The Construction Industry - An Overview of the Attitudes of the Sector Leaders to Innovation February 10, 2010

What? Lecture presented by visiting professor John Findlay

Where? Council Chamber, Old Fire Station, Salford campus

How much? Free

Who for? Students and businesses

More info:

A report, prepared by the John Findlay, was published in 2009 based on UK senior construction sector executives' interviews to better understand their approach and decision making when considering innovation. As well as setting out the participants' views there was a commentary on the findings and recommendations for collective action. Five broad themes were covered in eliciting the interviewees' views. Initially the broad innovation landscape from their organisation's view was explored and then the role of formal research. There were then some questions about the context of the organisation followed by a questionnaire about the approach to R&D. Finally the interviewees were asked for their views about research for construction in the UK.

An umbrella member-led UK body (CE) published a report in 2009 that considered the progress made 11 years after the seminal report Rethinking Construction was published. The review, 'Never Waste a Good Crisis', focused on thoughts about the future and provided a critique about what was blocking better progress.

The presentation will run through the 'Findlay' report to give a flavour of its findings and draw some broad conclusions about how innovation is viewed by the group that took part. The recommendations that were drawn will be set out together with the implications for disruptive/radical innovation that may be drawn. To conclude the presentation will consider how the innovation attitudes expressed reinforce the challenges implied by the blockers identified in 'Never Waste a Good Crisis' and where there may be opportunities to move forward.

Attendance by Registration ONLY:

Please register at: http://intranet.sobe.salford.ac.uk/studentintranet_share/eventregistration/index.php or via the School's Student Intranet, then you will need to click on "SoBE Events Registration" link.

Contact: Mr Craig Brown, email c.g.brown@salford.ac.uk

Official Website: http://www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/1121