Alison is a Global Export and Investment Specialist with the Connected Places Catapult, focusing on FDI into the UK around Smart Cities and mobility, working across NetZero mobility projects at the Catapult. She spent six years living and working in the Middle East, with the Department for International Trade as a Trade & Investment Advisor. Based first in Muscat, Oman, where she spent four years leading on a number of sectors, from Education to Infrastructure, followed by two and a half years in the UAE, based in Dubai, setting up the Technology and Smart Cities sector for DIT, with a core focus on AI and Fintech. She has lived and worked in over six different countries and is passionate about international trade & investment, and the green agenda