Event: Global Investment Summit
Date: Tuesday 19th October
No of guests: 180
Venue: The Science Museum
Event brief & objective:
The Global Investment summit hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson focused on attracting international funding for what the PM described as ‘the green industrial revolution’.
Alongside business figures such as NatWest Group CEO Alison Rose, GlaxoSmithKline CEO Dame Emma Walmsley, Macquarie Group CEO Shemara Wikramanayake, Amanda Blanc the Group CEO of Aviva and JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon – who collectively represented 24 trillion dollars under investment – the audience also included dignitaries such as US climate envoy John Kerry and the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and scientists, including Government chief scientist, Sir Patrick Vallance, Sir John Bell of the University of Oxford and Professor Sarah Gilbert, who led the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Event programme:
With the event taking place on a Tuesday when daytime hire of the museum is available, delegates were able to explore the museum’s vast galleries and to speak to innovators in green technologies, whose products were displayed among the museum’s famous objects from a prototype fusion device from Oxford based company, Tokamak Energy, to electric aircraft engines from Rolls Royce.
The main discussion took place in the museum’s purpose-built event space, Illuminate, with the Prime Minister joined on stage with Bill Gates to announce a major partnership with the Gates Foundation to boost green tech investment across the UK.
During the day, a Cabinet meeting was also held in the museum’s Smith Centre and the Government’s net zero strategy was unveiled at the investment summit by the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng.
Following a closing speech by the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the delegates were taken by electric bus to a reception at Windsor Castle, hosted by Her Majesty The Queen and other members of the Royal Family including Prince Charles and Prince William.
How did the choice of the Science Museum as host venue enhance the event?
Reflecting on the development of vaccines to combat COVID-19, the Prime Minister invited delegates to ‘look around this museum at these strange gizmos. These proto turbines and spinning jennies’ and ‘to think about how exhausting and time consuming and expensive it is to produce a genuine scientific breakthrough. And then I want you to reflect on the sheer improbability of what humanity has achieved in the last 18 months.
During the summit, Professor Sarah Gilbert visited the empty Pfizer/ BioNTech and Oxford/ AstraZeneca vials from the first jabs given worldwide as part of the mass COVID vaccination programme on display in Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries.
What catering was provided at the event?
Moving Venue, the in-house catering partner for Illuminate, provided all catering for the duration of the summit. With the central theme focussed around ‘Building a Greener Future”, the inspiration for the menu choices came out of the idea of being current in terms of food trends such as the rise in veganism and the push towards sustainability, both in terms of provenance and carbon footprint.
Working in collaboration with the 2021 UK young chef of the year, Scottish chef Peter Meechan, Moving Venue showcased fabulous ingredients from Scotland alongside delicious regional produce from around the rest of the United Kingdom.
For the breakfast bowls and break snacks, ‘brain food’ dishes were provided that focussed on healthy and wholesome ingredients such as low-fat Dorset yoghurt, fresh autumnal British fruit and slow-releasing jumbo oats from Somerset.
At lunch, there was a nod to the Great British coastline with day-boat mackerel from the South Coast married with Bedfordshire beets and rope grown Scottish mussels. Recognising the carbon footprint linked to beef, the Moving Venue team included a hero dish; slow braised ox cheek with an unusual pasta, cavatelli, from a local London supplier.
To round off lunch, guests enjoyed a selection of classic British puddings including an Eton mess, naturally using Scottish berries alongside a traditional trifle.
What was the audio-visual provision to support the event?
White Light (WL) supplied the extensive power distribution and all lighting throughout the multiple gallery spaces used to accommodate the event. As the in-house production service partner in Illuminate, they also built a large-scale lighting rig to enhance the main plenary and provided all Front of House audio support within the space.
Furthermore, WL delivered a full complement of AV equipment for the breakout areas in the Flight and Information Age galleries. The main plenary session was streamed out to all delegates, hosted in multiple locations across the Museum.
