Digital innovators leading change

00;00;01;11 - 00;00;04;08
Nexus, Publish By GHD.

00;00;04;08 - 00;00;05;27
Where ideas connect.

00;00;08;00 - 00;00;10;22
Today I'm excited to be joined by Jackie
Lee Joe.

00;00;10;25 - 00;00;14;03
Jackie has over
20 years of marketing, digital disruption

00;00;14;06 - 00;00;17;13
and transformation
experience across media tech.

00;00;17;20 - 00;00;20;27
Telco, aviation and financial services.

00;00;21;09 - 00;00;24;29
She's enjoyed
working with some truly impactful brands

00;00;25;02 - 00;00;28;05
including Netflix, BBC, Sky, Virgin

00;00;28;08 - 00;00;30;05
Orange and Afterpay.

00;00;30;10 - 00;00;31;29
Jacqui, with so much experience

00;00;31;29 - 00;00;34;12
working in transformation, it's wonderful
to have you

00;00;34;12 - 00;00;37;22
today to explore intergenerational ideas
for the future.

00;00;38;00 - 00;00;40;04
Total pleasure Michelle. Good to be here.

00;00;40;07 - 00;00;44;11
So to set the scene,
we are GHD embarked on Crossroads Research

00;00;44;14 - 00;00;48;13
to test the unsettling hypothesis space
that we run the very real risk

00;00;48;16 - 00;00;52;21
of passing on to future generations
a built and natural world,

00;00;53;01 - 00;00;56;27
climate and quality of life
that's inferior to our own.

00;00;57;10 - 00;01;00;21
So at this critical juncture,
we asked ourselves, how can we course

00;01;00;24 - 00;01;04;22
correct and chart a path forward
that leads to a positive legacy?

00;01;05;00 - 00;01;08;16
To do that, we focused on exploring
intergenerational equity

00;01;08;19 - 00;01;10;09
through an infrastructure lens,

00;01;10;12 - 00;01;14;13
the way we are creating our regions,
cities and communities for the future.

00;01;14;21 - 00;01;17;17
Crossroads involves
surveying more than 10,000 people

00;01;17;17 - 00;01;21;14
across ten countries to canvass
a broad cross-section of the population.

00;01;22;04 - 00;01;25;22
And through that research, we uncovered
multigenerational perspectives,

00;01;25;25 - 00;01;30;26
preferences, and priorities, discovering
that the three most pressing issues

00;01;30;29 - 00;01;35;06
common across geographies and generations
are environmental concerns,

00;01;35;15 - 00;01;38;20
cost of living pressures
and transport challenges.

00;01;40;09 - 00;01;41;03
Jackie, you're

00;01;41;03 - 00;01;44;00
working at some fascinating
startup companies

00;01;44;03 - 00;01;47;29
at the moment that are genuinely working
at the intersection of these challenges.

00;01;48;12 - 00;01;51;03
The first insight
that is apparent from crossroads

00;01;51;03 - 00;01;54;27
is that optimism in the future sits
with our younger generations,

00;01;55;09 - 00;01;58;07
and one of the strongest messages
we heard from young people across

00;01;58;07 - 00;02;01;14
the world was their willingness
to change their behaviors, to favor

00;02;01;17 - 00;02;04;16
a more circular economy
and sustainable future.

00;02;04;27 - 00;02;09;08
So I'm keen to hear from you how you're
seeing that first hand in your work.

00;02;09;18 - 00;02;10;17
Thanks, Michel.

00;02;10;20 - 00;02;14;08
Yes, and a lot of the work that I've
in particular, most recently done,

00;02;14;11 - 00;02;18;00
I think, across from fintech
through to sustainability.

00;02;18;09 - 00;02;22;28
You know, I've really found that Gen Z
and millennials are not just optimistic,

00;02;23;01 - 00;02;25;28
but also acutely aware of the ever

00;02;26;01 - 00;02;29;04
constantly changing world
in which they're inhabiting, right?

00;02;29;07 - 00;02;33;17
Where there's no linear career
path anymore, where home ownership

00;02;33;20 - 00;02;38;18
is increasingly fraught, and where there's
an acute awareness of environmental

00;02;38;21 - 00;02;42;06
and if you like, eco anxiety
around the future.

