05 August 2025 – Attendees to the Summit were given an opportunity to shape the research, partnerships and investment priorities that will drive the future of innovation in the built environment processes & practices to new technologies.
Last week, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) convened 120 senior decision-makers, innovators and academics in the fields of real estate, infrastructure, finance and technology to the formal launch of the Living Lab.
Housed within CISL’s award-winning Entopia Building, the Living Lab is a collaborative knowledge and innovation community harnessing shared assets and resources – including the Entopia building and its data - to test and scale real-world solutions for a greener built environment. Through a series of panels, interactive sessions and an innovation showcase, attendees were given an insight into the Living Lab’s mission to accelerate the demonstration, validation, and adoption of innovations to transform how we design, retrofit, and manage buildings and communities.
Systems thinking in the built environment
Mark Enzer, Fellow and Strategic Advisor, Mott Macdonald, gave a keynote address on the importance of systems thinking in the built environment, challenging and inspiring attendees to work more collectively for sustainable outcomes across the built environment.
“It’s time that we saw the built environment differently, not as a series of construction projects, but as a system of systems whose explicit purpose is to enable people and nature to flourish together for generations,” he said.
The Living Lab’s recently announced founding partner, The Crown Estate, also showcased how they are putting systems thinking into practice by working to ‘bridge innovation with social impact.’ Lizzie Sears, Development Manager at the Crown Estate outlined plans working with CISL to fast-track the adoption of sustainable solutions and innovations across the built environment, starting with plans to redevelop the Cambridge Business Park in north-east Cambridge as a net zero innovation hub.
Entopia 1.0: an exemplar retrofit journey
A panel consisting of the original project team shared how and why the Entopia project was such a success, and key learnings that can be applied to other retrofit projects.
Collaboration around a shared vision was a key theme throughout the discussion – using the insights of an interdisciplinary team not just to construct a building, but to show “the art of the possible”.
“It wasn't about building a building - we were actually trying to change the world. It showed the art of the possible”
Entopia 2.0: the Living Lab vision
Our second panel shared the opportunities that can be realised by scaling innovation in the built environment.
Key opportunities through the Living Lab that the discussion identified included:
- Enabling real-world testing, including helping to challenge outdated models and avoiding “innovation theatre”.
- Providing credibility and support, particularly for early-stage innovators.
- Bridging the gap between academia and practice and making sure that innovation is grounded in real-world, scalable business opportunities.
- Providing access to data that accelerates innovation and builds community-driven change, enabling procurement-ready solutions.
Many of the innovators on the panel also took part in a showcase, including Tom Cox (Decent Energy), Claire Cunningham (Paint Zero), Christopher Jackson (Advanced Infrastructure) Olga Tutubalina (Gentian) and Russell Gould (Planarific).
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Beyond the building: places for social and environmental value
The concluding session of the event showed the value of working collectively for the benefit of place and how we need to look beyond single buildings or projects to deliver societal benefit.
Panellists included speakers from Cambridge City Council, Arup, CISL and The Crown Estate, with the discussion focusing on:
- Ways in which strategy must connect with place-based realities – and how living labs are a key part in articulating, realising, and sharing this vision.
- Community is essential for meaningful innovation, and success depends on inclusive, understandable developments in the built environment.
- Place shapes everything we do – culture, collaboration and investor confidence. Ultimately, places that deliver social value also deliver financial returns