Thank you all for your great ideas in the GeoVation Challenge ‘How can we encourage active lifestyles in Britain? ’.  We asked for your ideas to encourage people to lead active lifestyles in the open; whatever their age. There were 74 fantastic ideas posted between 7 November 2013 and 15 January 2014 and a whopping 655 people registered on the GeoVation Community during that time!

The next stage is for the judging panel to start reading all of your ideas and select which of these offer the best solution to the active lifestyles challenge theme and are innovative, use technology, good design and of course, use Ordnance Survey geographical information,  including OS OpenData and OS OpenSpace, together with other open data in the solution.  The judges will be meeting on 21 January and soon after we’ll announce the finalists to be invited to GeoVation Camp in Southampton over the weekend 28 February to 2 March 2014.

Ordnance Survey will be offering a slice of £100,000 to help develop the best ideas.

You can find out who the judging panel are below:

The Judging Panel Chair is:

Andy Middleton – a social entrepreneur, designer and facilitator who helps leaders in business,  government and community build resilience for sustainability. He uses ecology, psychology and experiential learning to help people see the possibilities for radical change where previously they only sensed problems. He is a Board Member of Natural Resources Wales and Founder Director of TYF, a leading and innovative adventure, education and outdoor retail business based in St Davids, Pembrokeshire. His imagination is fired by city and country-scale sustainability projects and by surfing waves of change with clients, friends and family.

Andy will be joined by:

Gwenda Owen –  Trustee, Councillor for Wales for CTC, the national cycling charity. Gwenda has been cycling around Wales for most of her life and has worked in the Third Sector for over 30 years.  Roles have been varied but have always involved working with people.   An interlude to study Law at Aberystwyth University and a move to Cardiff to complete the Legal Practice Course reinforced her commitment to working in the voluntary sector.   The legal training was put to good use during nine years with Citizen’s Advice Bureaux in Cardiff and Newport as a specialist casework supervisor but then the opportunity arose to work for CTC, the national cycling charity to help introduce Bikeability to Wales.  She currently works for Ramblers Cymru as Community Engagement Officer but 2014 sees her returning to cycling to take up the role of trustee as CTC Councillor for Wales in her spare time.

Dr Andrew Adams is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Event and Sport Research at Bournemouth University and teaches across a range of sport and social policy modules. At Bournemouth University we work with a range of sport and leisure organisations from local clubs and the county sports partnership to professional organisations such as Bournemouth AFC. Andrew holds degrees from University of Kent and Warwick University and a PhD from Loughborough University and has published widely on sport, policy and the social impacts for grass roots sport organisations.  Andrew has three sons, is a keen runner and former rugby player and referee and lives in Southampton.

Quentin Johns,  Head of Business Development at Hub Westminster, London’s Super Studio for the new economy. The Hub Network comprises over 40 locally owned centres around the world, and what holds them together as a collaborative community, is that all the members of the Hub’s are dedicated to delivering social and environmental impact from their  businesses. Quentin has a degree in Social Anthropology from Sussex University and has worked with rural communities for an NGO in India. He has also worked as the international sales manager for  Marvin Magic, running stores on both sides of the Atlantic. He changed careers in 2011 in search of a job that would help create a new more sustainable economy.

Two directors from Ordnance Survey will be participating in the judging panel.

Peter ter Haar is Director of  Products & Innovation at Ordnance Survey.  Peter  is responsible for all aspects of product management at Ordnance Survey including product marketing, engineering and supply. He joined Ordnance Survey in November 2006, with more than 18 years’ experience in product management and business development in both the public and private sectors in GIS, location-based services and mobile technology. His previous roles include the head of GIS at the City of Amsterdam, and senior product and technical management roles in Geodan, Autodesk Europe and Intergraph Europe.