Wednesday, 16 March 2022 at 13:00-14:00 via Zoom

A presentation by Dr Karlis Kanders (Senior Data Foresight Lead in the Discovery Hub at Nesta in London, United Kingdom).

In this seminar, Nesta will present an experimental, data-driven horizon scanning approach for tracking the trajectory of innovations and technologies. This approach leverages data science and machine-learning methods, and evaluates trends in research funding, business investment, news coverage and parliamentary debates. By combining insights across several large datasets that are commonly only analysed in isolation, we paint a multi-dimensional picture of the innovations indicating the resources they are attracting and how they are perceived.

As the first application of Innovation Sweet Spots, we examined ‘green’ technologies, particularly focusing on those that can help decarbonise heating and reduce household carbon emissions. Our findings suggest that, in the UK, low-carbon heating stands out among green technologies in terms of attracting significant public investment in research and development, and it shows a growing presence in the public discourse. However, we do not see similarly strong signals from venture capital investment. Based on our findings and interviews with investors, we have developed recommendations for action, which highlight the need for a more supportive policy environment in the UK, and innovative business and financing models, in order to achieve successful deployment and scaling of technologies for decarbonising heating.

Karlis Kanders is a Senior Data Foresight Lead working in Nesta’s Discovery Hub. He uses machine learning and network analysis to uncover emerging trends, promising technologies and interventions that will shape our future. Previously, Karlis has been working on data-driven innovations for navigating the labour market and connecting people to good work, as part of Nesta’s Open Jobs programme. Karlis holds a PhD in Computational Neuroscience at ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

This workshop is organised by TalTech Industrial project. TalTech Industrial has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 952410.

The seminar is in English.