Gatwick Diamond Hub Director, Steve Wood, explains: "The pressure is on all of us, both public and private sector, to be more sustainable. Meeting this challenge will require a wide ranging collaborative approach to promoting innovation in sustainability. This will include not just developing new sustainable technologies but also new services, business models and processes. If we are successful, the benefits could be huge in accelerating growth, improving our quality of life and helping to meet our social obligations. And if we succeed in the Gatwick Diamond, we could also export this know-how to other regions and internationally."
Steve Wood sees this as the first in a series of "Polishing the Diamond" events bringing together the business, public and higher education sectors to build on pace-setting initiatives and pilot projects drawn from across the region. "The public sector and large companies play a vital part in the creation of markets, while smaller businesses and universities often partner with each other to deliver innovative solutions based on open technology and knowledge transfers," he says.
Plenary sessions and three workshops will explore examples of innovative projects and thinking in this area. These will include Go4Fresh, a project promoting healthy eating and low food miles by making fresh food from the region more readily available when and where you need it in workplaces, hospitals, schools and colleges, the easitCRAWLEY scheme, which is aiming to replicate easitEAST SURREYs successful congestion-busting initiative in the Manor Royal Business Park at Crawley, and Reigate & Banstead Borough Council?s exemplary low carbon scheme promoting the use of Biomass district heating systems that use woodchip-fuelled boilers.
David Butcher, Chairman of the Gatwick Diamond, says: "There is much that can be done to move us forward towards sustainability. We have a responsibility towards future generations, and these responsibilities carry with them the demand for us to deliver them with flair and imagination which can in turn provide very real business opportunities."
The seminar is free but places are limited; to register to attend the workshop, please go to www.gatwickdiamond.co.uk
