Thank you for a fantastic 2019!

What a year it has been!
Now that it is coming to a close we would like to say 'Thank You!' to all our supporters and give you some news bites before soon we go into holidays.

We will have a new name next year. 'Tommy Flowers Institute' will become 'Tommy Flowers Network', because that is what we are: A network of likeminded people and institutions working for a greater good! So, we might look a bit different next year, but we still are the same team and we still follow our vision.

We had a great conference season 2019. The 'Future of Transport', as well as 'Healthy Longevity' have been well received, and we all took a lot away to think about more. We now have published the slide decks and the coms briefs. So, please have a little browse through our brand new Downloads page. Some slide decks however, we cannot publish, they were not suitable for public sharing.

And we have decided on the Spring 2020 conference with the title 'Creating value for the UK economy: Collaborate - Innovate - Educate'. We are looking for post graduate researchers to contribute posters and short presentations of their work, we will enable a lot of networking, true to our new name, and we will have fantastic speakers, as we always do.

On this note the team wishes a very Merry Christmas and we are looking forward to seeing you 2020!

Adele Chaplin speaking at 'Healthy Longevity', 15th-16th October 2019

It is with great joy that we announce that we have Adele Chaplin speaking at our conference on 'Healthy Longevity' taking place at Adastral Park on 15th and 16th October 2019.

Adele Chaplin is an accredited Humanist Funeral celebrant, conducting non-religious funeral services around East Anglia and the United Kingdom.  Before working as a celebrant, Adele was a web site developer and content creator for companies such as the BBC, Aviva and The National Archives, but having taken 10 years out to raise her family, she decided to take the opportunity to re-train in a different field.  Now Adele works full time as a celebrant, crafting unique memorable services, both for those who have experienced a bereavement, but also for those who want to plan their ceremony in advance – either due to a life limiting condition, or just because they are organised!  She has also signed up to The Funeral Celebrant Accord, a newly developed set of criteria which defines what a good celebrant is.   Adele also chairs the Ipswich and Felixstowe Death Café’s, hoping to bring a new level of death acceptance to Suffolk, and removing some of society’s taboos around death and dying.  Adele firmly believes that the way to live a good life is to prepare for a good death and is happy to facilitate anyone who feels the same way.  Outside of celebrancy, Adele volunteers at her son’s school as a librarian, is Welfare officer of Ipswich Judo Club, and currently helps with her local cub pack. 

Synopsis

“Living your best life by preparing for a digital death”.  Adele will be speaking about how we can best prepare for the management of our online presence after our death.  From Facebook memorialisation to online banking passwords, digital books of remembrance to handling a deceased person’s email account, Adele will provide ideas, help and guidance, giving you much to think about for the management of your own digital estate.  Adele will also talk about the rising demand for technology within the funeral industry, such as online streaming, music on demand and other digital services, and as part of this, she will give you the opportunity to think about, and record, what your wishes might be for your own funeral.

Fun Fact!

As a student, Adele used to live in a cupboard – this was before Harry Potter made it cool!

Rob Collinridge speaking at 'Healthy Longevity', 15th-16th October 2019

We are exited to have Rob Collingridge, CEO of Smartisant, speaking at our conference on 'Healthy Longevity', taking place at Adastral Park, Ipswich on 15th and 16th October 2019.


Rob Collingridge graduated from Portsmouth University in 1989 with a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and joined BT in 1989 to working on real-time speech-interactive systems. He worked on BT's first Internet services and has worked on many of BT Consumer's services over the years.  In his last 10 years in BT, Rob was an Innovation Consultant bringing new concepts to market for BT and its customers.  Rob was one of the main advocates for smart home technology within BT.

Rob started building his own smart home from scratch in 2008 to deliver the quality user experience he was after, writing the software and building the hardware elements where they were not readily available. Smartisant Ltd was formed in 2009 to progress his innovative and visionary approach and his smart home has now evolved in to something extremely powerful.

Rob left BT in December 2018 to focus on his role as Managing Director at Smartisant, with a focus on delivering intelligent assisted living for all.  Smartisant aims to deliver the building blocks and intelligence to enable homes, offices and other spaces to become smart, whilst respecting privacy and providing the best possible user experience.
Synopsis

Smart home technology is a growing in popularity around the world but struggle by the major players to own market share is resulting in a disjointed and baffling technology experience for many, with many products and services having a short lifetime. 

