Innovate UK
Award-winning entrepreneur and founder of bio-bean Arthur Kay will give a keynote speech at this years Innovate 2015 event.
Mr Kay came up with the idea for bio-bean while studying architecture at The Bartlett, UCL. In less than 2 years he has raised several million pounds in finance and built the worlds first waste coffee grounds recycling factory.
He will explain how he realised his idea to turn tens of thousands of tonnes of waste coffee grounds into biomass pellets for heating buildings and coffee oil for refining into biodiesel, and how it changed his life.
bio-beans factory has the capacity to process 50,000 tonnes of waste coffee grounds every year, equivalent to one in ten cups of coffee drunk in the UK each year.
Shell named Mr Kay the UKs Most Innovative Entrepreneur of 2013. Mayor of London Boris Johnson appointed him a London Leader in 2014 and NESTA named him as one of its New Radicals. He became the youngest ever Guardian Sustainable Business Leader of the Year in 2015 and was awarded a Wired Innovation Fellowship.
More than 3,000 expected at Innovate 2015 event
Innovate 2015 takes place on 9 and 10 November at Old Billingsgate in London, and is expected to attract more than 3,000 delegates from high-growth innovative businesses, the investment community, academia and government.
It is hosted by Innovate UK and UK Trade & Investment and is a global showcase for the best in UK innovation.
Businesses attending Innovate 2015 can find out about the wide range of research expertise and government support available to help them to deliver new products and services and to expand both at home and abroad.
There are also significant opportunities for informal and formal networking, including pre-arranged one-to-one meetings with buyers and investors.
Facebook executive and minister among speakers
Other speakers already announced include the Facebook vice-president for Europe, Middle East and Africa Nicola Mendelsohn and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Sajid Javid MP.
Day 1 of the event will focus on the wide range of funding and support available to business and the help they can get to grow on a global scale.
Day 2 will focus on the innovation capabilities of the UK and the regional funding and support opportunities available to help businesses succeed and grow.