Dr Michael Wilkinson is an invited speaker at this year's Winter Union event on the 13th December 2017 in London.  The Theme for the event is:  Will Superhumans Compete of Collaborate with Machines? 

The Winter Union brings together leading innovators and speakers from a range of large and small companies, and from creative and technical disciplines, to explore how best humans and machines can co-exist peacefully and productively and what we need to do to create our future superhumanity.  During the event, Dr Wilkinson will present the Avatr medical initiative in Singapore, and the Newton Fund health promotion initiative in Brazil.

Inavya has been selected by the Department of International Trade to join an InnovateUK Future Cities Mission to Australia in March 2018.  Within this programme, the UK delegation of technology companies will learn about Australian market opportunities and business culture, develop a tailored pitch and then travel to Australia to meet prospective partners, investors and customers as well as visit local pioneering future cities projects.  Market interest in Avatr is exceptionally strong, especially in the future cities and healthcare sectors; and these opportunities will be developed during the mission.

Innovate UK’s mission partners are the Department of International Trade (DIT), the Future Cities Catapult, the Knowledge Transfer Network and open innovation experts, 100% Open.

Dr Michael Wilkinson has been invited to present the 'CityZen' project at a meeting that Future Cities Catapult (which is co-organising the UN-sponsored Smart Cities 4 All initiative - G3ICT and World Enabled) on the 7th November. The goal of the meeting will be to provide  an overview of the guidance standards they have launched for ICT accessibility and inclusion. 

The meeting will be an opportunity to exchange knowledge on different work around inclusivity and accessibility in smart cities; Future Cities Catapult and the UK are bringing together key people working in this space. The CityZen project is a Newton Fund R&D collaboration, which brings together organisations from the UK (Inavya, FCC & Space Syntax) and Brazil (CpQD, Industrial-I, Albert Einstein Hospital, City of Sao Paulo).  

About the Smart Cities for All initiative

G3ict and World Enabled launched the Smart Cities for All initiative to define the state of ICT accessibility in Smart Cities worldwide. Its focus is to eliminate the digital divide for persons with disabilities and older persons in Smart Cities around the world. The initiative is partnering with leading organizations and companies to create and deploy the tools and strategies needed to build more inclusive Smart Cities.

Inavya Ventures Ltd has won a major Brazil-UK R&D competition to develop AVATR health and medtech capability to meet market demand in Brazil and globally. Inavya is the UK lead, in partnership with Future Cities Catapult and Space Syntax Ltd.  Industrial-I is the Brazil lead, in partnership with the Brazil ICT research agency CPQD. The Cities of Sao Paulo and Campinas City will serve as demonstrator sites. The project, called CityZen, is planned to start in the Autumn 2017 and run for two years.

About the Newton Fund                           

The Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services and Innovate UK are running a call for proposals for collaborative research and development projects between British and Brazilian companies focusing on innovative, connected cities and renewable energy solutions.

Similar to the UK, today in Brazil 85% of people live in cities. This has created a wealth of opportunities for those moving to urban centres, yet also it has accelerated the development of unique challenges for the future development of cities in Brazil. Challenges such as improving energy, waste and water efficiency, developing infrastructure to meet current and future energy and service demands by residents (and visitors), while also promoting economic participation and harnessing education and skills within and around cities. Both the Brazilian and British governments are aiming to support projects developing the use of cutting-edge solutions to tackle critical issues for the future of urban environments.

Dr Michael Wilkinson has been selected to present AVATR at the inaugural Healthy City Design 2017 International Congress, from 16-17 October at the Royal College of Physicians, London, UK. Organised by SALUS Global Knowledge Exchange in collaboration with Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, the inaugural Congress seeks to share and stimulate new research, innovative practice and progressive policy ideas on how to design economically and ecologically sustainable cities that enhance citizen health and wellbeing.

A crisis of global and planetary health

Urban populations are growing at an unprecedented rate, a trend which – when set against the backdrop of an ageing society, rising obesity and chronic conditions, and the urgent need to respond to climate change – presents a powerful case for new thinking on how to design more sustainable, resilient cities that enhance health, wellbeing and social inclusion.

The World Health Organisation defines a healthy city as one that “supports health, recreation and wellbeing, safety, social interaction, easy mobility, a sense of pride and cultural identity, and... is accessible to the needs of all its citizens”. More recently, in a Lancet series on urban design, transport and health, cities are highlighted as the “key to the future sustainable development agenda”. Healthy City Design 2017 is fully aligned with these definitions.

Inavya Ventures Ltd has been invited to join a UK Government Mission to Singapore in September 2017. As part of this Mission, AVATR technology will feature as a novel innovation that deploys AI and machine learning in global markets such as healthcare, retail and education. Meetings with government officials, investors and international corporations are planned.  

During the Mission, AVATR will also be hosted by the UK Government at the international TECHINNOVATION 2017 Conference. It is the largest conference and exhibition in Singapore that focuses on enabling ready-to-market inventions to enter global sectors, including info-communications, personal care and healthcare. AVATR will be join leading corporate R&D, research organisations, university tech transfer offices, IP intermediaries, technology translators, multi-national corporations, small & medium enterprises and public agencies.