Your career spanned a number of departments and policy areas before you left government to join the Connected Places Catapult. Can you share with us one project or role that made the biggest impact on you personally? And one which shaped your approach to innovation in the public sector?
For some years I was lucky enough to lead the government's Policy Lab. It was really great to see the team hit its 10-year anniversary recently. At Policy Lab I oversaw over a hundred projects for 32 organisations across government in the UK and abroad – all pioneering new methods to co-create policy with the people who are impacted. One such example was supporting the then housing minister as he travelled the country, listening to the experiences, concerns and ideas of social housing residents. My top lesson of my time at Lab: innovation and ideas are everywhere; make the time to ask and listen.
Connected Places Catapult is an innovation accelerator with a mission to create ‘better connected places across the UK and beyond’. What do better connected places look like, in practice?
Connected places are where living, working and moving are improved by innovation in the systems, infrastructure and economy of a place. Practically speaking, that looks like integrated transport systems which are greener, safer and more accessible. It looks like a connected built environment, with liveable neighbourhoods that are safe, sustainable and healthy. And all of this is underpinned by cutting edge technologies that allow data to be collected, shared and used to make everything smarter and more efficient. What we really care about is connecting great ideas and innovations into the infrastructure that makes up a place.
We do this in two ways: supporting innovation in transport and construction by testing and scaling new solutions. In doing so, we help high potential companies in these sectors to scale and grow in new and emerging markets, both here in the UK and overseas.
The work you do connects with a number of different departments so, putting aside policy specifics, are there one or two common things which officials across these departments could do to help accelerate innovation and support more connected places?
Yes, try to focus on the role of businesses in driving growth. This means designing policy around the journey of growing a business. As a startup, businesses need facilities to test. They have small teams doing everything from accounting to product development. They need help to build capacity. As a scale-up, businesses need investment. We published a report last week with the Centre for Cities called “Angels' Delight” which gives pointers on how we can address geographic gaps in access to private equity. As businesses grow further, they need skills pipelines, transport infrastructure and a supply chain.
The government has made economic growth its central mission, and emphasises the role of devolution and place-based leadership to drive that growth. In your four years at the Catapult, what approaches or practices have you seen that genuinely help places turn innovation into economic growth?
I think we need more direct business support programmes delivered in partnership with local government. The Innovation Accelerator trials have made a huge impact on Glasgow, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester. The Local Innovation Partnerships Fund will be one of the means that partnerships between industry, local government and academia can run programmes that take businesses through each of the stages I mentioned in my last answer.
You’ve long championed experimental approaches to policymaking. What’s your favourite example of this kind of work from your own career – and what advice would you give civil servants trying to adopt ‘test and learn’ approaches today?
That the answer to civil service challenges so often lie in the way that people across the country are already solving problems. Go out and see how local businesses are interacting with your policy - and if you have a new policy or service, explore an outcomes-based procurement and get a business to solve the problem for you.
Even with a really effective test and learn stage it can be hard to grow change. What are your reflections on how to set up innovation in a way that is most likely to scale well?
Think about who buys innovation. We need to increase the demand. Procurement is a great way to do this. We run the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre. The public sector spends £300bn through public procurement every year. When used effectively, an outcomes-based procurement can encourage new companies to enter the supply chain.
After four years outside of government what do you now see differently about how the civil service approaches innovation and change?
I'm sat writing this on a train to Birmingham to go and meet some businesses which we support. I'm even more convinced that civil servants need to get out and about, meet the people delivering, interacting with, and sometimes even ignoring, your product, service or policy.
The Connected Places Summit brings together policymakers, investors and innovators working on the future of cities, transport and infrastructure. For senior civil servants attending, what are the most important conversations they should be engaging with this year?
Try and meet the companies at the summit. Ask them about their growth journey. Ask them what they have needed at different stages of growth. Try and meet those public and private sector leaders that are creating demand for innovation, either by creating local conditions for business growth, by using innovative procurements or blending public and private capital to finance infrastructure projects.
You’ve previously said that you enjoyed reading Robert Caro’s The Power Broker over several months in 2024. What books or podcasts have you enjoyed most since then, and what is on your current ‘to read/listen’ list?
Yes, that's quite a tome. But there's a 99% Invisible 12-part podcast that breaks down the book for you as you read through each set of 100-page chapters.
Our outgoing chair, Greg Clark has a podcast called The Century of Cities which speaks to leaders from across policy, placemaking and urbanism to understand how different places are growing in all sorts of different ways.
Oh, and what interview would be complete without an AI recommendation? Azeem Azhar's Exponential View, of course.
The 2026 Connected Places Summit, the UK’s leading event for showcasing the innovation, talent, and technologies shaping the future of transport and construction, takes place on 18 and 19 March. Click here to find out more