Get involved with techUK’s Digital Place Week 2022
Join techUK from 18 – 22 July as we explore how new technologies and approaches, from robot delivery vehicles to Integrated Care Systems, are driving place-led innovations across the UK.
The week will focus on ‘place’, an emerging concept involving the interaction between geography, groups of people and a problem that is meaningful to them.
Building on last year’s Digital Place Week 2021, we will showcase the work of our members driving the future of place bysharing guest blogs, case studies and relevant reports or featuring members in our new ‘innovation in place-based care’ podcast.
A different theme has been assigned to each day of the week, meaning that there are many opportunities for start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs, large companies, organisations and academics to get involved in #DigitalPlace.
Monday: The Future of Place
We will begin the week by looking ahead, exploring the likely impact of emerging technologies, the COVID-19 pandemic, the government's Levelling Up agenda and the Climate Crisis on ‘place’. Topics may include the future of commerce and the high street, the shift to remote working, the relevance of cyberspace and virtual places on perceptions of climate change, the metaverse, augmented and virtual reality, and regional development.
Tuesday: Digital and Data
How are digital and data enabling place-based approaches? Contributions may focus on the role of local and multi-agency working to prevent or respond to crime, the expansion of data sharing for targeted service intervention, and tackling place-based challenges through digitisation, the use of cloud-based servers and the use of big, real-time, sensor or geospatial data.
Wednesday: Connected Places
What is the role of consumer, transport and urban technologies in connecting places? Articles may address the importance of embedding place-based principles when deploying smart cities, intelligent service delivery and local partnerships, joining up places through sensors, Internet of Things technologies and on-demand or last-mile transport services, the importance of place-based behavioural insights and learning for advanced mobility, autonomous driving, or EV infrastructure roll-out and the growing importance of cross-place collaboration.
Thursday: Health and Wellbeing
How can recent sector reforms and new digital technologies improve patient outcomes? Likely themes to be explored concern the impact of Integrated Care Systems and Electronic Patient Records on health and care approaches and outcomes across places, remote care enabled by virtual wards and sensor technologies, joining up health data, and addressing health inequalities at the level of the place.
Friday: Digital Democracy and Decision-Making
How are technology and data enabling the virtualisation of politics and governance? Topics may include place and virtual politics, collaborative data in government and public sector data sharing, and place enabled by smart governance.
How to contribute
Members were invited to submit blogs or case studies on one of the above themes to [email protected]. These had to be between 400 and 600 words and follow the standard techUK contributor guidelines.
Submissions featured on the techUK website and were promoted via Twitter and LinkedIn throughout the week.
The deadline for submissions was close of play on 13 July.
Insights will be announced on the day and linked here. Share your thoughts on social media using the hashtag #DigitalPlace and keep up to date with latest views on our twitter @techUK.
You can also read a summary of our recent Exploring the role of the technology industry in 'place' panel discussion by clicking here. This contains links to the event recording and speaker presentations.
Georgina Maratheftis
Associate Director, Local Public Services, techUK
Georgina Maratheftis
Associate Director, Local Public Services, techUK
Georgina is techUK’s Associate Director for Local Public Services
Georgina works with suppliers that are active or looking to break into the market as well as with local public services to create the conditions for meaningful transformation. techUK regularly bring together local public services and supplier community to horizon scan and explore how the technologies of today and tomorrow can help solve some of the most pressing problems our communities face and improve outcomes for our people and places.
Prior to techUK, Georgina worked for a public policy events company where she managed the policy briefing division and was responsible for generating new ideas for events that would add value to the public sector. Georgina worked across a number of portfolios from education, criminal justice, and health but had a particular interest in public sector transformation and technology. Georgina also led on developing relationships across central and local government.
If you’d like to learn more about techUK, or want to get involved, get in touch.
Programme Manager, Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK
Ileana Lupsa
Programme Manager, Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK
Ileana Lupsa is the Programme Manager for Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, at techUK.
Ileana studied electronics, telecommunications and IT as an undergraduate, followed by an MSc in engineering and project management at Coventry University.
She refined her programme management expertise through her most recent roles working in the automotive industry.
Ileana is passionate about sustainability and creating a positive impact globally through innovation.
Tracy supports several areas at techUK, including Cyber Exchange, Cyber Security, Defence, Health and Social Care, Local Public Services, Nations and Regions and National Security.
Tracy joined techUK in March 2022, having worked in the education sector for 19 years, covering administration, research project support, IT support and event/training support. My most outstanding achievement has been running three very successful international conferences and over 300 training courses booked all over the globe!
Tracy has a great interest in tech. Gaming and computing have been a big part of her life, and now electric cars are an exciting look at the future. She has warmed to Alexa, even though it can sometimes be sassy!
Alison Young is the Associate Director Local Public Services.
Alison has background in International Trade & Investment, with experience in the public, private and third sector, advising on international trade, new markets, inward investment and working closely with UK cities and regions around investment into innovation and partnerships and technology. Prior to joining techUK, she has her own consulting business and was Head of Global Investment with the Connected Places Catapult. This role had a focus on FDI around the built environment and mobility, working across NetZero mobility projects in the UK and globally. She worked closely with the Innovation Districts Group, to foster and network of knowledge sharing and helped set up the Freeport Innovation Network, to foster innovation in the context of freeports with a focus on investment.
She spent six years living and working in the Middle East, with the Department for Business and Trade. Based first in Oman, leading on a number of sectors, from Education to Infrastructure, then based in the UAE, setting up the Technology and Smart Cities sector, with a core focus on AI and Fintech.
She is passionate about economic growth for the UK, to create jobs and opportunities; the green agenda and the decarbonisation of transport. She has a degree in Russian Studies MA, from the University of Edinburgh and is currently learning Arabic.