Author: Gordon Fong

19/07/2024

Interview with Hollie Wakefield, General Manager of CyNam.

15 July 2024, I took our university placement student, Nathan Fowler (LinkedIn), with me to Cheltenham to visit the Hub8 MX Innovation Centre and to interview some key people. We ended up with four pieces of content, which was a fantastic return. Got there and back without needing to charge my car this time, but day time driving and not having the two horrendous detours […]

General

03/07/2024

UK Innovation Strategy, GOV UK doc

O Innovation, Innovation, wherefore art thou Innovation. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-innovation-strategy-leading-the-future-by-creating-it/uk-innovation-strategy-leading-the-future-by-creating-it-accessible-webpage The four pillars of this Government’s strategy, although it could change tomorrow. Pillar 1: Unleashing Business – We will fuel businesses who want to innovate. Pillar 2: People – We will make the UK the most exciting place for innovation talent. Pillar 3: Institutions & Places – We will ensure our research, development and innovation institutions serve […]

General

24/06/2024

Interview with Mike Sewart, CTO of QinetiQ.

14 June 2024, in Portsmouth. I saw Mike Sewart, the CTO of QinetiQ, present at a South West Regional Defence and Security Cluster (SWRDSC) event at Porton Science Park. What he said about innovation and the way he said it really resonated with me so, at the coffee break I grabbed a few minutes to tell him about my Park Life on Tour project. He […]

General

28/05/2024

UK Gov Innovation Clusters Map

Statement from the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Michelle Donelan, on the Innovation Clusters Map. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/introducing-the-innovation-clusters-map This is the interactive map https://www.innovationclusters.dsit.gov.uk

General

28/05/2024

Difference between innovation in Defence and private sector

Saw this interesting post on LinkedIn about the tensions between Defence (albeit he is talking from a US perspective and Silicon Valley) and the private sector when it comes to innovation culture, and trying to bring it from the hipster startup businesses to the more formal structured organisations within Defence.

Innovation Parks

19/05/2024

Fareham Innovation Centre. Talking to Anna Bravington, innovation director.

My little side project of taking my Park Life video series on the road has finally begun. The aim is to leave my base at the Dorset Innovation Park and drive around the UK to visit other innovation centres, science parks, technology hubs and business clusters to find out their approach to innovation and building the community. My first visit was to the Fareham Innovation […]