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Co-opetition is gaining increasing attention as a potentially useful form of inter-organisational collaboration model to improve firms' sustainable performance. However, limited previous studies have provided a clear substantive theory or offered empirical evidence for the process of sustainability-driven co-opetition. This paper explores how competing companies can collaborate in their supply chains (SCs) to achieve a higher level of sustainability performance by identifying drivers, facilitators and barriers of co-opetition. Based on two explorative case studies of co-opetition in the UK, the findings of this paper lead to a number of propositions and a theoretical framework for sustainability-driven co-opetition in SCs. This study contributes to the literature by providing a more in-depth understanding of co-opetition as a strategic capability for firms. This paper also proves the feasibility of a combined use of Resource-Based View and Network Theory perspectives in explaining a paradoxical inter-organisational relationship like co-opetition. A road map for sustainability-driven co-opetition in SCs is also provided as a heuristic decision model for practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK water resources face a number of challenges when planning for an uncertain future. Climate change impacts and what future droughts might look like can be a significant contributor to this uncertainty. Recent and potential future developments (e.g. ever‐finer resolutions) in climate modelling offer the potential for running bias‐corrected transient future scenarios through hydrological, hydrogeological and water supply models, providing users with droughts of differing severity, frequency, spatial extent and duration to those experienced historically, incorporating changes over time and an understanding of climate model uncertainty. The recent enhanced Future Flows and Groundwater (eFLaG) project sought to demonstrate a climate service using these transient scenarios, with the aim of enhancing the resilience of the water industry to drought events and complementing existing approaches. The project demonstrated the use of this transient climate change information within a water resource setting, using a variety of hydrological and water resource models to help illuminate potential gaps and issues with such an approach. If we are to realise the potential of transient scenarios, a number of barriers – both scientific and organisational – need to be overcome. We present a road map for the future based on outcomes from the eFLaG project, as well as ways the eFLaG projections could be used to improve system resilience in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populations around the world are rapidly ageing and more people are living with multiple long-term conditions. There is an urgent need for evidence about high quality, cost-effective, and integrated systems of health and social care. Health research funders are now also prioritising research in adult social care and wider local authority settings, e.g. housing services. Developing the evidence base for adult social care should include implementing randomised controlled trials, where appropriate. Within the UK, the clinical trial is the established road map for evaluating interventions in the National Health Service (NHS). However, adult social care and local authorities are relatively uncharted territory for trials. BATH-OUT-2 is one of the first clinical trials currently underway within adult social care and housing adaptations services in six English local authorities. It provides an opportunity to explore how the clinical trial road map fares in these settings. Whilst setting up BATH-OUT-2, we encountered challenges with securing funding for the trial, lack of non-NHS intervention costs, using research and support costs as intended, gaining approvals, identifying additional trial sites, and including people who lack the mental capacity to provide informed consent. Overall, our experience has been like navigating uncharted territory with a borrowed map. In the UK, the clinical trial road map was developed for medical settings. Its key features are integrated within the NHS landscape but have been largely absent, unfamiliar, inaccessible, or irrelevant in social care and wider local authority terrain. Navigating the set-up of a clinical trial outside the NHS has been a complicated and disorientating journey. BATH-OUT-2 highlights how local authorities generally and adult social care specifically are a relatively new and certainly different type of setting for trials. Whilst this poses a challenge for conducting trials, it also presents an opportunity to question longstanding assumptions within trials practices, reimagine the conventional clinical trial road map, and take it in new directions. As the UK research landscape moves forward and becomes better primed for randomised evaluations in local authorities, we propose several suggestions for building on recent progress and advancing trials within adult social care and across health and care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation is the sector responsible for the largest greenhouse gas emission in the UK. To mitigate its impact on the environment and move towards net-zero emissions by 2050, hydrogen-fuelled transportation has been explored through research and development as well as trials. This article presents an overview of relevant technologies and issues that challenge the supply, use and marketability of hydrogen for transportation application in the UK, covering on-road, aviation, maritime and rail transportation modes. The current development statutes of the different transportation modes were reviewed and