Solving Wicked Problems
for Sustainable Development
Collaborative research and innovative partnerships to deliver impactful solutions for sustainable development challenges
ALP Synergy brings together researchers, policy and change makers with commercial organisations to explore and solve wicked sustainability problems.
Wicked sustainability problems are complex and hard to solve due to the range of stakeholders involved and the fact that there are no right solutions, only better options that will require long-term approaches.
Challenges around water, pollution, nature recovery, waste management all require collaboration between partners who often have different drivers or views. Collaboration is core to any solution.
Directors of Research and Innovation in academia, and National and Global policy and programme managers commission us to help secure funding for their programmes, to bring more collaboration to their delivery and to reach and engage stakeholders that they can’t.
We use our knowledge and connections to develop and deliver innovative and collaborative programmes and projects which connect businesses, researchers, policy makers and wider stakeholders to help solve sustainable development challenges. We work with clients to help them think differently, to build partnerships and to embed learning so that they can innovate successfully.
We have worked on collaborative projects and activities which contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in the UK and across the Globe. These have included innovation and sustainability projects linked to technology transfer, water management (water stewardship, flooding and water quality), plastics, natural capital, economic development and infrastructure. We work with partners and clients to provide innovative and collaborative solutions.
Our client’s see us as a trusted partner who can co-create, deliver and support their research and innovation programmes
Stakeholder Engagement Programmes
Designing and delivering exciting and engaging stakeholder programmes is one of our favourite things. The research on the stakeholders, designing of activities, shaping the workshop agenda, all to make sure that the client gets the interaction and outputs that they need, while ensuring that the participants enjoy the experience and feel valued. At our workshops, our clients relax and interact with their stakeholders, rather than worrying about the agenda or whether they will get the outputs they need.
We have delivered a wide range of stakeholder engagement activities over the last 8 years including; Oxfordshire’s Nature Recovery Strategy, a review of ‘Knowledge Exchange and Technology Transfer’ barriers and opportunities in Malaysia for the British Council, implementing Water Stewardship on Industrial Parks in Ethiopia, the Defra Marine Plastics Litter Evidence Review, a BEIS sponsored Science and Innovation Audit on Sustainable Airports, focussed around Heathrow, and a NERC-funded India UK Water Centre 3-day research collaboration workshop. In these projects we have engaged stakeholders, collated, and analysed data and evidence, and built new relationships for our clients.
Bid and Partnership Development
ALP Synergy works with clients to help them think differently from their competitors, to improve their ideas or generate new ones, and then to build compelling business cases and funding bids supported by innovative implementation plans. We are the perfect partner to bring together business challenges with research opportunities, and to develop funding bids which support long term collaborations. This has led us to work with a range of universities, big businesses and the public sector.
- Our team have written or supported successful funding bids for Horizon 2020, UK Research Councils, Research England, Innovate UK, public and private sector procurement.
- We have built UK and international partnerships for research, business development and impact.
- We have planned and facilitated partner workshops and events (UK and overseas) in person and online.
We have delivered projects and workshops in a number of countries including Ethiopia, Dubai, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, and across the UK and Europe. During this work we have built strong business and research networks which can be accessed and leveraged for clients.
Programme and Project Management
We are called ALP Synergy for a reason. Synergy means ‘to bring two or more things together for greater effect’. We are experts in bringing individuals and teams together to deliver complex projects and programmes and delighting our customers.
Our core team have 50+ years combined experience of managing programmes and projects across, the public sector, research, innovation and business. Our clients particularly seek us out for large programmes which have a water or environmental context. Most recently our business and environmental experience became essential as we took over leadership and management of the Foundation for Water Research, a UK based charity which having operated for over 40 years, was facing a massive change. The Trustees had decided to close the charity, so our role was to continue its work while clearing its liabilities and distributing its funds to other charities (more than £2.6m in total).
Other projects have included; Work package lead in a Horizon 2020 project, Research Collaboration projects, a Science and Innovation Audit and ERDF funded programmes.
Water Stewardship Coordination
With growing populations, expanding economies, evolving lifestyles, and the pressing reality of global climate change, the need to preserve our water resources has never been more critical. Major water users, governments, cities, and citizens are coming together to safeguard this essential resource. Water stewardship allows us to collaborate in establishing and achieving shared goals for sustainable water management and water security.
The ALP Synergy team brings over 20 years of expertise in water stewardship and environmental regulation. Recently, we played a key role in preparing Hawassa Industrial Park, Ethiopia, for the AWS (Alliance for Water Stewardship) Standard implementation. Supported by the Ethiopian Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and led by the Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC), the goal was clear:
“Implement the AWS Standard at Hawassa Industrial Park, then expand to four additional parks, achieving certification across all five by the end of 2020.”
ALP Synergy are the ideal partner for sustainable water management solutions for a future where water security benefits us all.
We are easy-to-work-with and trusted partners for delivering and/or co-creating impact driven research and engagement activities, through our proven, robust services:
Looking for a trusted Delivery Partner?
If you are working to solve wicked sustainability problems, or if you need to connect businesses, researchers, policy makers and wider stakeholders to help deliver your sustainable development project, then get in touch for a virtual coffee.