Wed 25th - Wed 25th November 2020, 09:30 - 11:00 BST
Ambitious goals have been set to transform Greater Manchester into a global leader in smart energy innovation.
Aligning the cities objectives, our webinar focused on:
- Transportation and Future Mobility
- Urban Planning and Sustainable Construction
- Green energy
- Digital Infrastructure and Technology
Innovate Manchester is an ambitious new events programme for Greater Manchester set up to enable cross-sector collaborations.
Why Sustainable Cities and Infrastructure?
Half of humanity – roughly 3.5 billion people – live in cities today and 5 billion people are projected to live in cities by 2030. Our urban environment is faced with increased air pollution, poor infrastructure and services, and unplanned urban sprawl. Moreover, the current pandemic has significantly changed our lives and needs, making simple issues, such as having enough space for everyone, increasingly challenging. However, this has also resulted in significant reductions in pollution which has inspired a movement to approach things with a fresh eye and avoid just “going back to normal”.
Urbanisation poses unprecedented challenges to our health and the environment and as a result, the United Nations has dedicated 1 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on cities. SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Infrastructure is set to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Our city region, Greater Manchester has been a world leader exploring the future of cities and has set an ambition to be the UK’s leading green and digital city-region. To achieve this, Greater Manchester has challenged itself to become carbon neutral by 2038, 12 years ahead of the national target and to be recognised as one of the best places in the world to live, work and invest.
Globally and locally the challenges are related to urban transportation and mobility, urban planning, and construction, energy management, water usage and waste management. Aligning these with Greater Manchester’s strategic objectives, our webinar will mainly focus the expert discussion in the below topics.
Transportation and future mobility
According to Deloitte in Greater Manchester 52% of journeys are taking place in private cars, 25% are on foot, while only 18% are by public transit and just 5% by bicycle. We need to rethink how cycling, electric and autonomous vehicles, as well as mobility hubs, can help our region reduce our emissions and achieve the Clear Air agenda.
Urban planning and sustainable construction
Greater Manchester has set an ambition for all new homes and commercial buildings to be zero carbon by 2028 by accelerating sustainable construction methods with the use of advanced materials and state of the art technologies as well as designing for and empowering a circular economy.
Green energy
Although the world’s cities occupy just 3% of the Earth’s land they account for 60%-80% of energy consumption and 75% of carbon emissions. Greater Manchester has set an ambition to become carbon neutral by 2038.
Digital Infrastructure and Technology
Greater Manchester as a region is at the heart of global digital advancements. While technology is an enabling layer enhancing existing infrastructure systems it is also becoming a layer of infrastructure on its own (Smart Cities) impacting many areas of life in the region such as security, health, energy, waste and mobility.
We live in unprecedented times and we need to work together, both as citizens and as professionals, to redesign our cities. We have the knowledge and technologies to build better infrastructures, policies, and social and digital mechanisms to create more resilient, sustainable, affordable and liveable cities for everyone.
We hope our webinar added a building block in this critical discussion. The purpose of this event was to inform and inspire change across all sectors as we heard from leading experts in these topics.
The Innovate Manchester programme is also focused on facilitating the process to create feasible solutions, and following the webinar we invite people, organisations and Greater Manchester-based SMEs to express an interest in our Innovation Lab workshop which will take place on December 8th and 9th.
Find out more about the Innovate Manchester programme for Large Organisations, and for SMEs, including what a challenge is and what previous attendees said about our webinars.
If you are a large organisation, public body or non-profit we want to hear from you; come forward and bring the biggest challenge you have related to the theme. We are here to support you identify and shape solutions.
Innovate Manchester is an ambitious new events programme for Greater Manchester. The events are designed to bring together large organisations, SMEs, the public sector and academia to collaborate on new innovative ideas.
Through expert facilitation webinars and virtual Innovation labs, participants are invited to co-create innovative solutions towards a more sustainable future for all, responding to themes ranging from sustainability and industry 4.0 to data ethics and Human-Centric design.
Businesses looking to access specialist support can visit www.businessgrowthhub.com for more information about the organisation’s extensive range of services.
Innovate Manchester and other GC Business Growth Hub projects are part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the GM Business Growth Hub project designed to help ambitious SME businesses achieve growth and increase employment in Greater Manchester. The Hub is also supported by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Greater Manchester local authorities.
Innovate Manchester is initiated in partnership with MIDAS and curated by FutureEverything