The presentation will show how more intelligent application of technology can deliver intelligent assisted living for all in a more sustainable and cost-effective manner.  It will cover the many benefits of intelligent assisted living and show how the contextual smart home and a more user-centric approach to technology deployment improves privacy and provides a great user experience that works for everyone.

Tina Woods, speaking at 'Healthy Longevity', 15th-16th October 2019

It is with great delight that we are announcing that Tina Woods, CEO and founder of Collider Health will be speaking at our conference on 'Healthy Longevity', taking place at Adastral Park, Ipswich on 15th/16th October 2019.

Tina Woods is CEO and Founder of Collider Health, a health innovation catalyst working with organisations in both private and public sectors to accelerate innovation and transform health with sustainable impact at scale. 

Tina is an ecosystem architect and builds collaborative networks and strategic partnerships to facilitate smart investment. Collider Health currently works with AXA health insurer on their corporate innovation programme Health Tech & You, with a focus on consumer-driven preventative health technology.

Tina and her team at Collider Health also work with NHS X and the National AHSN Network to build the AI ecosystem for the NHS and is also involved in consortia development for the Healthy Ageing Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund with UK Research & Innovation. 

Tina is also CEO and Co-founder of Longevity International, that runs the All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity and CEO & Founder of Collider Science, that aims to inspire young people in science and technology and equip them with the skills for the future.

Tina will be speaking on 'The Hype, the Hope and the How of Living Longer Better'.

Hazel Harrison speaking at 'Healthy Longevity', 15-16th October 2019

We are absolutely delighted to have Hazel Harrison, Clinical Psychologist and founder of 'Think Avellana' as speaker at our conference on 'Healthy Longevity taking place at Adastral Park on 15th - 16th October 2019.

Dr Hazel Harrison set up ThinkAvellana with a mission to bring psychology out of the clinic and into workplaces and schools. Harnessing her belief that prevention is better than cure, she develops and delivers keynotes and training workshops on a range of wellbeing and mental health topics.

These include ‘How to build resilience’, ‘The upside of stress’, ‘Mindfulness matters’, ‘Learning from failure’, ‘How to recognise and apply your strengths’ and ‘The science of happiness’.

She’s worked with the BBC, Daily Mail Group, Fremantle, Royal Ballet School, Saatchi & Saatchi, and The Times. Her local clients include Birketts, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, East of England Co-Op, Howes Percival plus numerous primary and secondary schools and colleges.

Hazel completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Media at Leeds University before completing her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at University of East Anglia. After graduating, she worked in the NHS for 13 years and specialised in helping children and families.

Hazel lives in Suffolk with her husband and two children, who frequently tell her they’re the only ones at school without a dog or any other pet. Hazel would love to have a Labrador or Beagle one day but is less inclined to give a lizard a home.

To find out more about Hazel and ThinkAvellana, read this East Anglian ‘Business East Monthly’ magazine article or visit www.thinkavellana.com.

Synopsis
The demand on mental health services is increasing and the need for support far outweighs the resources available. In this context, how can we take care of our mental health as we age? How can digital technologies enhance our wellbeing and what solutions can they offer to the mental health crisis? In this keynote, Dr Hazel Harrison, will address several areas of wellbeing and look at the digital solutions already being developed that may play a crucial role in ageing positively.

Fun Fact!
Hazel just became a Suffolk county champion in the Suffolk 10K 2019 road race.

Autumn Conference 2019 - Healthy Longevity

Opportunities of an Ageing Society

New Date: 15th - 16th October 2019

We would like to invite you to the next Tommy Flowers Institute Conference taking place from 15th - 16th October 2019, at Adastral Park, Ipswich. Please visit our events page as well, where we will publish the agenda and further information as we go along with planning.

Are you ready for the upcoming Tommy Flowers Institute conference on Healthy Longevity? 

