Published: October 7th, 2019
Businesses across Herefordshire are being urged to make the most of a major innovation event being staged on the county’s doorstep.
The Malvern Festival of Innovation gets under way today with a week of events designed to help businesses develop new ideas, discover what’s coming next, learn how others are innovating and showcase their own research and development.
The Great Malvern event, organised in collaboration with London and Singapore based Business Mix, features a packed programme running up to October 12 with a number of business-focused events.
Lyndsay Francis, manager of the Marches Growth Hub Herefordshire, said the event would be beneficial for any county business involved in innovation.
"It is wonderful that we have such an event so close to home, and the week-long programme features many highlights which are of particular interest to businesses," she said.
The festival includes a special event called The Business of Innovating on October 9 at the Coach House Theatre. It features a series of fireside chats with business leaders from around the UK including Graham Dodgson speaking about strategies to get the best from your IP, author and leadership expert Hilarie Owen, and digitalisation experts Paul Ashcroft and Garrick Jones.
The same venue also hosts a series of talks about Startup Stories on the same day, highlighting the stories and experiences of three entrepreneurs including Malvern’s founder of Smartbox Assistive Technology, Paul Hawes.
Cyber Security: Securing SMEs is the theme of an all day event on October 10, with a full programme of talks, exhibition and networking with industry leaders from the Global Cyber Alliance, Axa, The Trust Bridge, NCSC, Avast, IASME and Intel.
The week’s Gala Dinner takes place on the evening of October 10 at Malvern College, with a three course meal and after-dinner speech from David Page, the CEO of business mix, on the power of collaboration.
The week rounds off with an event focussing on Environment & Sustainability on October 11 at the Coach House Theatre, with talks from Anna Bright, Chief Executive at Sustainability West Midlands, Prof Jon Bryson, Philip Mossop, the founder of Wastecollection-dot-com and former MP and writer Tom Levitt.
Many of the events are free to attend, with the full programme here: https://www.festival-innovation.com/programme
