See Peter's Publications |
|
Pete's passion is business that challenges the status quo for the benefit of people, communities and shareholders. He is an expert in disruptive innovation and innovation management and has worked with over 50 organisations around the world in sectors as diverse as aeronautics, financial services, nanotechnology, design consulting and FMCGs. Over the last three years, Pete has increasingly focused on using his counter-intuitive, proven approaches to drive the success of cleantech/sustainability-based new ventures and the environmental sustainability of business more broadly.
Pete first whet his innovation taste buds in 1998 as a business analyst within a British energy utility, where he worked in the programme management office responsible for delivering cost savings to the tune of £103m through process improvement and the application of lean methodologies.
From 2001 to 2005, Pete was based at Cranfield University's International Ecotechnology Research Centre, where he co-managed a €3 million international programme called Disrupt-it. During the programme, he developed implemented and validated a toolkit that successfully facilitated research partners and clients to identify and exploit disruptive innovations - products, services and business models that overturn the dominant thinking, behaviour or technology in a market. In addition, he helped improve their all-round project management of the innovation process, and used his applied research to earn a PhD in this field.
In 2005, Pete was invited to Australia by the Queensland University of Technology where, for two years, he applied and enhanced the Disrupt-it tools in consulting, training and research engagements, and taught "Managing Technological Innovation" on their MBA programme.
In the last three years, Pete has increasingly directed his expertise in disruptive innovation to solve the challenges faced by investors, start-ups and established organisations in bringing cleantech and sustainability-based ventures to life (which, by default are disruptive). For example, his engagements include:
- a review of a UK cleantech investment fund;
- strategy development for an Australian bio-ethanol start-up;
- assisting an international oil and renewable energy company to better understand how sustainability driven market changes could affect demand for oil and renewable energy sources;
- assisting a national British supermarket to:
- embed new approaches to innovation management to achieve energy and CO2 reduction targets;
- integrate a sophisticated energy consumption and green house gas emissions modelling tool to significantly de-risk new technology selection.
These engagements have given Pete a unique understanding of the cleantech and sustainability space from the viewpoint of investors, start-ups and established organisations, indeed, the value of this knowledge is also appreciated by universities . For example, Pete has delivered seminars and lectures on applying the learning from disruptive innovation to the sustainability and cleantech spaces at:
- Loughborough University
- Cranfield University
- Imperial College London
- London School of Economics
- Queensland University of Technology
Pete is also a social entrepreneur, having co-founded SportInspired, a vibrant, London-based social enterprise that partners with local, national and international organisations to deliver fun filled Community Games - local multi-sport festivals and tournaments designed to increase youth participation in sport.
