Innovation Week Awards 2022 Winner Announced

Monday 7th – Friday 11th November saw the return of Inside Housing’s Innovation Week, with Raven Housing Trust announced as the Innovation Week Award winner for their use of digital systems to improve asset management and resident communication.

Sponsored by Aico, the European Market Leader in Home Life Safety, the virtual conference is designed to celebrate innovation within the social housing sector, bringing together housing professionals to highlight how technology could change the industry for the better.

There were five webinars throughout the week, each highlighting the different ways in which innovation can improve social housing, as well as addressing the potential challenges. Topics included digital engagement with residents, how to build a culture of innovation, creating revenue as well as social benefit, and innovation through co-design.

Friday’s event concluded with the announcement of this year’s Innovation Week Award winner – Raven Housing Trust, a social housing provider in Redhill, Surrey. The award is designed to recognise a social housing organisation using technology and the Internet of Things to improve the lives of residents, solve problems and deliver genuine benefits for communities.

Raven Housing Trust currently uses software that assists their colleagues to create asset management plans. Within their entry, the housing provider explained their goal of developing this software further, to enable them to share their asset management plans with their customers via an online portal. Raven Housing Trust will use the solution to increase resident communication surrounding asset management and improve customer service.

Raven Housing Trust will receive £10,000 of funding to further support its innovation initiative and a full day of consultancy with Aico’s product development team to help them develop their idea further.

Chris Jones, CEO of HomeLINK, was a judge of Innovation Week 2022 alongside a panel of industry experts, including Nick Aitkin, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Housing, Martin Hilditch, Editor of Inside Housing, Annette Pass, Head of Innovation at National Highways, Marlene Price, Resident and Former Director of the Association of Retained Council Housing and Gavin Smart, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

With six outstanding entries in the final, Chris Jones comments, “Raven Housing Trust did fantastically well to win this year’s Innovation Award as all the finalists were exceptional. This year the judges decided that they wanted the prize money to go to a project that would accelerate technology adoption in the sector and also directly impact people’s lives.”

The other finalists on the shortlist were Onward Homes, Places for People, RHP Group and Thorngate Churcher Trust.

Inside Housing’s Innovation Week will return in 2023. To find out more about this year’s Innovation Week, visit: www.insidehousing.co.uk/innovationweek