Innovation Manager – Energy and Sustainability Vacancy

The Innovation SuperNetwork is looking for an Innovation Manager

The Innovation SuperNetwork is a unique regional programme, helping to cultivate a stronger innovation eco-system in the North East of England and support innovative businesses. We work with businesses of all sizes, researchers, investors and public agencies to drive economic growth through innovation. A big part of this is our partnerships with regional clusters focused on healthcare, energy, manufacturing and digital. We’re particularly interested in where organisations in these clusters overlap and can do more through collaboration, hence the need for this new role.

Through an established and successful partnership with the Academic Health Science Network – North East and North Cumbria, we have identified a significant opportunity for innovation around energy, waste and wider sustainability issues faced by NHS trusts. The NHS is the biggest employer in the UK and represents almost 10% of the UK economy, with 1.3 million staff. Operating at this scale means equally large energy and waste requirements. In 2020, NHS England set out the ambitious objective of delivering a ‘net zero’ health service, which will require fundamental change in how energy and waste are managed. NHS trusts in the North East are therefore looking for innovation from regional businesses, leading to adoption of new processes.

The Innovation Manager role will work with NHS trusts to identify where the biggest issues lie and how innovation could lead to positive change. They will then work with regional businesses and social enterprises to develop and implement solutions. The outcome will be a reduced environmental impact from healthcare and a parallel economic impact through growth of local businesses. The role is part-funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).