Hannah is an experienced consultant with with a passion for helping cities and their communities adapt and thrive in a rapidly digitising world:
“As the world moves online, there is an ever-increasing risk that segments of society get left behind, lacking the connectivity required to access digital services and the skills required to secure employment in a transforming job market. Similarly, city authorities often struggle to negotiate fair and inclusive deals with increasingly powerful technology companies, resulting in spiralling levels of social exclusion and an increasingly unequal society.
I currently lead the Smart Places and Digital Infrastructure Advisory team at Jacobs. In this role, I focus on addressing the challenges described above in three ways:
• Working with socially minded investors to deploy digital connectivity infrastructure across all areas of cities, particularly focusing on serving communities in deprived areas.
• Producing and implementing digital strategies for local authorities and developers to ensure that new developments and large-scale regeneration projects are equipped with the required infrastructure and services to thrive in the future and integrate with surrounding communities.
• Designing innovation and skill enablement programmes to support small businesses and communities adopt new technologies.
Outside of my day job, I have an increasing focus on supporting entrepreneurialism in my family’s native Barbados, aiming to diversify the island’s economy and provide wider employment opportunities to local young people”.