Digital Planning co-founders Mark Underwood and James Ferraby have been shortlisted in Business Desk’s East Midlands Leadership Awards 2026.
The company directors are finalists in both the Technology Leader and Company Leader categories. Winners will be announced at the Crowne Plaza in Nottingham on 19 March next year.
The awards recognise regional leaders across 19 distinct categories, celebrating the people helping to grow their organisations and communities.
Since launching in 2021, Digital Planning has grown into a 36-strong commercial R&D team delivering secure automation, software, and cyber-resilient platforms for various complex and regulated sectors.
The company has consistently reinvested profits into next-generation innovation and team development – building an integrated, multi-disciplinary group of specialists.
James said: “Being shortlisted is really about the strength of our culture, rather than a traditional hierarchical approach.
“When you have an invested, collaborative team, leading becomes about creating the conditions for great work – and at Digital Planning we have strength in depth from the people delivering what we do.”
The latest recognition supports Digital Planning’s ambitions to develop a centre of excellence for AI and commercial R&D in the East Midlands, a region that has historically suffered from below-average productivity and investment.
Working from Loughborough University’s Advanced Technology Innovation Centre places the team at the centre of a tech and manufacturing network focused on productivity, cyber resilience, and digital transformation.
Digital Planning is currently developing Metis, its proprietary contextual resource allocation platform – while continuing to deliver award‑winning digital projects that help organisations deploy next-generation technologies with confidence.
Mark said: “Being named in both leadership categories means a lot to us as founders, but it’s really a reflection of the team and the work they do every day to turn complex digital projects into AI solutions that make a tangible difference for businesses.”
Digital Planning’s regional leadership recognition reflects its continuing role in turning advanced research into real-world impact across the East Midlands and beyond.
In this year alone, partnerships such as its strategic role with East Midlands Chamber and collaboration with Gulf Medical University have seen the Digital Planning team use their unique approach to commercial R&D to bridge academic innovation, regional business needs and AI-driven healthcare advances.
