As the Innovation Practice lead and senior innovation partner at Cambridge Management Consulting Matt Lawson was asked to support Innovation Day at Cambridge Tech Week. The morning was a series of fascinating talks and panel sessions exploring entrepreneurship and deep tech innovation in the Cambridge Ecosystem followed in the afternoon by an exhibition of deep tech companies from the thriving Cambridge Ecosystem. Highlights included startups converting waste methane from industrial processes to valuable Hydrogen and graphene and a company pioneering the next generation of wearable AR glasses. In the evening Matt attended the charity dinner at Pembroke College in support of the UK Explorer Society.

Exploring Soil Microbiome with Norwich Research Park

Downstream Innovation has designed planned and delivered another exciting Explorer Forum for Norwich Research Park. Taking place during September and using the Hothouse methodology this latest event in the series brought together scientists, academics, industry leaders and farm managers to generate new ideas and opportunities for collaboration in the field of Soil Microbiome testing, analysis and improvement. Maintaining a healthy soil Microbiome will be crucial for meeting the future food needs of the UK. During the day 3 mixed discipline teams worked together to identify challenges, generate novel solutions and formulate implementation plans pitching their work to the room at the end of the day. This was the 5th Explorer Forum that Downstream Innovation have lead for Norwich Research Park with the aim of increasing collaboration for Research Institutes on the park with industry and catalysing commercialisation of their research.

Fusion programme helps DPD solve an expensive problem

How has digital helped companies scale and deliver inclusive services?

Flights were cancelled! The country was in lockdown! For Mitra Innovation and their Australian client Leap in! this couldn’t have come at a worse time.  The planned project kick-off meeting was hastily cancelled as the Leap in! team could not travel to Mitra’s offices in Sri Lanka.  This was not the current pandemic, this was April 2019.  The cause was a horrific attack in Sri Lanka that had killed hundreds.  And now it was forcing Mitra and Leap in! to find a new and, as it turns out, better way of working together.