00;02;42;17 - 00;02;46;09
And so, you know, in many ways,
they're turning their attention

00;02;46;21 - 00;02;50;20
and taking responsibility
for their future in their own hands

00;02;50;23 - 00;02;54;23
and pulling that agency through into,
I think, increasingly

00;02;54;26 - 00;02;58;28
getting on the front foot
and taking control of their own future.

00;02;59;15 - 00;03;03;10
And this is exactly the case
in one of the startups

00;03;03;13 - 00;03;05;22
that I'm working with called
Really Clever.

00;03;05;25 - 00;03;09;09
It's actually founded by two amazing

00;03;09;16 - 00;03;12;24
on the cusp,
the millennial and Gen Z founders, right?

00;03;13;03 - 00;03;15;29
Patrick Battista Pinto and Matthew Miller.

00;03;16;02 - 00;03;19;16
They have founded in the north of England,
a biotech company

00;03;19;20 - 00;03;22;17
which is responsible
and creating sustainable

00;03;22;20 - 00;03;25;20
biomaterials, beginning
with leather substitutes

00;03;25;23 - 00;03;29;26
for the likes of footwear and fashion
and the automotive industries.

00;03;30;06 - 00;03;34;06
And their mission is to make truly
sustainable products accessible to all.

00;03;34;09 - 00;03;37;15
So that combination of cost of living,
dimensionality

00;03;37;18 - 00;03;41;21
and sustainability is part of the ethos
of their whole mission.

00;03;41;27 - 00;03;44;26
And their first innovation
is actually a bio polymer.

00;03;44;29 - 00;03;49;05
So if you want to imagine a cake mix
or maybe a sour dough starter, right,

00;03;49;08 - 00;03;52;22
which contains a bit of bacteria
and fungi, right?

00;03;53;08 - 00;03;56;07
Depending on the product you want,
you can actually change

00;03;56;10 - 00;03;59;26
either the ingredients or the composition
or the cooking times.

00;04;00;10 - 00;04;01;04
And off the back of that

00;04;01;04 - 00;04;05;13
you can get completely different
and new product types and specification.

00;04;06;03 - 00;04;09;00
So it is a drink and biopolymer.

00;04;09;03 - 00;04;12;03
It combines mushroom waste and algae.

00;04;12;11 - 00;04;15;14
So that notion of our waste is not waste.

00;04;15;25 - 00;04;18;28
Constant circular
economy principles brought to bear

00;04;19;07 - 00;04;21;29
from a single kind of unit tech stack.

00;04;22;02 - 00;04;24;27
We can make a thousands
of different specifications

00;04;24;27 - 00;04;28;12
that can be used as substitute either
leather or plastic products.

00;04;28;22 - 00;04;32;09
And every property can be tuned
everything from performance

00;04;32;12 - 00;04;36;02
through to sensory, even smell
in the creation of the products.

00;04;36;10 - 00;04;39;09
And the manufacturing process
is very low energy.

00;04;39;09 - 00;04;41;08
It doesn't use any plastics at all.

00;04;41;11 - 00;04;44;04
The bio material can actually be produced

00;04;44;07 - 00;04;47;00
iteratively over the course of 72 hours.

00;04;47;00 - 00;04;50;07
So you've got the raw material
being the mushroom supply waste

00;04;50;13 - 00;04;54;15
and mushrooms, and that is produced
into that basic material.

00;04;54;24 - 00;04;58;05
And then that basic material goes off
for Financial Post post-production

00;04;58;13 - 00;05;00;27
in various tanneries,
where a lot of the brands

00;05;00;27 - 00;05;04;19
that we work with will want to do
those final kind of tweaks

00;05;04;22 - 00;05;08;18
and tuning of the products
before they go to ship them.

00;05;08;25 - 00;05;12;22
So it's got that dimension of low
energy requirements and ones

00;05;12;25 - 00;05;17;28
that are on one side, but it's also a
no organism kind of growth model.

00;05;18;01 - 00;05;21;01
So it doesn't organically grow
biomaterials.

00;05;21;13 - 00;05;24;02
It's actually lab cultivated products.

00;05;24;05 - 00;05;27;16
And what that enables us to do
is to use the space in a facility

00;05;27;19 - 00;05;30;19
far more efficiently,
so that we can be much more effective

00;05;30;22 - 00;05;33;21
in our scaling of the product,
and therefore much more affordable.