Over the course of two days we’ll look at how we can exploit and innovate to the maximum so we explore and proactively address a number of key areas for what is described as ‘the UK’s greatest societal opportunity’. We’re delighted to announce speakers including

• Tina Woods, CEO &Co-founder Secretariat Director, All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity,
  https://appg-longevity.org/advisory-board
• Andrew Gardner, CEO of Age UK Suffolk,
  https://www.ageuk.org.uk/suffolk/
• Dr Hazel Harrison, Clinical Psychologist & Founder of ThinkAvellana,
  http://www.thinkavellana.com/
• Nathan Berkley, CEO Muhdo Health Ltd,
  https://muhdo.com/
• Rob Collingridge, Managing Director at Smarisant,
  https://smartisant.com
• Adele Chaplin, Death Café,
  https://deathcafe.com/what/

Within the UK, it is expected there will be 16.9 million people aged 65 or over by 2035 accounting for almost one in four of the population.  We are undergoing a fundamental change to our age structure, many people are having fewer children and living longer lives and as a result the average age of our society is on the increase.

This shift in structure isn’t just isolated to the UK, reports indicate nearly half the world’s nations have total fertility rates (TFR) below the replacement level of just over two children per women.  By 2050 the world’s TFR could potentially fall below replacement levels resulting in an older population demographic worldwide.

We would be delighted if you could join us for our 7th conference where we will explore what is described as ‘the UK’s greatest societal opportunity’.

Over the course of two days we’ll look at how we can exploit and innovate to the maximum so we can adapt to this change in demographic.  Subjects will cover impacts to society, economy and work, mental health and wellbeing, fitness advances to keep us healthier for longer and technology that will allow us to live in our own homes longer.’

Please look out for further details on our social media streams as we build out our agenda, places are allocated on a first come first serve basis therefore please register as soon as possible if you would like to attend this event. 

Becoming a member of Tommy Flowers Institute will keep you informed of future events and projects.

Suffolk County Council Speaker Profiles: Graeme Mateer, Richard Webster

We are delighted to have Suffolk County Council supporting our conference on 'The Future of Transport' taking place on 5th and 6th March 2019.

Presentation Title

Graeme Mateer and Richard Webster will be talking about 'Adept Live Labs and Suffolk Challenges', a subject we will pick up in our breakout sessions.

Graeme Mateer
Graeme has extensive experience in transport policy, strategy and delivery with over 14 years at Suffolk County Council, and two years seconded to the Department for Transport.

He is Head of Transport Strategy at Suffolk County Council, responsible for strategy development, delivery of transport schemes, including major infrastructure projects such as the Lake Lothing Third Crossing and Smarter Choices programmes, as well as development management reviewing new development applications.

Graeme is keen to explore how transport needs will adapt and influence smart cities and vice versa.

Richard Webster
Richard Webster has over 26 years of experience within the lighting industry working in both the private and public sectors.

He is the Street Lighting Manager for Suffolk Highways, responsible for the client function, contract management and delivery associated with over 90,000 illuminated assets where 65,000 street lights are connected to a central management system.

Richard has been an early adopter of smart cities technology, utilising the street lighting communications network for a number of projects, and securing subsequent European and DFT/Adept funding to implement innovative technologies on a larger scale.


Synopsis
Suffolk County Council has an excellent record of introducing award-winning innovation to the highways sector – including a traffic signals-based ‘dark fibre’ network and transformative, pioneering street lighting technology.

Early adoption of large-scale, remotely managed node technology has yielded highly effective, energy-efficient light distribution.

Our successful small-scale, rigorous field testing of motion-sensitive adaptive lighting is now set for significant up scaling. This project presents an outstanding opportunity to examine smart technology capability across Suffolk’s urban and rural environment, combined with fully exploring how any authority’s street lighting infrastructure adopts a far broader social function and potentially act as a future income generator.

This project, led by Suffolk Highways with partners including BT, The University of Suffolk, Telensa, CU Phosco, and EnLight, seeks to address many local needs. It is future-proofed to harness technological advancement such as 5G technology and connected autonomous vehicles and is aligned with ‘The Road to Zero’ aspirations of the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

Speaker Profile: Sam Ryan, Co-Founder & CEO of Zeelo

We are absolutely thrilled to have Sam Ryan, Co-Founder & CEO of Zeelo, on board for our conference on 'The Future of Transport', taking place at Adastral Park, on the 5th and 6th March 2019.

