Atkins to speak at global forum on technology innovation in Dubai

Notes and media contacts

Katie Hodge - ME&I Regional Communications & PR Manager Katie Hodge + 9714 4059 300

About Dr. Anne Kemp's Keynote Address - 'The challenges of rolling out advanced technology: Don't forget the people!'
Abstract: It can be very easy to get caught up in the excitements and technical details of the latest technology, but what about the end‐user? Have you considered what is driving the development - the technology or the applications it will serve? In large and diverse organisations, attitude to change can be a key barrier to the success of the technology. The approach to overcoming this can be as crucial as spotting and investing in innovative technologies/approaches. Forget the people and implementation is likely to falter, and even fail. This presentation will consider the pitfalls of rolling out advanced technologies and offer some food for thought.

About Dr Anne Kemp: Dr Anne Kemp is an Associate Director, and Head of Atkins Geospatial, and has 20 years experience of GIS and environmental modelling. Her career commenced with post doctoral research at Bristol University. She has since held positions at BARNUS (a Brown and Root affiliated environmental consultancy), and RSK Environment Limited, where she was a Director for five years, managing large GIS projects for Shell UK, and OPA, and EIA projects for MOD and Statoil.

Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) plans, designs and enables the delivery of complex capital programmes for clients in the public and private sectors across the globe. Atkins is the largest multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe; the largest engineering consultancy in the UK; and the world's fifth largest design firm.
Atkins' current projects include:
• Major infrastructure works, such as design and programme management of the civil works for the Dubai Metro red and green lines;
• In the defence sector, the MoD's Future Rapid Effects System (FRES) programme - overseeing the development of the next generation of medium weight armoured vehicles for the military;
• Significant road contracts, such as a £150 million, five-year integrated contract for Gloucestershire County Council, delivering highway maintenance, design, emergency response, winter maintenance, re-surfacing and recycling;
• Key rail projects, including a £65 million, three-year resignalling contract in Basingstoke; and
• High profile designs, such as Durrat Al Bahrain, a spectacular 20 sq km resort for 45,000 people on the south coast of Bahrain, comprising 13 man-made islands.
Atkins was named among the '20 Best Big Companies to Work For 2008' by The Sunday Times; The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2007; and The Times Top 50 Companies Where Women Want to Work 2007. The company was also sector winner in the Target National Graduate Recruitment Awards for the second successive year in 2007.

WS Atkins plc
Woodcote Grove, Ashley Road
Epsom, Surrey KT18 5BW
United Kingdom
www.atkinsglobal.com
www.atkins-me.com