Innovation at Plexal
Plexal's innovation consultancy team delivers programmes and projects to tackle the big challenges facing society and industry, starting with cybersecurity, mobility and inclusion.
OUR INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
We’re creating a community of startups, scaleups, large corporations, charities and social enterprises from a spectrum of sectors and facilitating collaboration between them.
We believe that the big challenges organisations and society are facing must be tackled with a systems approach and with a genuine diversity of thought. We’ll assemble the right people and apply our innovation methodologies to your challenge.
From live testbeds to accelerators, we’ve delivered programmes for clients like Transport for London, Innovate UK and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, helping them to fast track their innovation agendas and tap into fresh solutions with real-world applications. Get in touch if you’re ready to do things differently.
WORK WITH US
Bring your innovation challenge to our consultancy team, or get in touch to become a partner.
WHAT WE DO
Innovation programmes like incubators and accelerators
Live testbeds and in-market experiments
Bespoke consultancy
Convene stakeholders through forums and roundtables
OUR INNOVATION THEMES
PROGRAMMES WE'VE DELIVERED
LORCA
We’re delivering the government-backed cybersecurity programme with partners like Lloyds Banking Group, Deloitte, the Centre for Secure Information Technologies and Dell Technologies.
NCSC for Startups
We're working with the National Cyber Security Centre to help startups develop, adapt or pivot cybersecurity solutions.
LORCA Ignite
We’re turbocharging the growth of six LORCA graduates with LORCA Ignite: our scaleup programme.
Inclusion
We’ve delivered the OpenDoor inclusion accelerator and we're working with partners like Disability Rights UK and University College London to turbocharge the assitive technology sector.
Innovate UK Scaleup Pilot
We helped Innovate UK learn more about the sector-specific challenges companies face as they scale.
London RoadLab
We’ve delivered a mobility programme for Transport for London using a pioneering new innovation procurement process to reimagine roadworks in the capital.
London FreightLab
We're helping Transport for London and nine partners make the way goods move around London safer, cleaner and more efficient. We've helped them attract and identify the right cohort members to support.
Rapid Innovation Accelerator
Plexal’s been appointed by the UK Oman Digital Hub to work alongside Omani innovation development company AL JABR to tackle challenges created by the global pandemic.
Accessible Instruments Challenge
Our innovation team was tasked by Arts Council England to deliver a programme that would help uncover practical solutions that make it easier for disabled people to make music, and solve specific challenges when it comes to the supply of adaptive instruments to schools.
OUR INNOVATION TESTBED
Plexal’s the innovation centre for Here East: a technology and innovation campus in east London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Since the 2012 Olympic Games, the campus has become a cluster for companies large and small, along with academic institutions, creatives and social enterprises. Our neighbours include Ford Mobility, data company signalnoise and three universities. There’s no innovation cluster quite like it.
Plexal’s inclusion team works closely with our on-campus partners like University College London (home to the Global Disability Innovation Hub), HOBS 3D and BT Sport to accelerate inclusive innovation. We’re coming together to deliver the East London Inclusive Enterprise Zone, which will see Plexal’s workspace being optimised for accessibility to support disabled entrepreneurs.
Beyond our campus, we sit on privately owned land in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which allows innovators like Bird, Oxbotica, Navya and Capri to trial solutions in a real-world setting. The 560-acre park has become a thriving mobility ecosystem for London. With a growing population of residents, businesses and visitors, it’s a microcosm of big cities and the perfect testing ground for big ideas.
OUR NEWS AND VIEWS
Welcoming LORCA Ignite
Plexal launched LORCA in 2018 with funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport to accelerate the growth of British cyber startups. Over the last three years, LORCA
NCSC for Startups launches today
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ – has appointed Plexal to deliver NCSC for Startups. In 2021 and beyond, we’ll work with innovators to help
Rapid Innovation Accelerator: highlights from Demo Day
With its traditional mosaics, fortresses and mosques, Oman’s architectural style is steeped in history. But don’t be fooled: this is a country with its sights set firmly in the future.
OUR CLIENTS AND PARTNERS
OUR INNOVATION TEAM
Andrew Roughan
Managing director
Bruno Sussat
Innovation lead, mobility
Grant Wade
Client manager
Saj Huq
Director of innovation
Ketna Hirji
Innovation manager
Tracey Bedford
Executive assistant, LORCA
Will Sayer
Innovation associate
Dave Rowley
Commercial director, cyber
Russell Gundry
Director of innovation programmes
Diane Gilbert
Innovation delivery lead
Ruby Motabhoy
Innovation consultant
Robert Kearney
Innovation ecosystem lead
James Lamb
Programme manager
Find Us
Plexal’s based at Here East: a tech campus in east London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We’re a 10-minute walk from Hackney Wick train station, or you can catch the free shuttle bus from Stratford train, underground and bus stations.
Plexal
14 East Bay Lane, The Press Centre, Here East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E20 3BS
We’re open Monday-Friday from 6am-12am, Saturday - Sunday 10am-6pm