News

The economy and opportunities for business growth, circularity and sustainability, societal change and its impact on attracting and retaining the next generation of talent were among the strategic themes discussed at the EDA’s Power It Up Industry Insight Conference on Wednesday 13 November 2024.

Over 190 senior leaders from 94 EDA businesses, plus representatives from the electrical contracting sector and from trade associations along the supply chain, travelled to Crewe to hear from UK and International speakers on these topics of strategic significance to the UK’s electrotechnical sector.

The conference was opened by Margaret Fitzsimons, CEO at the EDA and Chris Ashworth, EDA President and CEO at CEF.

Margaret Fitzsimons, CEO at the EDA:

“Our aim with this Conference was to engage and stimulate delegates by getting the right people in the room and the right topics on the agenda.  We took people out of their comfort zones and asked them to think out of the box. 

“But it wasn’t all just blue sky thinking, we also gave them practical solutions to current problems that they could implement straight away.  We wanted them to make new business connections too. 

“Our feedback has been very positive indeed and is telling us that we achieved our aim.”

The impressive speaker programme included entrepreneur, architect, innovator, inspirer and visionary Thomas Rau, who had travelled from the Netherlands to deliver “From Exit to Exist”, challenging business leaders to turn their thinking about the linear economy completely on its head and to recalibrate the relationship between humans, the planet, and our closed system of natural resources.

A panel of experts responded to Thomas’s session sharing their thoughts on “Towards a sustainable, circular economy for UK EEE” with panel facilitator and EDA Special Advisor, Paul Reeve CEnv:

• Ray Molony, journalist and lighting industry expert
• Yselkla Farmer, CEO, BEAMA
• Connor Dalton, Director of ESG, Sustainability, and Health and Safety, CEF
• Chris Sadler, CEO and founder of Kimble Solar, representing the contractor voice
• Chris Carr, Managing Director, Carr & Carr (Builders) Ltd, and National President of the Federation of Master Builders.