Innovation Day 2010

Thursday 21 April 2010

More than 150 people attended Innovation Day 2010 which attracted a wide range of businesses from all over Bedfordshire and Luton. The main themes for the day were health, digital industries and green technologies.

The day encouraged local businesses to look at innovation in a whole new way through a variety of keynote speeches, interactive workshops, professional advice and networking.

We talked to some exhibitors and delegates to get their opinions on the day and how successful it was for them. Click here to find out what they had to say!

Keynote speakers

• Claudio Marinelli, Director of Open Innovation and Academic Relations for the Nokia Research Centre was due to give a keynote speech on Leveraging innovation networks for transformation and value creation, but unfortunately was unable to make the event as he was stranded by the volcanic ash!
• Professor Alan Barrell, Visiting Professor of Enterprise at the University, opened the day with a keynote speech on Turning Research and Ideas into Business [PDF 14.2mb], looking at Open Innovation and the use of open networks to encourage and foster collaborations.
• Other keynote speeches came from Jon Block, Product Innovation Lead, ITV.com who spoke about Innovation – Where Novelty Meets Need [PDF 5.38mb]. Jon looked into what innovation actually is and whether it can be fitted into a process – or whether that defeats the point of it!
• Steve Head, High Performance Specialist was the final keynote of the day and talked about Building on Success [PDF 572kb]. Steve’s lively talk focussed on building self-confidence, being positive at work and how this can lead to innovation.

Interactive workshops

Delegates took part in a series of interactive workshops, with business leaders and academics presenting the latest thinking on growing businesses, developing products using the latest technology, promoting a healthy office environment, and even how to create human muscle in the lab. Look at the fantastic range of workshops we had during the day!

Professor John Brewer
Creating a Healthy Workforce: Benefits and Solutions [PDF 741kb]

Simon Hall & Dr Wesley Randle
The Innovation Process - Developing a Green Technology Project [PDF 264kb]

Guy Jacobs
Desperately Seeking Sales:- How to drive customers to your door @ digital speed [PDF 80.8kb]

Lawrence Lartey
Innovate & Acquire New Customers with Mobile Applications [PDF 1.84mb]

Margaret Duggan
“Step Away From The Desk” - Promoting a Healthy Office Environment for Employees by Leadership and Example [PDF 1.03mb]

Professor Mark Lewis
Creating human muscle in the lab! [PDF 1.26mb]

Dr Stephen Edwards
Is it possible to continuously produce innovative products using the Latest Technology? [PDF 237kb]

Dr Elly Philpott
UK SMEs and RTDs working together: Win-win or win-lose? [PDF 1.14mb]

Visit www.useanddiffuse.eu

Professor Alan Barrell
Working with the crowd

Photo gallery

We had a photographer on hand to capture the day – to have a look at some of the great pictures from the day click here.

Awards

Winners of this year’s iFactor Awards were presented during the afternoon. Guy Jacobs, a director of local business Bloofers, presented the iFactor 2010 trophy to Roman Latypov, who created Smart Wares. To read more about the iFactor and this year's winners click here.

Innovation Day was a partnership event between the University of Bedfordshire’s Knowledge Hub, Luton Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council, Bedford Borough Council, the Federation of Small Businesses, Bedfordshire and Luton Chamber of Commerce, Business Link and Basepoint which manages the Innovation and Business Centre.