Businesses to find new opportunities for growth at annual West Yorkshire Innovation Festival
A week-long festival showcasing the region’s best and brightest innovators, entrepreneurs and business minds is set to return to West Yorkshire for its fourth edition.
Organised by mayor Tracy Brabin to champion, celebrate and foster collaboration among the region’s business base, the West Yorkshire Innovation Festival will take place between 3-7 March.
Businesses and organisations will be able to hear from and network with leading private sector innovators as well as public sector finance providers, to help accelerate their business plans through the development of new innovations that can boost their productivity and profits.
Through a mix of inspiring stories told by innovators, masterclasses for small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) to commercialise their concepts, and a showcase of the cutting-edge technologies being pioneered in the region, business leaders who join the festival will walk away inspired and supported with new avenues for finance and a new network to collaborate with.
The festival follows the launch of the million-pound Mayor’s Big Ideas Challenge, which will see successful businesses receive up to £100,000 to develop innovative solutions to local health challenges.
By supporting SMEs to grow and succeed while targeting investment at the region’s fastest growing business sectors, the region’s multibillion-pound Local Growth Plan aims to add £26 billion to the UK economy and support the creation of an additional 33,000 local jobs.
Tracy Brabin, mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “The West Yorkshire Innovation Festival is back with a bang.
“This year, business leaders have so many inspiring and educational events to look forward to, from masterclasses with proven innovators, to networking opportunities with those who can help turn bright ideas into bigger growth.
“To deliver our ambitious growth plan, we need to empower our growth creators. That means helping our businesses to innovate at a time of great challenge and opportunity, so they can continue to grow, succeed, and contribute to a stronger and brighter economy for the region.”
Mandy Ridyard, business advisor to the Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “We have all of the ingredients for innovation in West Yorkshire. We have incredible sector strengths and businesses that innovate constantly.
“But regional growth depends on accelerating innovation in all our businesses and organisations.
“To grow our economy we must unlock the ideas and the potential of everyone in it. So this festival is about joining the dots between our businesses, universities and finance providers, to help make innovation a reality for all of our SMEs.”
The festival will see the return of “Innovate UK Local: West Yorkshire” at Production Park in Wakefield, where local businesses will learn how to make the most of the opportunities present in the region, from national funding schemes to local initiatives. Leeds Digital Health are hosting a hackathon to solve accessibility challenges, while Leeds Trinity University is presenting a masterclass on innovation for charities and non-profit organisations.
The festival will also feature a showcase and celebration of the Huddersfield Health Innovation Partnership in Kirklees, as well as a tour of the Old Medical School at Leeds General Infirmary. Businesses will hear from West Yorkshire-based Paxman Scalp Cooling and Nashville-based Decode Health about the cutting edge innovations at the forefront of the global healthtech sector, and about how the two regions can collaborate across the Atlantic to drive new developments and export opportunities, transforming the lives of patients worldwide.
The festival is open to everyone, with events taking place across the region as well as virtually. Residents and businesses are encouraged to view the full festival programme online.