Speaker Biograghy: Stuart has spent almost 20 years delivering innovative technical solutions to multiple industries. In his previous role as CTO of the UK’s leading personal financial management tool, he managed the delivery of a product that shaped the market. Since moving to the aviation sector with Edinburgh Airport in 2015, Stuart has been fascinated by the complexity of introducing innovation to an industry that has a unique risk profile and set of challenges.


Day 2 - 21 March
Session: Technology: Digital Transformation

10:35 - 11:05 - Embracing failure
Synopsis: Fear of failure has been long recognised as a potential blocker to innovation – but in our risk-averse industry it can be difficult to move beyond this. However, the Lean Startup movement and Agile Development have readily embraced failure as the quickest way to find success. Edinburgh Airport has recent experience of PR damage caused by failure; but also of introducing some exciting innovation that has supported its emergence as the UK’s fastest-growing international airport. This talk explores how failure can be an important part of IT innovation, without introducing serious operational and publicity risks.

Audience will learn:

• The importance of the appetite for failure
• How reaction to failure can shape culture
• Conceptual frameworks that can be applied to identify how failure and innovation can be managed
• How Edinburgh Airport has applied systems thinking to encourage innovation