The Bartlett Invents!

Unlocking Innovation at The Bartlett. The Bartlett Invents! is a competition and showcase for innovative ideas in architecture, urban planning, and sustainability.

Unlocking Innovation at The Bartlett

The Bartlett Invents! is a competition and showcase for innovative ideas in architecture, urban planning, and sustainability. Led by the UCL Centre for Sustainability and RealTech Innovation (CSRI), and powered by PGIM Real Estate, we aim to identify, nurture, and amplify groundbreaking projects from across The Bartlett, creating clear and supported pathways into UCL’s commercialisation ecosystem.

What are the benefits of taking part in The Bartlett Invents!?

Win £5,000 - £10,000 prize award
Access mentorship and industry experts 
Expert guidance to help protect your intellectual property
Opportunity to pitch at an exclusive investor event
Invitation to participate in The Bartlett Invents! Exhibition

What’s the goal?

To supercharge The Bartlett’s entrepreneurial pipeline in RealTech, inclusive design, sustainability, and urban innovation - the fields shaping the future of our cities, economies, and everyday lives.

We're on a mission to uncover and accelerate bold ideas that push boundaries. Whether you're an academic, technician, PhD student or part of our professional services team at The Bartlett, we're here to spotlight your innovations and connect you with the support needed to make them thrive.

Why partner with us and UCLB?

The Centre for Sustainability and RealTech Innovation (CSRI), in collaboration with PGIM Real Estate, is shaping the future of sustainable real estate and technology. By uniting startups, SMEs, academics, and industry leaders, the CSRI provides a platform to tackle pressing challenges in sustainability and Real Estate Technology (RealTech), driving impactful change across the sector.

If selected for the showcase, you’ll gain access to the CSRI community, opening the door to tailored mentorship and connections with leading industry experts from PGIM. The Bartlett Invents! links The Bartlett’s creative talent with UCL Business (UCLB), the commercialisation company for UCL, which has over 30 years of experience in supporting UCL academics to create great commercial successes from their research. By embedding UCLB at the heart of our innovation ecosystem, we aim to create deeper, more strategic partnerships that accelerate the journey from idea to real-world impact.

Themes & Focus Areas

There are three different themes that we would welcome ideas from:

Inclusive Design – Accessible, equitable architecture 
Resilient Cities – Innovations in urban planning and real estate, which promote urban resilience
Climate Change & Sustainability – Sustainable materials, net-zero solutions

Case studies from UCLB:

Carbon Re (its name refers to Carbon Reduce / Remove / Revolution) has a singular mission: reduce global emissions at the Gigatonne scale. Starting with cement, its Delta Zero product enables energy intensive industries like cement to reduce their emissions and costs. Delta Zero is Carbon Re’s proprietary software platform, using deep reinforcement learning to enable instant reductions in energy consumption, cost and carbon emissions. Based on innovative research at UCL, and Cambridge University, Delta Zero delivers state-of-the-art artificial intelligence solutions to manufacturers.

Started by a Bartlett PhD student, Speckle is an open-source platform that serves as a collaborative data hub for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. It enables seamless integration across various design tools, facilitating real-time collaboration, data management, and workflow automation. Speckle empowers teams to streamline project delivery by connecting their tech stack and enhancing decision-making processes.