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.  

Gemma Adams
Gemma is a Senior Sustainability Advisor at Forum for the Future.  She advises and manages a number of Forum's partnerships and projects in the public and private sectors.  Gemma specialises in creating change and leadership for sustainability using rigorous frameworks such as The Natural Step and Five Capitals.

Gemma's current focus is looking at how human-centred design techniques and innovation can be used to solve intractable sustainability challenges and remodel servicesn to better meet human needs and be more ecologically effective. 

Gemma recently ran Forum for the Future's local government network on climate change resilience which explored how local strategic partnerships can act on the social, governance and community aspects of mitigating and adapting to climate change, by applying the principle of resilience across the whole Local Area Agreement. She also led Forum for the Future's partnership with Advantage West Midlands to develop a leading low carbon regional economic strategy and projects which involved shaping large regional projects covering decentralised energy infrastructure, smart working, regional investment fund, low carbon transport and strategic public procurement.