Using tech to reimagine transport and mobility in a net zero world

Event overview

Green Tech South West hosts a pair of transport/mobility themed lightning talks by Tom Williams from Voi E-Scooters and Sebastien Thomas from TripShift.

Did you know that transport accounts for around one-fifth of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and oil-fueled vehicles such as cars, buses and trains are a significant contributor to poor air quality?

We’ve invited two innovative startups, who are looking to help citizens reimagine how they can travel more sustainably, to tell us about what they are up to and why it matters.

“Safe & Sustainability Micromobility”

First, we have Tom Williams from Voi who will be taking a retrospective look at the e-scooter trial in the South West of England, covering topics from the use of technology, uptake of the scheme and environmental benefits and goals.

You can read our short interview with Tom ahead of his talk.

About Tom

Tom is the City Success Manager for Voi covering the South West of England. His role involves overseeing Voi’s operations on a day to day basis and working closely with councils, the West of England Combined Authority and other partners to deliver a successful trial scheme in the region.

In his spare time, Tom enjoys spending time with friends and family in his local south London, trying (and failing) to bake a sourdough with the perfect ‘ear’ and pontificating about craft beer.

You can read our short interview with Tom ahead of his talk.

“How to become a move better hero”

Next, we have Sebastien Thomas from TripShift, the start-up helping people, businesses and communities to understand, manage and reduce their transport-related carbon emissions. The automated data collection of our app allows users and businesses to focus on understanding their transport-related carbon footprint, what does ‘good’ look like and nudge them towards more sustainable travel options. Access to reporting will allow businesses to provide transparency and build resilience on their journey to become Net-Zero. Let’s all move better.

About Sebastien

Sebastien’s official role is Commercial Director but as things go in smaller companies he wears multiple hats. Engaging with clients, marketing, pitching to investors, products development, anything we might need on the day.

His main role now is helping COOs and CFOs who are scratching their head trying to understand how they are going to measure and reach the new NetZero targets the PR people have just proudly announced in the next room.

You can read our short interview with Sebastien ahead of his talk.

Watch the event video

watch the event on crowdcast

To make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for, here are the key timings in the video:

👋 06:43- A welcome from your meet-up organisers, Ellen, Hannah and Mike with a brief overview of GTSW and what we’re about

📢 13:42 – Our famous 60-second intros – a chance for attendees to introduce themselves, ask for help and tell us about something the group might find interesting

💚 25:56 – Tom’s talk

💚 42:22 – Sebastien’s talk

❓ 01:01:10 – Q&A session

🗓️ 01:17:53 – Round-up, other community notices and next event announcement

Resources and links

One of the perks of holding events online, and having such a wonderful and engaging community, is we share a huge amount of useful resources and information throughout the event. Here’s a summary of what we unearthed.

Tom’s slides

Green-Tech-SW-Keeping-Micromobility-Carbon-Neutral

or download the slides

Sebastien’s slides

Introducing-TripShift

or download the slides

Links and resources

60 second intros

Tim Kindberg – Digital Technologist/Creative and Green Tech South West Alumni shouting out his awesome project I Didn’t Buy which aims to empower people to shop more sustainably by providing specific information at the point of purchase on ecommerce sites. With a prototype to demo and plenty of consumer research, Tim is keen to speak to people who are interested in sustainable shopping and who wish to support his platform in areas such as coding, design, community building, information gathering and more.

You can contact Tim at tim@matter2media.com or via the project’s original website ididntbuy.org.

Matt Tudge – Working on a Department for Education pilot project looking at skills needs of the future in Advanced Engineering and Social Care and how these sectors are planning on decorbonising, mitigating climate risks and being more sustainable. Matt is interested in speaking to anyone affiliated with either of these sectors and they’ll plant a tree for every business that gets in touch via Business West partner Ecologi. They’re holding an event on Jan 26th called Jet Zero Hydrogen & Skills which still has spaces!

Andy Hawkins – Chief Purpose Officer and B-Corp Coach at Business On Purpose, an organisation supporting companies with B Corp Certification as well as Charities and Public Sector Organisations to measure and increase the impact of their social value. Get in touch if you’re interested to hear more! They also have a B-Corp Lunch & Learn event on the 25th of Jan.

You can reach Andy at andy@businessonpurpose.uk.

Tony – From Yvant, a new climate focused tech co-operative made up of 3 members with skills in software systems, infrastructure as code, cloud migrations, digital transformation, DevOps as well as Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (PMEL). They’re a collective of professionals keen to work in climate and support climate positive projects.

Adam Watts – From Mercia who are a venture stage investor and have recently opened an office in Bristol in Engine Shed. They are sector agnostic but personally, Adam is interested in speaking to CleanTech and ClimateTech businesses.

You can have a chat with Adam at adam.watts@mercia.co.uk.

Chris Pointon – Announcing the Green Web Development and Sustainable Datacenters meetup next Thursday 27th Jan 12:30 – 1:30 with Chris Butterworth talking about Green web developments and Tim Chambers who runs a company that designs green datacenters. It’s all online!