How can the public sector best address climate change?

At Forum for the Future we believe that unprecedented challenges require unprecedented solutions. Which is why we're using an innovative approach to deliver new ways of thinking about sustainability.

Forum for the Future has teamed up with The Innovation Forum and the world-leading design and innovation consultancy IDEO in a new project to accelerate learning and practice on local government innovation to address climate change.

This national demonstration project will give two local authorities rare access to the innovation processes that leading global companies such as Apple, Proctor & Gamble and BASF use to keep their competitive edge. Whilst the focus of this project is climate change, the ultimate outcome will be a learning model to inspire local government innovation across the board.

The project has been designed to:

• design innovations in service delivery and/or institutional shape, which local authorities can employ to address climate change;
• trial the use of innovation teams to generate ideas and creativity in local authorities;
• communicate and ‘scale up’ the outcomes and learning from the project – both practical solutions and innovation process learning.

Forum for the Future, IDEO and other leading creative thinkers will work with two local authorities over a six-month period to address blockages and intractable problems that prevent local government taking the lead in tackling climate change. The approach is designed to inspire creativity, by transferring approaches that have been successfully used in other sectors to generate innovation.

The structure of the project The project structure is based on an interactive, human-centred process that aims to unearth problems and challenges and then use a series of research and idea generation methods to problem solve and provide solutions that are implementable in the real world. This process, developed by IDEO, is set up in four defined stages: inspire, insight, ideation and implementation.

Who are The i-Team?

Forum for the Future is the lead partner in this project. Forum brings unrivalled experience of working with local authorities on sustainable development strategy. In addition, Forum has established expertise in the field of practical innovation, working with some of the world’s major companies, including Unilever, ICI and BP. This project combines these two areas of expertise. Forum’s expertise is only half of the story, however. We have created a team whose expertise on innovation and design is, we believe, unparalleled in public sector work in the UK.

Andrea Koerselmann
Andrea co-leads the Service Innovation and Design practice at IDEO London, where she has led strategic innovation projects across a wide range of industries, from healthcare and nutrition to consumer products and financial services. Her clients include the National Health Service, Nestlé, Numico, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Steelcase and Zyliss where she is involved in all stages of product and service development, from strategy to implementation.

She is currently leading the initiative at IDEO London to apply a human-centred approach to sustainability and social responsibility issues in design, businesses and society.

Andrea is frequently invited to speak on innovation and the integration of sustainability and design. She has taught courses at Stanford University, the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and given lectures at the Central School of Art and Design in London.

John Grant
John Grant co-founded the advertising agency St Luke’s. He is the author of several award-winning books on brand innovation and marketing, including The New Marketing Manifesto, which was selected as one of the top 10 business books of 1999 by Amazon. John now works as a consultant and his clients include Arthur Andersen, Napster, the Cabinet Office and IKEA - where he communicated the company’s ethical and environmental initiatives.

Paul Miller
Writer, consultant and entrepreneur focused on innovation, new forms of organisation and environmental sustainability, Paul does most of his research work as an Associate of the think tank Demos. He has advised or consulted to Orange, Scope, BT, Scottish Power, IDEO, Channel Four and the Department for Education and Skills.

Chris Sherwin
Chris is Head of Innovation at Forum for the Future. He specialises in sustainable marketing and innovation, the development of sustainable products and services, creative thinking and innovative approaches to sustainability. Prior to joining Forum, Chris worked on ecodesign and sustainable innovation in the electronics sector - with Philips Electronics and Electrolux. He has taught, lectured and researched innovative ecodesign throughout Europe. Chris has a PhD in ‘Innovative Ecodesign: an exploratory and descriptive study of Industrial Design practice’ at Cranfield University.

Fiona Bennie
Fiona is Senior Advisor: Sustainable Innovation at Forum for the Future. She works on sustainable innovation and design strategy for product and service development, focusing on creative thinking and problem solving for future challenges. Prior to joining Forum, Fiona was a design strategist for an innovation consultancy in London working on strategic and sustainability-related design projects. She has worked as a design strategist for both the Design Council and L’Oreal in Turin. Fiona studied at the Milan Politecnico and has an MA in Strategic Design and a BA in Italian and Industrial Design.  

Sarah Hills
Sarah is Principal Advisor: Built Environment at Forum for the Future. She leads the Forum’s Public Sector Programme work on the built environment and sustainable communities. Recently Sarah has also been working to develop a climate change programme for the public sector and has been advising a number of Forum’s local government partners on a best practice response to climate change. Before joining Forum, Sarah was a Research Fellow in the Centre for Environment and Planning, University of the West of England, Bristol. Sarah’s research focussed on the integration of sustainable development in spatial planning and urban policy. Sarah has a PhD in the role of environmental information in regional planning in Germany and a BSc in Environmental Science.

Karen Lawrence
Karen is Principal Advisor: Climate Change at Forum for the Future. She has recently joined Forum’s Public Sector team to advise on climate change. Before joining Forum, Karen worked on regulatory policy for a local government central body (LACORS), advising local authorities on environmental protection and climate change, developing and disseminating best practice and producing guidance. As part of this role, Karen recently edited and produced a climate change toolkit for local authority regulatory services to promote the integration of carbon reduction strategies into local regulatory activities. Karen has a BA in Architecture and is studying for an MSc in Sustainability and Environmental Management.