Author Archives: Judith Bunting

My European swansong – encouraging innovation and technological talent

By Judith Bunting | Tue 2nd June 2020 - 1:35 pm

Concept art of Hyperloop inner workings
Today, my work in Europe is nearly complete. The European Parliament committee gave its final vote in favour of an “opinion” for which I was responsible before the UK’s MEPs’ untimely exit from Brussels. I was working with advisers assessing amendments from all parties until the last hour of my last working day.

In the next month or so, the subject goes to full parliamentary Plenary session as part of the bill entitled “The Strategic Innovation Agenda for the European Innovation and Technology Institute (EIT), to encourage innovation and talent and European innovative capacity” – a sweet mouthful that concerns strategy and funding for an amazing institution for the next 7 years. It also includes, with my strong support, a proposal for a new branch of the EIT to support technical innovation in the cultural and creative sectors.

The EIT is a curious beast. With an explicit focus on innovation and commercial development, its purpose is to promote technical education and academic research and bring these together with business such that scientists and innovators benefit from the experience of entrepreneurs and vice versa.

Opinion: the importance of the rural bus

By Judith Bunting | Fri 5th April 2013 - 10:21 am

I recently visited Ivy in Ashmore Green. A woman in her eighties, Ivy is still bright and lively. When I met her, she had recently given up driving and was still reeling from discovering that her local bus service, the 76, that connects Ashmore Green to the rest of the world, runs once a week.

Now, all credit to Jacs Minicoaches for running this service, but a bus that runs just once a week is not something around which you can build a life. A thriving community depends on more than just driving-age adults.