00;05;33;24 - 00;05;37;16
So all of those dimensions
have kind of come in to the inception,

00;05;37;19 - 00;05;40;29
if you like, of the company
and the product that we are producing,

00;05;41;07 - 00;05;44;16
and it is being driven
by the pure energy of Gen

00;05;44;19 - 00;05;48;08
Z and millennial founders, it's
just so exciting to hear.

00;05;48;12 - 00;05;53;06
I love the idea of the cusp, millennial
and Z later in this space.

00;05;53;10 - 00;05;56;02
Yeah, they May 28th. Michelle.

00;05;56;03 - 00;05;58;04
Absolutely extraordinary.

00;05;58;07 - 00;06;00;19
And I'm learning so much from them.

00;06;00;19 - 00;06;03;25
I mean, that's the amazing thing about
you kind of working

00;06;03;28 - 00;06;06;19
between the generations
and having been brought up,

00;06;06;19 - 00;06;10;06
I guess, with one generation
and then having to learn and lean into

00;06;10;14 - 00;06;13;14
kind of doing advisory
with a number of kind of founders

00;06;13;17 - 00;06;16;29
is that you get a different sense
of kind of purpose,

00;06;17;03 - 00;06;18;22
a heightened awareness

00;06;18;22 - 00;06;22;09
of all of these issues, and then that
being translated into action.

00;06;22;17 - 00;06;24;27
So interesting,
because we feel the same thing

00;06;24;27 - 00;06;27;06
with our own young professionals
in the business.

00;06;27;06 - 00;06;30;20
In fact, we get a lot of pushback
internally from our young professionals

00;06;30;23 - 00;06;34;15
around them being considered
the most optimistic compared

00;06;34;18 - 00;06;37;20
to the other generations, because I
feel like there is so much to do.

00;06;37;23 - 00;06;42;11
But we also know
we did a survey recently before 26,

00;06;42;20 - 00;06;43;11
which showed that

00;06;43;14 - 00;06;47;04
our young people, about 50% of them, were
willing to lean into a leadership space.

00;06;47;07 - 00;06;50;13
So I, I can feel that
that's what's coming through.

00;06;50;16 - 00;06;54;22
This particular startup company,
which is fantastic to see.

00;06;55;06 - 00;06;58;17
And also the idea that you can actually
the speed to market idea

00;06;58;20 - 00;07;03;00
that efficiency and productivity
and responsibility for using different

00;07;03;03 - 00;07;06;12
materials is just coming through
so strongly through that story.

00;07;06;22 - 00;07;08;17
So we lead on to another one.

00;07;08;18 - 00;07;13;20
I know you're also tackling mobility
and cost of living with another group,

00;07;13;24 - 00;07;16;06
and it would be great for you
to share some of that work

00;07;16;06 - 00;07;21;15
and how you also think that it might shift
us towards a more equitable future.

00;07;21;21 - 00;07;23;26
Yeah, again,
I think this is really interesting.

00;07;23;26 - 00;07;29;18
You know, this is another startup that is
and has been looking at the trends,

00;07;29;21 - 00;07;32;21
if you like, in relation
to shared mobility options

00;07;32;27 - 00;07;36;23
with mobility service models
and sustainable transport options.

00;07;36;26 - 00;07;37;08
Right.

00;07;37;11 - 00;07;41;24
But again, that shift in behavioral
pattern is very much coming from

00;07;42;01 - 00;07;43;22
millennials and Gen Zs, right?

00;07;43;23 - 00;07;47;20
That combination of climate change
awareness, the rejection

00;07;47;23 - 00;07;52;07
of that notion of car ownership
as a status symbol, right.

00;07;52;16 - 00;07;55;17
Unlike previous generations,
who often saw car ownership

00;07;55;20 - 00;08;00;18
as this kind of milestone for adulthood
or some level of status symbol.

00;08;00;25 - 00;08;04;26
You know, millennials and Gen
Z don't place as much importance on that.

00;08;04;29 - 00;08;09;03
In fact, what is much more important
is experiences and sustainability

00;08;09;06 - 00;08;12;25
and financial freedom
than the ownership of goods like cars.