Presentation Title
Building a personalised shared mobility service

Synopsis
In the UK alone, millions of people remain completely reliant on their car to get to work, to see friends and to get the events. This talk will explain how Zeelo are building a personalised shared mobility service; capable of moving people out of cars and into shared transportation.

Short Bio
In 2017, Sam Ryan co-founded Zeelo, the personalised shared transportation service, with Barney Williams and Dani Ruiz. At Zeelo, Sam is Co-Founder & CEO
Zeelo was born out of the team’s frustration with current transport options available to big events, to airports and between cities which saw them regularly experience overcrowding and poor services.
Sam has a strong track record in travel tech after exiting his first business JumpIn, a taxi booking and sharing app, to Addison Lee in 2014. Sam spent 2 years at Addison Lee as Head of Product.

Demo: Alec Sharp and English Electric Motorcycle Co. - EEMC

We are so very much looking forward to hosting the team of Alec Sharp, Founder of the English Electric Motorcycle Co. showing his electric motorcycles in front of our Hub.

EEMC has an absolute & enduring passion for everything two-wheeled and loyal supporter of the EV movement. and is The UK’s ALL Electric Motorcycle Dealership for Zero Motorcycles, Super soco, Oset & Sur-ron.

It all began with the founding of Old Empire Motorcycles in 2010.
Through an absolute passion for everything two-wheeled, Alec Sharp founded the award winning bespoke OEM house of assembly, describing it as “paying daily homage to the gods of speed and fuel... a place where we meet, greet, drill, weld, cut, grind, turn, mill, hammer, roll and notch till our heart’s content.”

In 2017 Alec’s passion for the electric motorcycle movement became a reality as English Electric Motor Co (EEMC) was born. Within two years the company has become the UK’s #1 ALL electric motorcycle dealership of Zero Motorcycles & continues to grow their catalogue of vehicles from such industry leaders as Super soco, Oset and Sur-ron.

EEMC offers a full range of electric on-road and off-road motorcycles/mopeds/ebikes, at its cosy Suffolk HQ. The bulk of EEMC’s rapid success is owed to their hands-on-approach in getting the EV message out there, hosting mobile ‘Demo Days’ at various shows across the UK and offering ‘Doorstep Demos’ - taking electric motorcycles directly to the client. Alec says “We find our extended Demo experience provides the user with a more realistic guide to electric transport on a daily basis” and adds “We not only believe that our demonstrations educate the public to the benefits of electric transport, but also to the benefits of a more environmentally friendly and cost effective approach to travel.”

EEMC is hosting events at their HQ throughout 2019, for the public to experience the electric movement first-hand with local food & good company.

With EV technological advances and Government encouragement toward more sustainable modes of transport, EEMC will be challenged to meet the demands of those embracing the EV movement and changing their way of life. “English Electric Motor Co is more than happy to take up that challenge in promoting the world of electric motorcycles!” - Alec Sharp, EEMC.

Alec Sharp, Founder of EEMC

Speaker Profile: Dave Lynch, Group Chief Information Officer of FirstGroup Plc

With great pleasure I'm introducing you to Dave Lynch, Group Chief Information Officer of FirstGroup Plc, who will be speaking about 'Using big data to bring challenge and improvement to traffic congestion' at the conference on 'The Future of Transport' taking place on 5/6th March 2019.
Dave Lynch is Group Chief Information Officer of FirstGroup Plc – FirstGroup Plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America, with revenues of around £6.4 billion in FY 2017/18.

During the last year around 2.4 billion people relied on us to get to work, school or college, to visit family and friends and much more and, each day, every one of our 110,000 employees works hard to deliver vitally important services for our passengers.

Dave is part of a team at FirstGroup responsible for driving technology to support and innovate within the business and to assist First customers understand the various travel propositions. In partnership with FirstGroup’s operating divisions the team is driving innovation in all areas of the business and targeting volume growth and reducing operating costs at every opportunity.

Speaker Profile: David Williams, MD, Underwriting & Technical Services, AXA Insurance UK

Please meet David Williams, MD, Underwriting & Technical Services, AXA Insurance UK, one of our top speakers, at the conference on 'The Future of Transport' taking place on 5/6th March 2019.

