Hosting the Lord Mayor of London in the Western Gateway
The Western Gateway partnership hosted a roundtable of innovators last week as part of a visit from the Lord Mayor of London in his role as an international representative for the UK’s financial sector. The roundtable showcased organisations leading on creating sustainable infrastructure from across the area. Our Vice Chair, Cllr Jane Mudd, chaired the meeting and gives her highlights.
It was a pleasure to meet with not only the newly elected Lord Mayor of the City of London, Nicholas Lyon and visiting investors, but also to introduce him to four fantastic innovators from across the Western Gateway.
In his first regional visit to Wales, we were able to use our session to impress the shared strengths that span both sides of the Western Gateway. As we said to the Lord Mayor, the Severn unites rather than divides us.
Our Partnership is working to harness the strengths we have across our area to add £34 billion to the economy by 2030 and reach net zero. We are home to naturally innovative communities and are ready to shine a light on the great work taking place in our area.
The meeting had one focus - sustainable infrastructure. As a developing Green Energy Super Cluster, our businesses and partners are using world-leading ideas and technology to deliver this most critical of services.
Jo Pontin from DST-Innovations, spoke about the Swansea tidal lagoon, renewable energy mix and it’s planned battery farm all on the same site. Jo described how a dedicated renewable energy site would deliver jobs, housing and serve its community. The project is a wonderful example of how our fantastic natural capital can be harnessed to protect our environment and improve the lives of our communities.
The Global Centre for Rail Excellence (GCRE) CEO, Simon Jones, also presented. The GCRE, based in the Brecon Beacons on a former coal mine, will be an international facility for testing out the next generation of railway technology as the industry looks to decarbonise. Based on land the size of Gibraltar, it will act as a test bed for innovation in transport such as hydrogen-fuelled trains in the centre of South Wales.
We were delighted to also welcome Charlie Guy, founder of Lettus Grow, a company developing technology which is delivering sustainable food manufacture. Using aeroponic technology - which was originally developed to be used in space - the Bristol-based start-up is at the cutting edge of food manufacture, with a model that can help the world be more sustainable.
Completing our sustainable set was Shaun Hartley, seconded to Bristol City Council and leading on the Avon Flood Defence scheme. In the Western Gateway, like elsewhere in the UK, we are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Whilst we are committed to reaching net zero, we need to adapt and mitigate against these effects as well as prevent. Shaun’s presentation highlighted a multifaceted innovation approach which will serve to protect Bristol and its surrounding communities for years to come.
In the partnership, we are always thrilled to provide a platform to our brilliant innovators who are so often delivering for their local areas and indeed the wider world.
Where it comes to investors, which all innovators need, we work to ensure that our communities can benefit to bring finance from areas like London. In the words of the Lord Mayor himself, “we are one ecosystem” and the great speakers at our roundtable proved how impressive our collaboration can be.