00;08;13;07 - 00;08;16;04
And so what we're seeing
is a massive embrace of shared

00;08;16;04 - 00;08;20;12
mobility models, you know,
reflected in ride hailing services

00;08;20;15 - 00;08;25;22
such as Uber, Lyft and Didi through to car
sharing services

00;08;25;25 - 00;08;30;12
like Zipcar in the US, in the UK or Turo
or go get actually,

00;08;30;15 - 00;08;34;17
as in the case of this market,
and increasingly, of course, in micro

00;08;34;20 - 00;08;40;02
mobility options such as bike sharing or
e-bike programs or a skateboard programs.

00;08;40;18 - 00;08;43;17
And so one company
I'm working with is called coma.

00;08;43;21 - 00;08;46;26
And, you know, the design of coma

00;08;47;04 - 00;08;51;19
actually came about from a mobility agency
called Grand Studio.

00;08;51;22 - 00;08;53;04
And they're based in Switzerland.

00;08;53;04 - 00;08;56;15
And in fact, they have an outlet
in Turin as well, where they're looking at

00;08;56;18 - 00;09;00;15
developing mobility solutions,
if you like, for future cities.

00;09;00;25 - 00;09;04;24
And this is very much in line with that
ethos in Europe, which is increasingly

00;09;04;27 - 00;09;10;09
about the quality of public spaces
and the playing out of community values.

00;09;10;12 - 00;09;10;28
Right.

00;09;11;01 - 00;09;14;21
And so the mission of coma is very much
about realizing a future

00;09;14;24 - 00;09;18;21
where cities are less congested
with less pollution

00;09;19;00 - 00;09;23;20
and favoring a far more faster
and I guess, greener travel model.

00;09;23;29 - 00;09;27;04
So coma is actually what we would call
a new category of vehicle.

00;09;27;07 - 00;09;29;10
We call it an urban mobility vehicle.

00;09;29;13 - 00;09;31;27
It is the width of about 85cm.

00;09;31;27 - 00;09;34;11
So really only the width of a motorcycle.

00;09;34;14 - 00;09;39;23
And it occupies
only 20% of the space of a typical car.

00;09;40;02 - 00;09;44;10
It has a four wheel
electronic tilting system and ABS.

00;09;44;13 - 00;09;48;02
So it has the agility of a motorcycle

00;09;48;05 - 00;09;51;04
in terms of being able
to wave in and out of traffic.

00;09;51;07 - 00;09;54;06
But it's got the stability
and the safety of four wheels.

00;09;54;09 - 00;09;56;05
So the four wheels
never leaves the ground,

00;09;56;05 - 00;10;01;08
and it enables you to feel comfortable
about conquering corners with confidence.

00;10;01;18 - 00;10;03;11
And this is very important
if we're looking at

00;10;03;11 - 00;10;07;12
driving behavioral change
and having people accept different models

00;10;07;20 - 00;10;10;12
of kind of mobility, in the future.

00;10;10;15 - 00;10;11;29
It's a two seater vehicle.

00;10;12;02 - 00;10;14;29
So, you know,
the two seats are one behind the other,

00;10;14;29 - 00;10;17;23
and there's extra storage space
both at the top and the back.

00;10;17;26 - 00;10;22;19
So this is perfect for ride hailing
models and ride sharing models, right?

00;10;22;28 - 00;10;25;13
And it's got safety built in to it.

00;10;25;13 - 00;10;27;00
Even though it's exposed on the side.

00;10;27;00 - 00;10;30;16
It has integrated side and front airbags.

00;10;30;26 - 00;10;35;12
It's got front and rear crash boxes
and it's got anti-collision software

00;10;35;15 - 00;10;39;23
and seatbelts so that you can actually
get into that vehicle without a helmet.

00;10;40;01 - 00;10;42;01
And this is different from,
you know, a lot of ride

00;10;42;01 - 00;10;44;28
sharing with motorcycles
that have been trialed across Europe

00;10;45;01 - 00;10;46;26
where you absolutely
have to wear a helmet.

00;10;46;26 - 00;10;48;27
So you've got to have a helmet
for that passenger.

00;10;48;27 - 00;10;50;18
This kind of removes that.

00;10;50;21 - 00;10;54;07
The sustainability is in that the users is

00;10;54;11 - 00;10;57;17
and is committed to using 70%

00;10;57;22 - 00;11;02;01
less materials in the production of it
than a classic vehicle.

00;11;02;09 - 00;11;05;09
That is, to minimize
both logistic impacts,

00;11;05;13 - 00;11;08;22
decrease energy consumption,
and reducing in waste.

00;11;08;25 - 00;11;12;19
So it's only 30% of the resource
requirement of an average vehicle.