Presentation Title
Driverless Cars; The future of mobility and the implications for insurance

Synopsis
Driverless cars will cause massive disruption to the UK Insurance industry. Insurers need to respond to this, which is why AXA and other insurers are involved in Government-backed consortia in this space.

David will describe details of the UK government's work with regard to making Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) a reality for the U; the possible timelines involved for the various stages of driver assistance systems moving through to fully autonomous driving; and the impact to the current insurance market.

Short Bio
David has over 30 years’ experience in General Insurance, roles including Chief Commercial Underwriter at one of AXA’s largest branches, Reinsurance Manager, Casualty Insurance Manager, Managing Director Claims and Managing Director Underwriting.

David leads AXA’s work on Connected & Autonomous Vehicles, including work with 5 Government backed Consortia (including Venturer, UK Autodrive, & Flourish). He sits on the Association of British Insurers GIC and is Chair of the Autonomous Driving Group. He also Chairs RISCAuthority, the CII Underwriting Faculty, is a Board Member of the Fire Protection Association, and is a Non-Executive Director of AXA Assistance UK.

David is very active in lobbying the government, particularly with regard to problems with claims farming and compensation culture, and won the 2018 Insurance Post Award for Social Media Influencer of the year.

Speaker Profile: Peter Lee, Principal Consultant – Smart Cities, Communities and IoT, BSI

We are delighted to welcome Peter Lee, Principal Consultant – Smart Cities, Communities and Internet of Things (IoT), BSI (British Standards Institution) to our conference on 'The Future of Transport' taking place on 5/6th March 2019.

Presentation Title
Accelerating the Future of Mobility through open data standards

Synopsis
Mobility as a Service (MaaS) based on multimodal journey planners and payment systems offer compelling alternatives to private car ownership. Will the mobile phone replace the car, as purported by Uber and other MaaS service providers? This talk will explore current market activities and innovations, plus the role of disruptors and state regulation. We will consider the opportunity for open interoperable data standards to help de-risk investments and accelerate market adoption. From Manchester to urban and rural Suffolk, is data sustainable infrastructure?

Short Bio
Peter joined BT Labs in 1987 as an industrial design engineer, working on advanced prototypes and digital service developments. He went on to be the corporate head of product design and champion for user-centred design, and is able to trace DNA in Nokia mobiles, iPhones, Apple TV and Microsoft SharePoint.

Peter worked for Suffolk County Council from 2003 – 2013 on smarter travel choices marketing, policy and economic development. He led the Suffolk sustainable travel forum with transport providers and local businesses. Securing European funds to deliver ‘Fresh Ways to Work’ including mobile phone bus tickets, discounts and journey planners.

Following a short spell at Ipswich Borough Council (2013 – 2016) as Economic Development Operations Manager, where Peter was instrumental in the development of the Ipswich Waterfront Innovation Centre (IWIC) at the University of Suffolk, plus leadership of Smart Ipswich, he went on to become a Smart Digital Innovation consultant, specialising in Smart Cities.

Between 2017 and 2018 Peter worked for Coderus, a software development business based at Adastral Park, on marketing, PR and business development, where he remains a non-executive director. In parallel Peter was an Associate Consultant at BSI supporting engagement with Cities and Councils throughout the UK on understanding and addressing their challenges with commercial innovations, plus promotion of best practices and standards developing citizen-centred services.
In 2019 Peter joined BSI as Principal Consultant and has a current focus on the Future of Mobility and assisted living technologies for our ageing society.

He looks forward to working on the ADEPT Live Labs project, supporting commercial sector engagement, plus capturing and sharing best practices, moreover helping Suffolk achieve their Smart County ambitions.
Peter Lee LinkedIn
Peter Lee Twitter

Speaker Profile: Cristian Parrino, CEO and Co-Founder of Grengame

Please meet at our conference on 'The Future of Transport' another one of our fantastic speakers: Cristan Parrino, CEO and Co-Founder of Grengame

Presentation Title
Incentivising sustainable choices through the use of technology, gamification and behavioural economics.

