chip design company, Schneider Electric, and Galu, an SME manufacturer.

See http://www.cir-strategy.com/events/heat for more information and to register.

HVM 2012 – 10th Anniversary Conference – this exciting anniversary conference will be led by Professor Sir Mike Gregory CBE from the IfM, which has recently published a report on high value manufacturing, and will feature Lord Sainsbury of Turville, Chancellor Elect of Cambridge University and former Science and Innovation Minister and 3-time speaker in the HVM Conference Series since 2002.
Plastic Logic, TAP Biosystems, Owlstone and many other private sector entrepreneurs will keynote through the day. This private sector led, pro-innovation-business conference takes place on 14 November at Cambridge University. There are no government funds used to put on the conference. CIR and Plastic Logic are supporting the conference inter alia to be announced.

Please call +441223303500 for more information or for marketing your brand, product or service at the event (places limited). The website will be at http://www.cir-strategy.com/events/hvm from mid September.

Lord Oxburgh keynotes on ‘Shale Gas – Curse or Boon?’ at Cleanpower Conference 14 June

 

(Lord) Ron Oxburgh

Shale gas is natural gas that, unlike conventional gas, never escaped from the source rock within which it was formed because the source was too impermeable. Modern technology has allowed this gas to be exploited by a combination of detailed sub-surface imaging, precisely controlled directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The application of these technologies is still in its infancy and some unfortunate and weakly regulated attempts to exploit shale gas have been made without making proper use of them resulting in some highly undesirable environmental consequences that include unintended gas seepages and pollution of ground water.  This has led to some strong local resistance to new shale gas exploration.

The world’s shale gas resources are probably very large but detailed exploration has yet to be done in many places. However, shale gas has more than doubled US gas reserves. China appears to have even larger reserves. In countries where it occurs, however, shale gas is likely to displace coal as the preferred fuel for power generation and to that extent will reduce the carbon footprint of electricity. However the continued availability of gas may weaken efforts to find sustainable alternatives.

End of Talk Summary for Lord Oxburgh Keynote on 14 June at New Hall Cambridge University CB3 0GT.

#SGCP

Biography for Ron Oxburgh

Ron Oxburgh is an independent member of the House of Lords and is currently chairman of 2OC, Green Energy Options and the Carbon Capture and Storage Association. He was formerly President of Queens’ College Cambridge, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence, Rector of Imperial College and Chairman of Shell.