Cardiff Innovation Week launched

Future Cities Catapult has announced plans to stage its ‘Innovation Week’ programme in the city of Cardiff, Wales.

The move by the Government-backed global centre of excellence in urban innovation follows a successful premier of the event in Birmingham. The event will be run in partnership with Innovation Point, a company set up to help innovators find funding and networks to grow.

The week-long schedule of events begins next week (24 April) and will bring together businesses, universities and city leaders from Cardiff and afar, to explore how advanced urban services can help solve city challenges, and how local SMEs working in the sector can reach new markets.

It will comprise of a series of open invitation workshops, discussions and networking events aimed at the city’s thriving community of entrepreneurs, innovators, academics and businesses.

With 97 per cent resident satisfaction scores, Cardiff is recognised as the third most livable capital city in Europe. The city has grown by 11 per cent over the last decade and 72,000 new residents are expected by 2035. This will require more than 40,000 new homes and a similar number of new jobs, as well as additional school places, capacity on transport networks and energy infrastructure.

“Cardiff is projected to grow by 20 per cent over the coming two decades, making it the fastest growing of the UK’s core cities. Accommodating and making a success of that growth is both a challenge and opportunity for the city and wider region,” said Sam Markey, head of relationship development at Future Cities Catapult.

“If you’re an SME who’s interested in the future cities market, an innovator looking for thorny challenges in need of brilliant solutions, a business adapting to the changing realities of modern cities, or a city leader asking how your city can reach the top spot for livability, then Innovation Week, Cardiff is for you.”

Six free talks and workshops will be taking place across the city covering a variety of themes, including:

Health and mobility: focusing on how cities can harness new technologies and approaches to mitigate the negative impacts of city life;

Integrated urban planning: exploring how big data, artificial intelligence and visualisation could transform planning and urban development in Cardiff and beyond;

Data visualisation: looking at techniques to turn raw city data into striking visualisations which explore and address urban challenges.

“Innovation Point is delighted to partner with Future Cities Catapult to bring Innovation Week to Cardiff,” added Colin Batten, head of partnerships at Innovation Point.

“At a time when businesses and local authorities face rapid change and disruption, nurturing innovation to develop what our cities of the future could look like has never been more important.

“The digital sector is a critical part of the Welsh economy and the growth of many digital businesses across the country has confirmed our place as a vibrant tech scene able to deliver global solutions.”

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