00;11;13;10 - 00;11;18;15
It has two modular 7.5kW batteries,

00;11;18;29 - 00;11;23;15
so that actually makes it easier to charge
and a much more flexible system.

00;11;23;29 - 00;11;28;20
So you can charge,
you know, the, one battery in ten minutes

00;11;28;23 - 00;11;31;27
and that will take you 100km
and across the dual battery

00;11;32;00 - 00;11;36;10
module, 200km,
which is a decently good range

00;11;36;27 - 00;11;40;27
and enables you, very standard power
kind of charging mechanism.

00;11;41;00 - 00;11;44;00
So it's much easier and more flexible.

00;11;44;11 - 00;11;47;00
And because it's been designed by,

00;11;47;00 - 00;11;51;27
Larry Varnish, who used to be the chief
design officer of Pininfarina,

00;11;52;05 - 00;11;55;08
he used to design Ferrari's and Audi's
for a living.

00;11;55;18 - 00;11;57;00
It's beautifully crafted.

00;11;57;00 - 00;12;01;05
It's got a wonderful attention to detail,
and it's as fast as hell.

00;12;01;08 - 00;12;07;01
It goes up to 130km an hour
and in fact, 0 to 106 seconds.

00;12;07;04 - 00;12;11;18
So it's got performance, sustainability,
and it's got comfort dimensions

00;12;11;21 - 00;12;13;02
kind of built into it.

00;12;13;05 - 00;12;15;18
And very importantly,
as we've looked at it, particularly

00;12;15;18 - 00;12;19;06
in European cities where increasingly
getting into the center of that city

00;12;19;12 - 00;12;23;11
is congested, having the flexibility
and the narrowness

00;12;23;19 - 00;12;26;25
of a motorcycle esque, vehicle

00;12;27;04 - 00;12;30;04
enables you to actually reduce congestion.

00;12;30;12 - 00;12;33;11
It actually reduces,
of course, parking space,

00;12;33;17 - 00;12;37;25
and it lends itself better to, future
property development, where,

00;12;38;00 - 00;12;40;28
you know, increasingly,
developers are being disincentivize

00;12;40;28 - 00;12;44;25
from putting concrete bunkers
into their development and enables

00;12;44;28 - 00;12;48;12
mobility
as a service model options to be placed.

00;12;48;29 - 00;12;51;17
And it is in many ways the perfect,

00;12;51;17 - 00;12;54;21
the vehicle for urban mobility purposes.

00;12;55;01 - 00;12;58;23
We look at the reduced kind of time
even to get into the City of London,

00;12;58;26 - 00;13;01;26
and it's it's a significant difference.

00;13;01;29 - 00;13;06;15
I feel like we've just been
on the edge of newness and in my mind,

00;13;06;18 - 00;13;11;16
I can see this city with these brand
new mobile units moving around.

00;13;11;19 - 00;13;13;04
I love the idea that we're actually

00;13;13;04 - 00;13;17;02
creating a new class of vehicle,
something that doesn't exist yet.

00;13;17;07 - 00;13;19;25
And so this idea
that we're actually modifying,

00;13;19;26 - 00;13;24;13
the way we move to meet the expectations
that citizens are asking

00;13;24;16 - 00;13;29;03
for in the cities of the future,
I think is an extraordinary step forward.

00;13;29;06 - 00;13;31;07
So I thank you so much for sharing that.

00;13;31;10 - 00;13;35;06
It's been an absolute privilege
to hear about both of these innovations.

00;13;35;09 - 00;13;38;23
You're very lucky
to be playing in this space I am.

00;13;38;29 - 00;13;41;11
I look forward to hearing more from you
about that.

00;13;41;14 - 00;13;43;11
And I think what's really important

00;13;43;11 - 00;13;46;27
in this conversation is
we've really touched on what that future

00;13;47;00 - 00;13;51;18
of an equitable city
community and landscape really looks like.

00;13;51;26 - 00;13;55;04
And I can't wait to hear more
about these stories as you progress them.

00;13;55;11 - 00;13;56;26
So thanks so much , jacki.

00;13;56;26 - 00;13;58;24
Thank you Michel, it's been great.

00;14;03;25 - 00;14;06;25
Brought to you by Nexus, Publish By GHD.

00;14;07;03 - 00;14;08;07
Where ideas connect