Short Bio
Cristian is the CEO of Greengame, a tech-for-good startup that works with cities and businesses to incentivise sustainable living, through an app that combines automated data collection, gamification and behavioural economics. He actively advises corporates and not-for-profits on innovation and sustainability, and mentors social impact startups and accelerators.

Cristian moved to the UK in 2003 to help British Telecom set up the first startup accelerator in the country. He then built Chef2video, which focussed on getting people to socialise around making food. More recently, he led Canonical’s mobile program for Ubuntu, the Linux Operating System, where he broke crowdfunding records with the Ubuntu Phone.

In addition to Greengame, Cristian currently leads the social innovation and behavioural research program at the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.

Speaker Profile: Peter Frost, Suffolk County Council on 'The Electric Vehicle Revolution'

We are absolutely delighted to have Peter Frost from Suffolk County Council as speaker at our conference on 'The Future of Transport', taking place at Adastral Park on 5th and 6th February 2016.

Presentation Title
The EV revolution – It’s only a revolution if it happens quickly

When it comes to saving the environment, winning slowly is the same as losing.  With time against us, what can be done to overcome the obstacles to a low carbon future?

Short Bio
Peter Frost  joined the Royal Air Force straight from school to work on avionics systems. After 7 years he left to work on teletext and subtitling equipment then joined the motor trade in 1991 working for a Toyota franchise dealership. He has experience of the obstacles involved with the introduction of a new concept in transport as for the last six years of his career in the motor trade he was an Electric Vehicle Specialist for Renault UK.

Last year he moved to local government. He now holds the position of Environment Strategy Officer for Suffolk County Council and is part of the Business Energy Efficiency Anglia project.  This enables Small and Medium Enterprises all over Norfolk and Suffolk to access grant funding towards cutting their carbon footprint and boosting their business through improved efficiency.

Peter is keen to spread the word about how companies can be at the forefront of the new paradigm of transport and how society will change in the near future.

As part of that he has been a key instigator of the ‘Plug in Suffolk’ programme to accelerate the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the county.

Meet Carol, the new Head of Tommy Flowers Institute

Carol Fletcher
BT's Head of Academic and
Research Partnerships

My role is all about skills – making sure that we have a pipeline of people with the right skills, either working for us or with us - to carry on the world-leading, purposeful innovation that BT has been doing since 1837.

 

My team works across a broad spectrum of activities; working with schools and teachers to get them excited and about STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and the sorts of exciting careers STEM subjects can lead to; developing apprenticeship and graduate programme to develop future researchers. We engage with over 30 universities around the world, collaborating to push the boundaries on major technical challenges.

 

Through the Tommy Flowers Institute, we’re connecting the new generation of researchers with industry to understand the big problems which need inter-disciplinary research to solve them and to ensure the next cohort of research leaders have the right skills.

 

I’ve been in BT since 1999, working in a variety of roles in research and the management of our research programme. I have a degree in Natural Sciences, specialising in physics, from the University of Cambridge.

 
Fun Facts
I’ve been a Guide leader, for over 20 years and I currently run a group in Ipswich.
I love gardening, although I’m not sure my garden looks as loved as it could do!
I am mostly found with a cup of tea.

 

Conference on 'The Future of Transport'

I am delighted to invite you to the next Tommy Flowers Institute Conference taking place from 5th – 6th March 2019, at Adastral Park, Ipswich. The conference is free and places are allocated on a first come first serve basis
.
We are looking at “What does Transport mean to you?”

Our way of life relies on us being able to get around flexibly and independently, whenever we need to. We all want shops full of fresh goods and an internet that delivers to the door step. But can we afford that in the future, and are there more sustainable ways to run our lives comfortably?

How can we use Artificial Intelligence to better plan and manage our transport networks? What does the way we manage a communications network tell us about how we could manage a transport network? How will the Internet of Things, connected vehicles and smart cities affect the way we move about?

At the next Tommy Flowers Institute Conference “The Future of Transport”, we’ll be exploring the problems facing Suffolk County Council, a local authority in the UK. These same problems face many more local authorities in the UK and beyond, and we’ll explore how an inter-disciplinary technology approach can give transport a smart, swift and sustainable future.

Registration for this conference is now closed.

Please stay informed as we build the agenda via our events page.
For enquiries please contact us via tommy.flowers.network@bt.com.