Celebrating the home of Venturefest South: innovation at the Utilita Bowl
Venturefest South returns to the Utilita Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday 18 November for its 10th anniversary Festival of Innovation. It’s a fitting home, because cricket in the Central South has a strong track record of backing good ideas.
Hawk-Eye, born in Hampshire
If you’ve ever held your breath during an LBW review, you can thank Hampshire engineers. Hawk-Eye was developed by engineers at Roke Manor Research in Romsey, then spun out as Hawk-Eye Innovations, based in Winchester. It was first used in cricket for TV coverage in 2001.
In those early days, the team was reportedly operating from a portable cabin at the Hampshire Rose Bowl. The Decision Review System in cricket has used the technology since 2009.
The greenest cricket ground in the world?
The ground itself is now an innovation story. More than 1,000 solar panels have been installed across five buildings at the Utilita Bowl. They generate a quarter of the stadium’s annual power, and all of the electricity used on match days.
The ambition is to create the world’s greenest cricket ground. It was delivered with Utilita, a Hampshire-based energy supplier. The partnership won Sponsorship Campaign of the Year at the ECB’s 2024 Business of Cricket Awards.
Growing the game
Innovation isn’t only about technology. The Utilita Bowl became the first venue to sell out consecutive England Women’s internationals, through “Project Double It”, and it hosted six ICC Women’s T20 World Cup matches in June 2026. The Men’s Ashes Test is due here in 2027.
From the Bowl to the club nets
Innovation at the top of the game only matters if it reaches the clubs below it. Just up the road in Basingstoke, Serious Sport is a good example of a local business doing exactly that.
Founded by Neil Rider, a former ECB development manager and England Women’s Manager, the Serious Sport group hand manufactures over 85% of its on-field match day kits at its Basingstoke HQ. Its Serious Cricket brand works with over 1,300 cricket clubs a year. It also runs the Dummer Cricket Centre, home to ECB Level 3 coaching, bowling machines and freshly resurfaced net lanes. It has partnered with the Hampshire Cricket Board to launch the Hampshire Junior Championships too.
Neil Rider, Managing Director of Serious Sport, said: “We make the majority of our match-day kit in Basingstoke. Being close to our clubs lets us turn designs around quickly and keep the whole process sustainable, which is exactly the sort of local innovation Venturefest South celebrates.”
Ten years of ideas, in the right place
Whether it’s engineers in Romsey, an energy company with a bold idea, a venue rethinking who cricket is for, or a Basingstoke manufacturer supplying clubs across the country, the common thread is ambitious people in the South backing ideas and making them happen.
That’s what Venturefest South has celebrated for a decade, so it feels right that our 10th anniversary festival takes place at the Utilita Bowl.
