Get Inspired 2021
Tuesday 15th June 2021
Our world is only 8.6% circular. That means that only 8.6% of global resources are being circulated back into our economies and communities. Or that 91.4% of our planet’s finite resources are currently being wasted.
But amongst the startling statistics about our increasingly challenging climate emergency, there are businesses and organisations driving change. Pioneering new innovations, embracing new technologies, supporting and developing the workforce of tomorrow. We need a circular economy. And the business community is leading the way.
Welcome to Circular Glasgow’s Get Inspired 2021 event. Across the morning, we will be exploring 3 key themes:
Tech.
Innovation.
Youth.
At Get Inspired 2021, as well as hearing from expert businesses and entrepreneurs, you can build your knowledge of a circular economy and its importance in achieving ambitious net-zero targets, and find inspiration to make a difference in your own organisation.
Get inspired. Be informed. Join Glasgow’s circular economy movement.
Click the button below to register your free place.
Agenda
8:30am - 9am:
Event opens for networking and exhibition
9:00am - 9:10am:
Welcome from host Alison McRae
9:10am - 10:10am:
Session 1 - The future generation of circular economy entrepreneurs
10:20am - 11:20am:
Session 2 - When a circular economy meets digital transformation
11:30am - 12:30pm:
Session 3 - Solving the world's biggest challenges through innovation
12:30pm - 1pm:
Keynote: Greg Lucas, Country Sustainability Manager, IKEA
1pm - 1:30pm:
Networking and exhibition
Our speakers for Get Inspired 2021
Alison McRae
Senior Director, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Alison is a network and partnerships entrepreneur with over 20 years of economic development, communications and innovation experience. She is responsible for a strategic partnerships portfolio which seek to innovate and anticipate new opportunities for Glasgow and its business community.
She is currently facilitating a movement for change around circular economy principles in the urban economy and has overall responsibility for Developing Young Workforce Glasgow. She leads an award-winning team whose work has been recognised by World Chambers of Commerce, World Economic Forum and the Herald's Digital business awards.
Alison is a Board member of the Scottish Tourism Alliance; Glasgow City of Science & Innovation and is Co-Chair of Glasgow Employment and Skills Board. She was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge University.
Alison McRae
Senior Director, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Greg Lucas
Country Sustainability Manager, IKEA UK & Ireland
Greg Lucas is the Country Sustainability Manager for IKEA UK & Ireland, responsible for all aspects of the retailer’s people & planet positive strategy. To fulfil our vision and become people planet positive by 2030, our current focus areas are: to become a fully circular and climate positive business by 2030, enable the many people to live healthier and more sustainable lives within the limits of the planet, and to improve the well-being of the many people by becoming a truly people-centred company and employer.
Greg Lucas
Country Sustainability Manager, IKEA UK & Ireland
Geoff Leask,
Chief Executive, Young Enterprise Scotland
Geoff has over 17 years’ experience of working in the Youth Enterprise arena. Before joining Young Enterprise Scotland (YES) he spent 14 years with the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT). This included 8 years of regional responsibility before joining the senior management team and going on to serve as Director. One of his key objectives since joining YES was to develop a new Programme to develop entrepreneurship activity across the Further Education sector – Bridge 2 Business.
Geoff Leask
Chief Executive, Young Enterprise Scotland
Michael Groves
Founder, Topolytics
Michael is a geographer with a PhD in aerial and satellite earth observation, with experience in environmental management, sustainable forestry and sustainability reporting. He is the founder of Topolytics, a data analytics company that uses mapping and machine learning to make the world’s waste visible, verifiable and valuable.
Michael Groves
Founder, Topolytics
Craig Sterling
CEO, CuanTec
Craig is CEO of CuanTec, LTD, based in Oban, Scotland. CuanTec is working with fisheries and natural food sources to maximize the value of all they harvest in order to reduce the impact that food waste and plastic pollution have on our world. CuanTec’s mission is to replace plastics with natural and compostable CuanSaveTM packaging and replace harsh chemicals with natural BioChitin-based solutions.
Craig’s rich career history allows him to bring valuable knowledge and skills to CuanTec and aligns perfectly with CuanTec’s ethos of “Using waste to eliminate waste naturally.” Coming to Scotland from California, Craig has held leadership positions with key businesses throughout his career in the Life and Material Sciences sectors. He has experience in founding businesses, Product and Business Development, technology acquisition, global licensing, as well as leading several successful products launches in technologies across global markets.
