TOPIC LAB SPEAKERS

At Syndicate Room Oli specialises in sustainability and energy analysing investment opportunities and working with potential clients to prepare for investment readiness on the platform.

Prior to SyndicateRoom, Oli worked in banking in the West End and co-founded a company that specialised in shipping containers. He also worked at an ambitious startup that aimed to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs through an app. Oli joined SyndicateRoom because of his passion for early-stage companies.

Emma Richardson is part of the Energy and Environment strategy team at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). She leads key stakeholder engagement and strategy projects in collaboration with scientists across the laboratory under the theme of low carbon technologies. Emma coordinated the EU funded Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) programme at NPL over the last 2 years, working with SMEs to verify the performance claims of their novel energy technologies.

Prior to joining NPL, Emma worked in the construction industry and ran the Environmental Initiatives Project, which looked at retrofitting innovative low carbon solutions in to existing buildings. Emma has a BSc in Geography from the University of Leicester.

Emma will be discussing the importance of undertaking independent validation and testing for innovative low carbon technologies. She will discuss why having third-party verification of the performance claim and testing process is important to providing investor and end user reassurance.

Stuart is one of BDO’s most senior tax Partners. He works with a wide range of high growth technology clients – working with their finance and technical teams both within and outside the UK to provide bespoke tax advice, especially in the area of R&D tax credits. He is a member of a number of the firm’s Executive Boards and leads the firm’s Brexit Taskforce and the UK R&D tax Credits practice. Stuart has worked extensively in the Technology and Life Sciences sectors over two decades. He has close working relationship with the key HMRC personnel in their R&D teams, having worked in the R&D tax credits field since the legislation was introduced and was part of the working party that created the initial guidance for companies

Stuart will provide you with an update on R&D tax credits including, what the benefits are to your business and the best practice for making robust claims. He will also talk to about his experience in maximising claims for clients and where the HMRC challenges will come from. This talk will give you real insight from a person who has worked in the field since the R&D credits were introduced.

Trevor is Director of Strategy at Gemserv, an expert provider of professional services enabling the energy market transformation and data revolution. He joined Gemserv from WWF the global conservation non-profit where he was Director of Advocacy, working to improve public policy on the environment. Before WWF he served in a number of government departments and with the European Commission.

When serving in the UK energy department (DECC) he was responsible for government programmes on energy efficiency and the low carbon economy. Trevor is a Trustee of the Green Purposes Company, set up by government to safeguard the green mission of the UK’s Green Investment Group.

Stewart is a chemist by education. He now works for SME, University and individual clients protecting their innovations. Stewart works closely with his clients to devise bespoke patent filing and prosecution strategies to ensure a commercially focused outcome for each client’s individual patent needs.

Stewart’s area of practice extends to the drafting and prosecution of varied technological fields, such as pharmaceuticals, speciality chemicals, organometallic catalysts, nanotechnology, medical devices, medical diagnostic techniques, printable electronics, inks and dyes. New chemical entity patents and formulation patents represent Stewart’s core activities.

In this informative and interactive session, Roland Harwood from the multi-award winning open innovation agency 100%Open will share lessons learned from a range of case studies from both inside and outside of the energy sector, including E.ON, National Grid, Energy Systems Catapult, LEGO, Ford and UBS. In addition he will share a series of practical and proven tools and techniques for you to use and apply within your own organisations. Lastly he will help to surface some unexpected connections within the room and start to build some network potential for new collaboration through the Topic Lab itself.

Roland Harwood is Co-founder and Managing Director at 100%Open, the global open innovation agency that works with the likes of LEGO, Ford, Unilever, UBS, Oxfam and Governments around the world to co-innovate with their partners. It was a spin-out from NESTA in 2010, the UK Innovation Agency and Investment Fund, where he was Director of Open Innovation. Graduating with a PhD in Physics from Edinburgh University, he has held senior innovation roles in the public and private sector. In addition has worked with hundreds of start-ups to raise venture capital and commercialise technology. He is both a failed astronaut and a keen piano player and has produced TV and film music for SonyBMG. Last but not least, he is a proud and often exhausted dad of 3 kids under 10.

Colin has 27 years of experience in the energy field covering economic, technical and policy studies across a wide range of energy technologies. He leads Ricardo’s energy consultancy business in Scotland and our renewable energy business. In this role he is responsible for business development and delivery.

Colin has led a number of high profile studies for public and private sector clients in the UK and international markets. These include assessing proposals for innovative energy system demonstrations, analysis of the factors driving the success of the solar PV supply chain and working on the GB Future Power System Architecture. His work on hydrogen includes applications for electricity, heat and transport and hydrogen’s role in the wider energy system.