compared, highlighting similarities and differences in fuel cells, internal combustion engines, storage technologies, supply chains and refuelling characteristics. In addition, common and specific future research needs in the short to long term for the different transportation modes were suggested. The findings showed the potential of using hydrogen in all transportation modes, although each sector faces different challenges and requires future improvements in performance and cost, development of innovative designs, refuelling stations, standards and codes, regulations and policies to support the advancement of the use of hydrogen. • Hydrogen-fuelled transportation is reviewed. • Characteristics, advantages and drawbacks of using hydrogen in different transportation modes are investigated. • Common and specific research areas from short to long term for the different transportation modes are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer screening with low-dose CT was recommended by the UK National Screening Committee (UKNSC) in September, 2022, on the basis of data from trials showing a reduction in lung cancer mortality. These trials provide sufficient evidence to show clinical efficacy, but further work is needed to prove deliverability in preparation for a national roll-out of the first major targeted screening programme. The UK has been world leading in addressing logistical issues with lung cancer screening through clinical trials, implementation pilots, and the National Health Service (NHS) England Targeted Lung Health Check Programme. In this Policy Review, we describe the consensus reached by a multiprofessional group of experts in lung cancer screening on the key requirements and priorities for effective implementation of a programme. We summarise the output from a round-table meeting of clinicians, behavioural scientists, stakeholder organisations, and representatives from NHS England, the UKNSC, and the four UK nations. This Policy Review will be an important tool in the ongoing expansion and evolution of an already successful programme, and provides a summary of UK expert opinion for consideration by those organising and delivering lung cancer screenings in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The government plays a critical role in driving building information modeling (BIM) implementation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the government efforts for driving BIM implementation in three benchmark countries, namely, Singapore, the UK and the US, so as to develop appropriate roadmaps for increasing BIM implementations in other countries. Design/methodology/approach: This study performs a review on the government efforts and roles in BIM implementation in three benchmark countries, namely, Singapore, the UK and the US. Findings: Through cross comparison with existing literature, it is found that Singapore and the UK adopt a government-driven approach and a phase-by-phase development pattern is observed. The first phase focuses on the building sector to rapidly increase the use of BIM and the government generally plays the role of an initiator. In the second phase, BIM is expanded to other implementation areas, e.g. smart city. The importance of the initiator role decreases and more attention is paid to supporting roles such as researcher, educator and regulator. In contrast, an industry-driven approach is adopted in the US. The main role of the government is that of a regulator, with research institutions actively supporting the BIM implementation. Research limitations/implications: General roadmaps of the two mandating approaches are presented. The results can provide a useful reference for countries and regions that intend to develop roadmaps to increase their BIM maturity level and enhance readiness to accept and implement BIM. Originality/value: This study is one of the first studies that investigate the step-by-step roadmaps for implementing BIM from the perspective of changing government roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many organizations use technology roadmaps for strategic planning, and they often use workshop-based approaches to create the roadmaps. Customizing the workshop process and the artifacts used is necessary to tailor the approach to each organization's context. We describe a hierarchical architecture and software-supported workshop approach that we deployed within the UK's High Value Manufacturing Catapult. This customized approach connected technological capabilities identified within multiple organizations' technology roadmaps with different industry needs identified within sector roadmaps. This development process provided a framework to facilitate discussion between academia and industry and to build a clear set of narratives linking the development of new technologies with industry challenges. By digitizing the workshop outputs in a common database, we integrated multiple narratives dynamically, supported different views for the various stakeholders involved, and facilitated reuse of roadmapping elements generated in different workshops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed study was made of the distribution of settlements in England and Wales as shown on the medieval Gough map of Britain and of the accuracy of their placement. No evidence of clustering is found in the choice of settlements in England, which are more uniformly dispersed than expected even for a random distribution. This suggests that whoever constructed the map was aiming for a uniform distribution in order to make it easier to refer to localities not shown. Evidence is found that suggests that the map was constructed from a series of regional ‘surveys’, including maps, which were individually more accurate than the resultant