Driving success through strategic communications and stakeholder engagement

At Urban Foresight, we excel at delivering innovative solutions to challenges across sectors, including technically complex fields.

Our strong technological literacy means we can bridge the gap between technical and strategic perspectives and facilitate seamless communication with a range of stakeholders. It also means we can translate high-level concepts into clear, accessible messages for a wide variety of audiences. Supported by our in-house graphic design team, we can turn complex ideas into impactful, actionable strategies and messages.

Innovating for a sustainable future

Urban Foresight has used this approach to support the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials (Royce) on a number of high-profile projects.

Royce acts as the UK’s gateway to materials research and innovation, fostering collaboration between academia, industry, and the public. Materials research and innovation are at the heart of addressing some of the world’s most urgent global challenges. From developing sustainable energy solutions for future cities to advancing decarbonisation and creating new recyclable materials, the potential for materials science to drive meaningful change is immense.

Our approach and core strengths have added significant value to a number of initiatives for Royce:

Materials for Bioelectronics in Healthcare Strategy:
We led the development of this strategy, collaborating with industry experts to conduct in-depth market research and economic analysis. We also orchestrated a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process, gathering insights from over 60 industry leaders to inform the creation of the materials roadmap and actionable plans.

We managed the editing, design and presentation of the project’s outputs and supported the strategy’s launch.

Royce Hydrogen Accelerator:
We contributed to the launch of the Royce Hydrogen Accelerator by creating impactful content and engagement materials. Working closely with the Accelerator’s board, we helped define core messages and target audiences, producing pitch materials, booklets, and digital resources.

Furthermore, our team successfully secured ministerial backing from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Department for Business and Trade, which was essential to the initiative’s success.

National Materials Innovation Strategy:
We collaborated with partners to deliver the Materials Innovation Strategy Framework. Additionally, we supported the launch of the first phase of the National Materials Innovation Strategy by designing the Materials Futures consultation document, aimed at academics, industry, and government. We used clear, targeted materials to gather support for the strategy.

We then facilitated workshops with key industry groups to gather insights and perspectives, led the writing and design of the final promotional strategy document and supported its high-profile launch at the Houses of Parliament.

Why our services matter

Urban Foresight’s core strengths were invaluable to the success of these projects, which we brought to bear in each step of the collaboration with Royce:

• Capacity and support in stakeholder engagement: Engaging with a broad range of stakeholders—from government officials to researchers and industry leaders—requires careful planning, facilitation, and coordination. Urban Foresight’s experience in managing these relationships ensured that the right people were brought into the conversation and that their insights were integrated into the projects. This allowed Royce capacity to focus on their core expertise while we handled the engagement process.

• Refinement of messaging and output preparation: Clear, accessible communication is essential, particularly when working with complex topics like advanced materials and hydrogen innovation.
  Our team specialises in translating highly technical content into messaging that is clear and engaging for policymakers and non-experts. This approach was key in making sure Royce’s initiatives were well understood and supported across the board.

• Graphic design and high-quality outputs: Whether it’s a consultation document, strategic action plan, or pitch deck, the quality of the final output matters. Our graphic design team ensures that all materials we produce are not only aesthetically appealing but also highly functional. By combining design with clear messaging, we’ve helped Royce’s key publications stand out and effectively communicate their vision.

Enabling impactful change through strategic collaboration

Through our collaboration with Royce, we’ve demonstrated how strategic support in stakeholder engagement, refinement of messaging, and high-quality design outputs can turn complex ideas into impactful, actionable strategies and messages.

Judith Holcroft, Head of Communications and Engagement at The Henry Royce Institute, said:

“Urban Foresight’s expertise in stakeholder engagement and in the innovation space has been invaluable to Royce. Their ability to bring together industry, academia, and policymakers has supported us to deliver meaningful collaboration, allowing us to bring the broad UK materials community into our vision of advancing materials research for a sustainable future.

Their support has been instrumental in driving impactful outcomes for a number of our key projects to drive materials innovation and ensure that materials is increasingly positioned as a sector in its own right.”

While our work with Royce showcases this in materials innovation and advanced technologies, the same principles apply across industries. Whether you’re working in sustainability, healthcare, energy, or any other technology-enabled sector, Urban Foresight brings the expertise to help you navigate challenges, craft compelling messaging, and engage the right audiences. This will drive understanding and action, helping our partners make meaningful progress toward their goals.

Contact us at hello@urbanforesight.com to discuss the ways we can partner you to support your ambitious projects.