Cross-cutting

The Institute's cross-cutting projects support systemic and integrated innovation, work at scale across the three programme areas and address the wider challenges of accelerating the UK's capability to deliver sustainable places to live and work.

These projects demonstrate new approaches, business models and technology opportunities within sustainable development and build on our programme specific projects, maximising their interdependencies in order to deliver greater social and economic development outcomes.

A number of these projects have 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 is an important contributor to economic growth - it has 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.

Climate Market Accelerator (CMA) is a pan-European project, that aims to help                                 demand-side partners define their requirements in ways which will stimulate suppliers to respond with effective solutions to real world challenges. The Institute is programme manager and also leading UK activity, including the set-up of Sustainable Innovation Forums (SIFs), which will provide active innovation brokerage support to UK property owners and investors. Initial scoping work and engagement with key demand-side buyers including Sainsbury's and the Better Building Partnership (BBP) was undertaken...read more>>>

EURBANLAB has been created to capture and share best practice on how we address the scale and complexity of city-wide sustainability challenges. The project is developing a network of 'urban living laboratories', providing opportunities for collaboration between European cities to support the transition to low carbon, resilient urban living. Thede Institute's activities are 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) is one of two major Climate-KIC funded initiatives led by the Institute during 2011/12. Working with German partners, including TU Berlin, the project is delivering a series of urban test-beds to demonstrate, evaluate, and facilitate innovative and integrated low carbon interventions. In the UK, this work is 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 starts with the premise that to deliver sustainable cities we need large-scale and systemic innovation. Only by planning and investing in this way can we realise the efficiencies required to ensure widespread adoption.