Elevating business in West Midlands

Opening doors to innovation

As part of West Midlands Business Festival, Innovate Local West Midlands opened its doors to innovation in Coventry. The event brought together key stakeholders in one room for businesses to discover growth opportunities, connect with experts, expand their local network and take their business to the next level.

Ian McLaughlan from Business Growth West Midlands opened the event by celebrating their journey since co-launching the West Midlands Local Action Plan with Innovate UK. Since the launch, their focus has been on investing more in local innovation, inspiring innovation and growth through a series of events, and increasing involvement with partners.

Kezia Williamson from Innovate UK Business Connect highlighted the benefits of innovation to businesses and the economy, and provided an overview of the Innovate UK system’s support available to help. Kezia motivated the audience by acknowledging that innovators don’t all have to be the next Bill Gates as micro-innovation is as important to growth as ground-breaking innovation.

Coventry University’s Paul Fairburn highlighted their collaborative, challenge-led industry focus, as well as opportunities to use University space on campus to co-locate and co-create with partners.

Local inspiration

Following the keynotes was a panel of local businesses sharing the honest truths about their innovation journey. After going through education undiagnosed with dyslexia, Ilisha Masaun recognised that traditional teaching styles didn’t work for everyone. This led to the creation of Econominds which now supports over 18,000 students across the globe.

After years managing RDF funds, Jaspal Sohal created Growth Canvas which generates real-time, Al-powered market analysis and growth support recommendations for business support providers in minutes. Jaspal’s advice to the audience was to embed micro-innovation into company culture and to take a logic-based approach to decision making.

Having recently received launchpad funding, Denise Taylor from Wylde Connections, a sustainability and ESG consultancy service, advised the audience that to write a successful application you need to drill down on your business so that you fully understand your value proposition.

Having gained experience in large corporate firms and start-ups, James Edwards from Truzy highlighted the importance of leveraging small start-ups to foster innovation. James acknowledged that corporations don’t always have disruptive tech, but they do have the customer base therefore both should work in collaboration not competition. Truzy’s technology is working to omit fake reviews.

These were a few of a myriad of inspiring speakers. The key messages across the day were:

• If you ask for funding, you get advice. If you ask for advice, you’ll likely get funding.
• Innovation is a mindset; you don’t have to be a tech-wiz.
• There’s power in micro-innovation as not all innovation is ground-breaking, it can be about doing something small.
• Foster a culture of experimentation but always remember your customer.
• We all love optimists, but you need a designated cynic to keep you grounded and ask difficult questions.
• Raising money is a full-time job, so make sure you get it at the right time for your business.

Afternoon breakouts

‘Adding Value Through Innovation’ uncovered how firms are innovating through the adoption of disruptive technologies for example, by using test-bed facilities such as the Energy Systems Catapult.

‘Good Grant Applications’ took delegates through top tips in writing successful grant applications. View Innovate UK’s Good Application Guide.

‘Build Success with Partnerships’ celebrated 50 years of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and showcased the benefits to businesses in engaging in KTPs through live case studies.

‘Growing Your Innovation Through Funding’ featured a panel of investors and investment specialists sharing their experiences. Your business can be linked to investors via Investor Connect.

About Innovate Local

The Innovate Local programme is now in its sixth year and provides an unprecedented opportunity for businesses to find out more about the products and services offered through Innovate UK and our local partners, that can help guide and transform businesses.

About Innovate UK

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is the UK’s innovation agency. It works to create a better future by inspiring, involving and investing in businesses developing life-changing innovations. Its mission is to help companies to grow through their development and commercialisation of new products, processes, and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive and easy to navigate.