Defining Innovation in an Environmental Business
What is Innovation?
That is a key question I am grappling with in my work at Keystone. I am carrying out a series of short interviews with people at Keystone asking that exact question. The answers reveal something important.
Words that come up repeatedly in these conversations are “new”, “different”, “better”, “improvements”, and “potential”.
There is a clear sense that innovation is about doing new things to make something better. For me, innovation is the practical application of an idea addressing a specific business challenge. It results in a new product, service, or process that delivers value to the company and its customers. And in the case of Keystone, to nature as well.
Why Innovation Needs the Right Environment
Innovation doesn’t just happen; it needs a nurturing and supportive environment.
At Keystone, I am working to identify barriers to innovation and create space for ideas to be shared. Those ideas are evaluated and applied to real business challenges.
This is not an easy process. It takes time and requires trust across the organisation. Everyone must feel empowered to have ideas and share them.
It also means creating an expectation of failure. There must be a willingness to learn from that failure. As with many businesses, we are busy delivering work. Time and space must be found for thinking beyond clients, projects, and deadlines.
Data Challenges in Ecology
On a practical level, Keystone faces two pressing issues shared across Origin’s environmental businesses: data and reporting.
Ecology data are growing exponentially, and becoming more complex. We now collect images, video, audio, and GIS data at increasing scale. Bulk data collection has become easier than ever.
But what do we do with it all?
One step to managing this data volume is moving GIS data into a database.
This shift requires us to stop treating GIS data as files.(and filing them as we do pdf documents) to treating them as data. Keystone are transitioning to storing all GIS data in a database.
Managing GIS Data More Effectively
We have set up a cloud-based PostGIS database to store all our GIS data.
This approach delivers several benefits. We always know where our GIS data are stored. Teams no longer need to search through folders to find information.
The database allows us to enforce clear data standards. We can also automate data quality control checks.
Everyone can access the same GIS data at the same time. Multiple users can work on shared datasets without creating local copies. This reduces the risk of data becoming inconsistent or out of sync.
Automating Environmental and Ecological Reporting
Centralising GIS data also supports my next focus: automation.
Automating reports makes project reporting faster, reduces inefficient copy-paste tasks, and improves accuracy.
I have reviewed data-intensive reporting processes and automated many of them. For example, I created automated desk study reports that pull data from multiple sources, including Natural England’s Open Data Geoportal.
The only input required is a digitised site boundary, which we now store in our PostGIS database. The code generates pre-defined buffers and fetches information on designated sites, habitats, and more.
It then presents all these data in a structured report. Once the site boundary is digitised, a report runs in about 45 seconds.
Scaling Automation Across Ecological Services
Keystone are increasingly using these quick reports to help with quoting for projects, scoping the potential of land as habitat banks, and in Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) reports.
This process is much quicker than the previous manual approach in GIS which could take a couple of hours for sites in areas with lots of important natural assets.
We have applied this same approach to desk study components for Habitat Management and Monitoring Plans (HMMPs) and Local Environmental Records Centre data.
It saves time, produces standardised outputs, and lets ecologists focus on solving ecological problems and designing mitigation solutions.
I am now developing this approach to automate the production of PEAs, Preliminary Roost Assessments, and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Plans.
This approach does not complete an entire report. Instead, it generates a draft that requires ecologists to add writing only, avoiding repetitive copy-paste tasks better handled by computers.
Sharing Digital Innovation Across the Origin Group
While these approaches are specific to Keystone, many environmental businesses can apply the same principles.
Within the Origin group, a special interest group for data and digital technology shares ideas and best practice. Ecologists across the group are doing many innovative things we can all benefit from.
Keystone also faces other challenges we are actively addressing. Video data create a major challenge, so we are exploring faster processing methods and ways to reduce storage volume.
I am particularly interested in near real-time data processing in the field.
This would allow us to bring home only the data we actually need, not entire videos with minimal content. This concept is still early, but the technology exists.
All it requires is time and a willingness to take risks.
Embracing Risk to Deliver Better Outcomes for Nature
Creating the right environment for innovation is so important. Innovation carries with it risk, specifically the risk of failure.
But without taking risks and trying things, opportunities to learn are missed.
Embracing innovation means delivering projects and services that create better outcomes for nature.
Dan Carpenter, Associate Director – Digital Innovation