Energy Innovation Agency's Daniel Dickinson speaks at this year's Green Tech Conference

  • Friday, March 31, 2023
  • Posted By The Growth Company

Energy Innovation Agency was delighted to attend the recent Green Tech Conference 2023, hosted by pro-manchester at Circle Square in Manchester; which brought together over 120 business leaders for sessions packed with insights and industry vision.

Dan Dickinson, Development Lead at the Agency, was invited to be a panel speaker at the event.

Greater Manchester is committed to becoming one of the world’s first carbon neutral regions by 2038. That ambition brings with it exciting opportunities for innovation, upskilling and economic growth.

In line with this, the Conference welcomed a wealth of experts & contributors from across the green tech space; from companies developing innovative new technologies to help lower emissions, reduce our carbon footprint and improve our environment through to professional advisors, policymakers and training providers to share knowledge & understanding around how everyone can benefit from these developments.

Dan took part in the panel discussing “How is Manchester responding to the carbon challenge?”

He commented: “We may currently be behind Manchester’s ambitious target but we are ahead of other regions. Greater Manchester’s strengths lie in its collaborative nature – coordinating support and activities will get new products into the market faster. Our local authorities use new innovations and clean tech to achieve their carbon neutral ambitions and work closely with universities as well as business.”

He also said: “AI is moving into green tech which can model your behaviour and show where your business can improve through finding efficiencies in existing systems like heating and air conditioning. Local energy has also seen developments, whereby neighbours share power; the recent BBC articles on excess heat from data centres warming swimming pools is a great case study. We’ve also experienced incremental changes, for example solar has become significantly cheaper over the past 10 years and is more efficient...

...Energy Innovation Agency assists innovators with exploiting and scaling up effective low-carbon energy innovations and supports end users across Greater Manchester to access the latest solutions.”

Amy House, Director Of Green Economy  at GC Business Growth Hub, was also on the panel, she commented:

“What technology do we need in the market? There are still a lot of businesses that are on the journey but unaware of what is out there that could benefit. Innovation is currently happening that hasn’t reached the wider market. There is a requirement for businesses to invest in the future. BeeNetZero and GC Business Growth Hub focuses on helping businesses on their journey to net zero and provides 10 key steps to begin the journey and meet their goals. We need businesses to come forward and invest in Green Tech. Investment is worth while at this stage and could save businesses time and money in the long run. Finance for these projects needs to be simplified, the requirements and applications for ‘Green loans’ is complicated and confusing.”

 

Dan later joined a panel to talk about ‘The challenges of developing new sustainable technologies in Greater Manchester’.

 

As part of the discussion he said: “It is vital that SMEs train existing staff and get buy-in to the journey to net zero in order for Greater Manchester to reach its carbon neutral target by 2038. Ultimately Green Tech and more sustainable businesses will assist in retaining staff, attract investment, save money and accelerate growth.

 

There is a risk of people not understanding their target market and developing technology in isolation. Energy Innovation Agency can help companies look at new markets, provide industry steer and facilitate introductions to end users. To help companies to understand that investing in green tech can drive down costs, case studies, partnership and demonstrations are required to encourage Greater Manchester businesses to invest. Start-ups and SMEs need to be forward thinking and know where they want to be.”

Steve Connor, event host, summed things up well when he said: “We need to change. Be brave. Work together and not hide from the climate crisis.”

The Green Tech Conference was supported by sponsors Appleyard Lees, Bruntwood SciTech, Spencer Churchill & Manchester Metropolitan University and partnered with Bee Net Zero & BusinessCloud.