Projects
Innovation Networks
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Climate Market Accelerator (CMA) was a pan-European project, that aimed to help demand-side partners define their requirements in ways which stimulatec suppliers to respond with effective solutions to real world challenges. To read more about the programme click here, or access a case study on our Sustainable Innovation Forums (SIFs). |
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The Institute's innovation networks projects supported systemic and integrated innovation, worked at scale across the three programme areas and addressed the wider challenges of accelerating the UK's capability to deliver sustainable places to live and work.
These projects demonstrated new approaches, business models and technology opportunities within sustainable development and built on our programme specific projects, maximising their interdependencies in order to deliver greater social and economic development outcomes.
A number of these projects had a specific focus on innovation; approaches and systems as well as technologies. In addition to the more obvious need for new products and services to help reduce our environmental impact, innovation was an important contributor to economic growth - it accounted for 63 per cent of annual labour productivity growth since 2000 (BIS, Annual innovation report 2010). In our programme specific projects, maximising their interdependencies in order to deliver greater social and economic development outcomes.
EURBANLAB was created to capture and share best practice on how we address the scale and complexity of city-wide sustainability challenges. The project was developing a network of 'urban living laboratories', providing opportunities for collaboration between European cities to support the transition to low carbon, resilient urban living. The Institute's activities were focused on an urban living lab based in the Bromley-by-Bow and Poplar area of East London – the site of the Institute's Total Community Retrofit demonstrator project.
Neighbourhood Demonstrators (N-DEMO) was one of two major Climate-KIC funded initiatives led by the Institute during 2011/12. Working with German partners, including TU Berlin, the project was delivering a series of urban test-beds to demonstrate, evaluate, and facilitate innovative and integrated low carbon interventions. In the UK, this work was underpinning and informing progress of the Bromley-by-Bow and Poplar demonstrator. This includes through the application of a 3D modelling decision support tool developed as part of the N-DEMO project by partner TU Berlin.
The Institute’s Total Community Retrofit (TCR) aspiration started with the premise that to deliver sustainable cities we needed large-scale and systemic innovation. Only by planning and investing in this way can we realise the efficiencies required to ensure widespread adoption.