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.
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.
OVO Energy Innovators
Plexal helped OVO Energy attract and bring together creative minds and innovators from the worlds of cycling, technology and sustainability to tackle the barriers to cycling being adopted more widely. Having shortlisted 20 companies, Plexal helped OVO Energy select the three winners of a bursary.
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.
CONTACT OUR TEAM
Francesca specialises in making sense of the most important micro and macro trends while helping businesses respond to change and, if necessary, transform their entire strategy. She’s worked closely with technology startups, scaleups and innovators and has delivered programmes at Plexal like London RoadLab and the Innovate UK Scaleup Pilot.
OUR NEWS AND VIEWS
Latest startup data: overall investment is down by 50% and seed-stage startups are being hit hardest
Plexal has teamed up with research company Beauhurst to analyse how the lockdown and COVID-19 is affecting UK businesses. And our latest data, which covers the period from 23 March
We have a window of opportunity to start a green transport revolution – let’s not squander it
Oxford Street is one of the busiest and most polluted roads in London but it’s seen a 47% reduction in daily average harmful nitrogen dioxide levels in recent weeks. In fact, it’s
We’ve never needed an ecosystem approach to cybersecurity more. Here’s how to sign up.
In just over a month, the world has been changed by COVID-19 in staggering ways. Industries have pivoted, supply chains have begun manufacturing new products to deal with the crisis
OUR CLIENTS AND PARTNERS
OUR INNOVATION TEAM
Francesa Lavey
Programme director, mobility
Bruno Sussat
Innovation lead, mobility
Folu Fabowale-Makinde
Innovation associate, mobility
Saj Huq
Programme director, LORCA
Tracey Bedford
Executive assistant, LORCA
Jason Mollring
Programme lead, LORCA
Kushal Puri
Programme lead, LORCA
Alanna Murphy
Innovation associate, LORCA
Will Sayer
Innovation associate, LORCA
Dave Rowley
Head of commercial sustainability, LORCA
Russell Gundry
Head of innovation strategy
Diane Gilbert
Innovation associate, inclusion
Tommy Ekman
Innovation lead, inclusion
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 7am-6pm.