Press release

UK showcases green dozen at Global Investment Summit

The Government reveals the 12 businesses from across the UK who will showcase their green technology and innovations at the Global Investment Summit.

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government
  • Government-hosted Global Investment Summit will showcase best of UK innovation and green technology
  • Twelve companies from across the nation will display electric vehicles, hydrogen, offshore wind technology and more
  • Summit aims to drive billions of investment to every part of the country

Twelve of the UK’s leading green innovators will showcase their technology to some of the world’s most high-profile investors at the Global Investment Summit on 19th October.

Hosted by the Prime Minister and supported by members of the Royal Family, the Summit will demonstrate Britain’s commitment to green industrial revolution in the UK and abroad ahead of COP26, and promote the UK as a top destination for foreign investment.

Around 200 investors attending the Summit will see the latest cutting-edge innovation that is helping deliver key areas of the Prime Minister’s Ten-Point Plan, helping cement the UK’s position as a science superpower and the world’s number one centre for green technology. The country’s pioneering work in this space will be vital in helping reduce emissions and limit the rise in global temperatures.

The showcase will demonstrate major leaps forward in renewable energy such as the tidal turbine technology pioneered by Orbital Marine Power, as well as advancements in green technologies like the world’s first zero-emission double-decker hydrogen bus, made by Wrightbus.

Household names like Rolls-Royce will be on hand to showcase models such as its all-electric aircraft and small modular reactor, alongside start-ups such as Automated Architecture, which will display its robot-assembled automated sustainable construction systems for housing, which could see homes being delivered more quickly by localising housing production through automation.

Minister for Investment Gerry Grimstone said:

Our Global Investment Summit will put UK innovation on the map, and demonstrate how we can use investment to nurture technological developments and propel our economy towards a more prosperous, exciting future.

These businesses show why the UK is a global hub for green technology – from major advances in tidal turbines and fusion energy, to electric vehicle development and zero emission aircrafts.

These industries of the future will not only help ensure a cleaner, greener planet but also create high-value jobs across the UK.

Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East said:

The transition to net zero is a societal imperative and one of the greatest commercial opportunities of our time. We are proud to play our part in the Global investment Summit alongside the UK Government, demonstrating the positive transforming power of industrial technology.

Orbital CEO Andrew Scott said:

We are delighted to be given this amazing platform to showcase the innovative technology we pioneered here in the UK and to share our vision of how tidal stream energy can play a part in turning the tide on climate change.

The Ten-Point Plan will mobilise £12 billion of government investment to create and support up to 250,000 highly skilled green jobs in the UK - and unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030.

In the last decade Foreign Direct Investment has created more than 700,000 jobs across the country, and since April 2019 projects supported by the Department for International Trade have contributed more than £7 billion to the economy.

Inward investment also helps level up the UK by making companies more profitable, which means they can invest back into local economies and stronger supply chains, and more sustainable communities for the future.

Notes to editors

The below companies will be showcasing their products at services at the Global Investment Summit:

Orbital Marine Power

Location: Scotland

Orbital Marine Power develops floating tidal stream turbines and will be showcasing a model of its O2 2MW tidal turbine, the most powerful tidal turbine in the world, which is capable of generating enough clean electricity for around 2,000 UK homes and offset 2,200 tonnes of CO2 production per year.

Hydro Industries

Location: Wales

Hydro Industries is a cleantech company harnessing technology to clean up industrial wastewater, protect the environment and provide safe drinking water to some of the world’s most disadvantaged populations. It will showcase the EC 100 - a modular, compact water purification system based on Hydro’s patented Electrocoagulation (EC) technology, used for both potable water production and environmental wastewater protection.

Hy4Heat

Location: Whole of UK

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, through the Hy4Heat programme, is developing and delivering a demonstration area at the Summit with Worcester Bosch and Baxi as its key partners. The stand will showcase real appliances which have been developed by Worcester Bosch, Baxi and other UK-based manufacturers.

Tokamak Energy

Location: Oxford

Tokamak Energy is pioneering commercial fusion energy which is clean, economical and globally deployable through two world-leading core technologies, the compact spherical tokamak and high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets. Tokamak Energy will display three high temperature superconducting magnets, including one tested at CERN, and 3D-printed models of current and future devices. It will display visuals of its latest record-breaking fusion prototype, including video clips of hot plasmas.

First Light Fusion

Location: Oxford

This University of Oxford spin-out is looking at new approaches to fusion energy, and will display its small demonstrator electromagnetic launcher on which it can represent its techniques.

Arrival

Location: Oxfordshire and London

Arrival is creating commercial electric vehicles at prices competitive with fossil fuel vehicles to accelerate the global transition to EVs. Their product portfolio consists of the Van (10,000 ordered by UPS), Bus (trials start with First Bus in Q1 2022 in the UK), and the Car (for ride-hailing, being designed in collaboration with Uber). Guests can use their smartphones to view a virtual van on their screens and drop it into the venue space.

Aurrigo - RDM Group

Location: Coventry

Aurrigo is a leading authority on autonomous transport, having designed, developed and built a number of driverless vehicles that are currently being tested in ‘live’ traffic. The Coventry-based company will be exhibiting its 4-seater Auto-Pod - an ideal ‘first and last mile’ transport solution for city centres, and its Auto-Dolly, a new autonomous luggage and cargo system being embraced by airports all over the world.

Wrightbus

Location: Northern Ireland

Wrightbus have developed the world’s first zero-emissions double-decker hydrogen bus, the fastest-charging EV double-decker on the market. Through an augmented reality display, Wrightbus will show the inner workings of the world’s first hydrogen double-decker as well as a monitor showing where Wrightbus Hydroliners are running and the journey carbon savings (versus a diesel bus of the same model).

Vertical Aerospace

Location: Bristol

Vertical Aerospace designs and builds electrically powered vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. They will be showcasing a 3m x 3m scale model of their zero-emission eVTOL aircraft, the VA-X4.

Rolls-Royce

Location: Midlands

Rolls-Royce will showcase its small modular reactor model to provide low-carbon power and its 2m x 2m model of the Spirit of Innovation aircraft that is accelerating the electrification of flight, as well as 360-degree footage of the aircraft in flight – giving the sensation of flying with the pilot.

Automated Architecture (AUAR)

Location: Bristol and London

Automated Architecture Ltd (AUAR) is a start-up company that builds affordable homes using sustainable timber materials, robotic manufacturing and automation in architecture. It will showcase its timber building blocks being automatically assembled by a robot (provided by automation specialist ABB, Switzerland).

Drax Group

Location: Northern Powerhouse

Drax is a UK-based renewable energy company that has transformed itself from Western Europe’s largest coal-fired power station into the continent’s largest decarbonisation project. They will showcase innovative bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.

Updates to this page

Published 7 October 2021