In his personal life, Craig enjoys lots of outdoor activities including, hiking, skiing, diving and paddle boarding. These hobbies led to his natural love and appreciation of the environment, including active participation in environmental causes such as Friends of Ballona Wetlands; an organisation for the restoration and protection of wetlands and Heal The Bay, both in the Los Angeles area.
Craig Sterling
CEO, CuanTec
Kate Chambers
Trustee, 2050 Climate Group
Kate has been an active volunteer with 2050 Climate Group since 2017, supporting with branding, communications and growing the charity's network. Over the past few years, she has been an integral part of the operational team delivering 2050 Climate Group’s flagship Young Leaders Development Programme. In her day job, Kate is a Senior Consultant at Resource Futures, with experience working on projects related to circular economy, reuse and recycling, marine litter. plastics, and behaviour change.
Kate Chambers
Trustee, 2050 Climate Group
Sam Sutaria
Head of Strategy, Waterbear 
Sam is the Head of Strategy for the WaterBear Network. WaterBear is a new interactive video platform dedicated to supporting life on our fragile planet through world-class storytelling, cutting-edge technology and a global network of partners working together for impact. WaterBear showcases high quality video content while providing opportunities to engage with many of the world's most effective environmental organisations.
Prior to joining the WaterBear founding team, Sam was GM at The European Nature Trust (TENT) and, together with the Board of Trustees, built a strategy centred on travel, filmmaking and events across the continent for a growing global network. Before that, Sam spent several years producing film content for the award-winning creative agency 'Nice and Serious' in London.
A life-long conservationist and biology graduate, Sam is also a photographer, with a Masters in ‘Wildlife Filmmaking’ from the BBC’s Natural History Unit & UWE; he is also a Trustee of the Barnes Film Festival, and the Co-Founder of a new social enterprise DrawFor.
Sam Sutaria
Head of Strategy, WaterBear
Tony Burns,
Chief Operating Officer, ACS Clothing
Anthony Burns is a recognised champion of sustainable fashion, and has developed a global centre of expertise in the servitisation of rented garments. He is an Engineering Graduate with a Masters in Logistics and also an MBA. He is dedicated to both his, and his team’s continuous professional development. Anthony’s mission is to improve the sustainability of the fashion industry, and be more socially accountable, while accelerating maintainable increases in the company’s profitability.
Anthony Burns
Chief Operating Officer, ACS Clothing
Julia Kirby-Smith
Founder, Fridge of Plenty
Julia is Director of Fridge of Plenty, an ethical grocery retailer in North London. She set up the business in the midst of the pandemic, with an ambition to sell only UK-grown, seasonal and sustainable produce - all sourced as locally as possible. The business has a triple lock written into the company constitution, which requires decisions to balance profit with people and planet. Fridge of Plenty marks a change in career, with Julia having previously worked as a broadcast journalist both in London and Singapore. She is also a Trustee of the food-waste campaign group Feedback.
Julia Kirby-Smith
Founder, Fridge of Plenty
Paul Duddy
Managing Director, Hypervine
Paul is the managing director of Hypervine, a company building digital applications for the construction industry.
Paul started his career in architecture and then civils before moving into the technology world where he has worked for some of the world's leading startups in 3D printing and pharmaceutical analytics. Paul started Hypervine in 2018 to build an app that provides end-to-end accurate site data to give actionable insights that save time, money and scope 1 & 3 carbon emissions.
Paul Duddy
Managing Director, Hypervine
Professor Martin Tangney OBE
Founder, Celtic Renewables
An international award-winning innovator, Martin established the first biofuel centre in the UK and made global headlines for his patented process for producing biobutanol, a sustainable advanced biofuel and renewable chemical, from the by-products of the Whisky industry – a process he is commercialising as the Founder of Celtic Renewables. As a recognised thought leader he has featured on TV stations all over the world and in publications from National Geographic to Time Magazine, focusing worldwide media attention onto innovation in sustainability in Scotland. In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year's Honours list.
Professor Martin Tangney OBE
Founder, Celtic Renewables
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