On the 29 September 2021, BAG celebrated its first LIVE event with the BAG Seminar & Evening Reception at The Brewery in London. The event  provided the opportunity to come together as the aviation community, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and network with leading airport clients, representatives of UK Government and colleagues from across the UK supply chain and with key stakeholders from Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport, London City Airport, Leeds Bradford Airport, Bristol Airport, IATA, ADS, Department for International Trade as well as Department for Transport. 

Pictures from our professional photographer are available to view and download for all attendees on our website here.  To download the Event Brochure, please click here.

We would like to thank everyone who attended and supported last night's BAG Seminar and Evening Reception and delighted to award Phil Wilbraham with the BAG Lifetime Achievement Award!

 

We would like to thank our guest speakers and facilitators for a fantastic panel session looking at Innovation in Aviation and the key areas affecting the UK and international aviation industry:

  • Rohit Talwar, Global Futurist / CEO, Fast Future
  • Gary Cutts ISCF Future Flight Challenge Director
  • Catherine Phillips Innovation Architect, Heathrow Airport
  • Mike Miller-Smith MBE FRAeS Chief Executive, Aerobility
  • Jenny Ward Deputy Director for Aviation Strategy, Consumers and Innovation- Department for Transport (DfT)
  • Dan Jones, BAG Board Member
  • Darrell Swanson, BAG Board Member

We were honoured to have a live recording from Robert Courts MP, Minister for Aviation  which you can find here.

 

As well we as our speakers, we would like to thank Bechtel Corporation, British-Irish Airports Expo, Gardiner & Theobald LLP and CEM Systems for sponsoring the event.

 

BAG's chosen charity for the event was Aerobility, please continue to support this excellent organisationIf you would like to donate, please click here!

 

Our Speakers and Facilitators

Rohit Talwar, Global Futurist / CEO, Fast Future

Rohit Talwar is a global futurist, award-winning keynote speaker, author, and the CEO of Fast Future. Rohit focuses on the future of aviation and travel and the opportunities created by next generation technologies and the emergence of the crypto economy. His primary expertise lies in helping clients understand and shape the emerging future. Rohit is the co-author of Designing Your Future, lead editor and a contributing author for The Future of Business, Beyond Genuine Stupidity—Ensuring AI Serves Humanity, The Future Reinvented—Reimagining Life, Society, and Business, A Very Human Future—Enriching Humanity in a Digitized World, Aftershocks and Opportunities—Scenarios for a Post-Pandemic Future, and editor of Technology vs. Humanity. His next book Aftershocks and Opportunities 2 will be published on September 28th, 2021.

 

Gary Cutts ISCF Future Flight Challenge Director

Gary has 30 years’ experience in the Aviation industry, mainly working on complex engineering systems, but with experience in business development, customer consultancy and services creation. He has held many global engineering, executive leadership positions in Rolls-Royce working across the product lifecycle including creating the System Design function and leading the digital transformation of Engineering for the group. He has also been a board member at the Centre for Modelling and Simulation. Gary is now leading the UK government’s Future Flight innovation programme working across government and industry to create innovative new aviation systems. Gary’s passion is to bring teams together to challenge the status quo and drive step changes in both the technology and business thinking to transform the aviation industry.

 

Catherine Phillips Innovation Architect, Heathrow Airport

Before joining Heathrow, Catherine worked for the UK’s largest responsible business non-profit and developed the thought leadership report - Brave New World on how to ensure an inclusive digital revolution. Here she also produced the popular podcast, 'The Lens’, which hosted business leaders across the sphere of industry.

Catherine’s current role as an Innovation Technologist at Heathrow focusses on solving current business challenges and anticipating emerging issues. Shaping future strategies around technology by horizon scanning and building a strong Innovation Ecosystem.

Over the past year Catherine has led work on COVID-19 testing. Influencing government, involving academic research, and trialling options within the airport which will have lasting impacts on the future of travel and the transport industry.

 

 

Mike Miller-Smith MBE FRAeS Chief Executive, Aerobility

Mike started his career training to be a Commercial Pilot. After becoming disabled in his 20s he subsequently entered the pharmaceutical and IT industries eventually becoming a General Manager having held Technical Manager and Marketing Director positions in global companies. Mike has always had a passion for flight and since early teenage years has been closely involved with aviation, and continues to fly achieving over 2500 hours in light aircraft and gliders. During this time he has held various executive committee positions for aviation and charitable organisations, has been a championship winning glider pilot and has a passion for introducing the thrill of flight to others. He is now Chief Executive of Aerobility, a disability flying charity which believes that everybody should get the chance to see the world from the sky and experience the thrills and freedom provided by flying an aircraft, with over 600 disabled people flying the charities adapted aircraft every year. An innovator by nature, he has been responsible for creating and leading groundbreaking aviation projects such as the 2012 London Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony Flypast, three aviation and disability based Guinness World Records, developing access technology and equipment, and most recently ‘Project Able’ working to return former military training aircraft to flight for society and disabled persons benefit. Mike is an invited Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, has been awarded an MBE, the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators Sir Barnes Wallis Medal and an Air League Illuminated Scroll for his work supporting disabled aviation. Muscular Dystrophy is a progressive genetic neurological condition which means that Mike permanently uses an electric wheelchair and supporting technologies with which to work, drive and fly.

 

Jenny Ward, Deputy Director for Aviation Strategy, Consumers and Innovation- Department for Transport (DfT)

This is forward looking and includes leading on Future of Flight and commercial spaceflight policies for the Department.  She has a decade of experience in the civil service working with industry and other Governments to develop and deliver complex policies across energy, environment and transport. Prior to joining the civil service Jenny worked in technical consultancy and the private commercial sector.

 

Dan Jones UK Market Director for Aviation, Atkins

Dan is the Atkins UK market director for Aviation, accountable for the business performance, strategy and delivery of work with our UK airport clients and is a member of the Atkins global aviation leadership. He is also a board member of the British Aviation Group (BAG) having worked with airport clients for over 15 years. Dan has particular experience in organizational strategy, business change, Cyber, operational readiness, biometrics, automation of the passenger journey, common data environments and BIM, and IT infrastructure delivery.

 

 

Darrell Swanson Director, Swanson Aviation

Swanson Aviation Consultancy Ltd. focuses on mode choice demand modelling for Advanced Air Mobility and infrastructure requirements of electric aircraft (incl. electric fixed wing aircraft and eVTOL).  Darrell has established himself as a subject matter expert regarding electric aviation and how it will lead to a future of distributed aviation. His knowledge encompasses electric aircraft infrastructure requirements as well as defining market opportunities for emerging electric Low Cost Carriers (eLCCs).  He is an advisor to NASA’s Transformative Vertical Flight programme groups 2 & 3, The North Texas Council of Governments NASA AAM programme, the Advance Air Mobility panel at ADS Group, the Community Air Mobility Initiative and is a board member of the British Aviation Group.  Darrell has over 20 years’ experience as an aviation consultant on airport masterplanning projects thru to airport acquisition advisory services.