Snapshot
In June 2019, the London Borough of Hounslow declared a climate emergency. With the local economy being hit hard by COVID-19, borough leaders knew they had to act boldly and decisively to create a green recovery plan that would rebuild the local economy in more sustainable ways and enable them to respond effectively to the climate crisis.
Our business transformation team partnered with Hounslow to explore how the circular economy could enhance the borough’s green economic recovery.
Through a unique, online ‘Meet the Borough’ event, we connected staff across multiple Hounslow departments with handpicked start-ups and SMEs offering innovative products or services that could provide circular solutions for the borough’s biggest green challenges. The intent was to spark new public-private partnerships and pilots, and to shape a sustainable and progressive future for the borough.
The intent was to spark new public-private partnerships and pilots, and to shape a sustainable and progressive future for the borough.
The intimate and curated event format supported in-depth meetings and networking and the online platform provided a seamless, professional experience. Informative presentations and speed dating activities allowed participants to dream big, connect and act. Productive discussions took place, and strong connections were made, that we believe will lead to future partnership projects; we are already aware of four such opportunities.
We’re adapting this event for other boroughs so that they can also benefit from working with SMEs to address the particular challenges in their communities.
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What was the challenge?
In June 2019, the London Borough of Hounslow declared a climate emergency. With the local economy being hit hard by COVID-19, due in part to its reliance on the aviation industry, borough leaders knew they had to act boldly and decisively to create a green recovery plan that would rebuild the local economy in more sustainable ways and enable them to respond effectively to the climate crisis.
borough leaders knew they had to act boldly and decisively.
A Green Recovery Board was set up by Hounslow to identify, grow and deliver innovative solutions that support the green economy. Flagship projects include green enterprise zones and the creation of low-carbon neighbourhoods.
Hounslow wanted to engage more of its departments in this effort, while at the same time opening themselves up to the most innovative solutions offered by London’s SMEs to tackle their challenges.
To support those ambitions, our award-winning business transformation team partnered with Hounslow to explore how the circular economy could enhance the borough’s green economic recovery in a bold and ambitious way.
What did we do?
In December 2020 we delivered a unique, online ‘Meet the Borough’ event, matchmaking staff from across multiple Hounslow departments with start-ups and SMEs offering innovative products or services to provide circular solutions to tackle the borough’s biggest challenges, such as:
- Re-imagining retrofitted buildings
- Creating greener distinctive town centres for all
- New skills for a greener world
- Awakening the circular citizen
The aim of this event was to educate department managers across Hounslow’s teams about the circular economy, and raise awareness of the different solutions available to them in London. We hoped to spark exciting ideas and open up novel public-private partnerships, trials and pilots that could support the local green economy, and potentially create high quality local employment – ultimately shaping a progressive and sustainable future for this fast-growing, cosmopolitan borough.
Businesses with relevant solutions were handpicked from ReLondon’s 200-strong SME portfolio and extended network, and each one was briefed and coached so that they fully understood the challenges faced by each department, and could present their business to the borough in the most targeted way possible.
The event, hosted on a specialist online platform, involved presentations and speed-dating activities designed to make participants dream big, connect and act. Keeping the event small enabled in-depth conversations and productive networking. Carefully curated one-to-one meetings enabled borough leads to meet with a diverse and relevant range of SMEs, and we provided a forum for people to exchange messages, facilitating a seamless and personal experience.
The Meet the Borough event was a fantastic way for us to spark connections with local innovative SMEs that will help us meet our goals of building a greener borough and delivering our Climate Emergency Action Plan.
“The Meet the Borough event was a fantastic way for us to spark connections with local innovative SMEs that will help us meet our goals of building a greener borough and delivering our Climate Emergency Action Plan. The pandemic has presented great economic and environmental challenges, but we are meeting them by drawing on our collective strengths and working with new organisations and businesses.”
Victoria Lawson, Executive Director of Environment, Culture and Customer Services, London Borough of Hounslow
What were the outcomes?
We received very positive feedback about our first event. With 20 SMEs and 10 key decision-makers from across Hounslow’s council departments, hundreds of messages exchanged and over 40 one-to-one meetings, strong connections were made that we believe will result in future partnership projects.
Four connections made on the day have since resulted in discussions about setting up partnership projects.
Four connections made on the day have since resulted in discussions about setting up partnership projects.
“The event was really useful, as it would be difficult or take much longer to make these connections on our own. It would be amazing if it was replicated with other London boroughs as well!”
SME attendee
What was learned?
This was the first of several virtual, interactive events hosted by our business transformation team using the online Hubilo platform, and it was a real success. The interface created a seamless, personal experience that was fun to use. It also allowed us to showcase SMEs that were unable to attend on the day.
What’s next?
We’re carrying out research to understand the impact of the event including follow-up conversations and potential partnerships.
Since the event, we have received £900,000 from the Mayor of London’s Green New Deal funding to help us do more to support small circular businesses. We will keep supporting circular economy pilots as well as make grant funding and connections available to London-based SMEs, thanks both to our ERDF funding and the Green New Deal. Find out more: Green New Deal
We’re also adapting this event to support other boroughs in their exploration of circularity and the benefits it can bring. If you are a London borough interested in how we can work together to bring circular solutions to you, or an SME with a proven offering that could help boroughs tackle the climate emergency, get in touch at hello@relondon.gov.uk