map of England and Wales overall. The strange shape of Wales, and in particular the absence of any indication of Cardigan Bay, is attributed to an especially poor combination of three regional surveys, each of a similar accuracy to those of the regions of England. Lesser distortions of the outline of England can be partly attributed to similar errors in the assembly of the regional surveys. The possible methods of construction of the map are discussed in the light of these results. A number of misidentifications of settlements on the map came to light in the course of these investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The mid-fourteenth century map of Britain known as the 'Gough' map is the earliest extant depiction of the island in geographically recognizable form. Hitherto, however, interest in the road or route patterns marked on the map has meant that the map's extraordinarily rich settlement geography has not received the attention it merits and that, consequently, the point of the map may have been missed. The availability of a digital scan of the map coupled with the use of Geographical Information System (GIS) software provides the opportunity for a new look at the Gough map and the questions it poses. Attention in this article is directed to the settlement geography it shows, and in particular to the map's 654 cities, towns, villages, castles and monasteries. Their geographical positions as given on the manuscript are compared with their modern equivalents to shed light on some of the basic questions—the map's place of origin, the purpose or purposes for which it was made and the circumstances of its production—that have posed such a challenge for scholars. Our preliminary conclusion is that the key to understanding the original primary role of the Gough map lies in its accurate but selective depiction of the settlement geography of fourteenth-century Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There is growing interest in enhancing road verges for nature. • We present a novel method for characterising and classifying road verges remotely. • We use satellite and ground-level imagery from Google Earth and Google Street View. • Road verges cover 1.2% of land in Great Britain, of which 27.5% is frequently mown. • Opportunities to enhance verges for nature include reduced mowing and tree planting. There is growing societal and scientific interest in enhancing road verges for nature and the environment. This is partly because they are estimated to cover large areas in some regions. Yet, to our knowledge, there has been no quantitative assessment of national road verge extent, or of the habitats they encompass. We present a novel method for characterising and classifying road verges remotely. We use this to evaluate the extent and habitat composition of road verges across Great Britain, and to identify opportunities for improving verges for nature and the environment. We use stratified random sampling of freely-available road maps combined with satellite (Google Earth) and ground-level imagery (Google Street View). Overall, we estimate that there are 2,579 km2 (2,149-3,010 km2) of road verges across Great Britain, equivalent to 1.2% of land area, of which 707 km2 (27.47%) is short, frequently-mown grassland, 1,062 km2 (40.87%) is regular grassland, 480 km2 (18.73%) is woodland, and 272 km2 (10.66%) is scrub. By comparison, we estimate that there are 3,694 km2 of hard road surfaces across Great Britain, equivalent to 1.8% of land. Only 27% of frequently-mown grassland verges contained trees, indicating potential for planting trees and shrubs to provide environmental benefits. Our findings suggest that there are significant opportunities to enhance (i) verges along major roads, because these constitute a disproportionately large area of road verge and have the widest verges, and (ii) frequently-mown grassland verges for example by, where appropriate, reducing mowing frequencies and/or planting trees. Our method can be used, adapted and further developed by others, for example to assess road verges across other regions, and to assess verge habitat composition in greater detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, vehicle manufacturers have largely been left to their own initiatives when it comes to the design, development and implementation of automated driving features. Whilst this has enabled developments within the field to accelerate at a rapid pace, we are also now beginning to see the negative aspects of automated design (e.g., driver complacency, automation misuse and ethical dilemmas). It is therefore becoming increasingly important to identify systemic aspects that can address some of these Human Factors challenges. This paper applies the principles of the Risk Management Framework to explore the wider systemic issues associated with automated driving in the United Kingdom through the novel application of network metrics. The authors propose a number of recommendations targeted at each level of the Risk Management Framework that seek to shift the power of influence away from vehicle manufacturers and back into the hands of governing bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovate UK, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Transport Scotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, and the Knowledge Transfer Network have launched a roadmapping exercise to drive sustainable economic growth in the UK hydrogen and fuel cell industry to 2025 and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: UK research councils have drawn up a strategic plan for the development of regenerative medicine, covering all aspects from basic research through to commercialisation. Michael Gross reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]