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Regional business leaders join together for free master-class in innovation

Over 20 entrepreneurs attend the Innovation Elevator programme at Sunderland Software Centre to learn how to grow their companies.

The free two-day business master-class, courtesy of the Business & IP Centre Newcastle, was held in Sunderland.

Delegates joining the event participated in six in-depth training sessions from leading experts in their fields. These included Hugh Rhodes from Northumbria University, who led a workshop on ‘Financing your innovation’, Luke Burton from the Business & IP Centre Newcastle along with Alex Shiel from Ward Hadaway who together covered ‘Navigating the IP minefield’ and a discussion on ‘Marketing tactics for new innovation’, by John McCrae from Stand-up Marketing.

Feedback from the event, which ran over two days, was overwhelming positive.

David Mulvain, an entrepreneur from Sunderland who has recently established Total Joint Wraps Limited, attended the event to understand more about patenting his product and financing his business. He said: “The IP session answered a direct question I had on patents pending and I found the marketing element particularly relevant for launching my new product.”

Asier de-Quadra from Newcastle’s ADQ Design, added: “I found the whole thing really interesting, particularly the part about researching and preparing before embarking on PR and sales – it is great to see and hear things from a different perspective and I feel what I have learnt will be put to great use.”

“We chose to have this, our third Innovation Elevator, in a condensed two day format rather than spread over eight weeks, which we had previously offered. Our thanks go to Sunderland Software Centre for allowing us to use its excellent facilities and help increase attendee numbers from across the whole region.”

Plans are already underway for a fourth Innovation Elevator, which is expected to be on Teesside’s Boho One complex in November. Details for the event will be released shortly.

Business & IP Centre Newcastle is a partnership made up of Newcastle City Council, Newcastle Science City, Northumbria University and the British Library, with support from the European Regional Development Fund

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Business & IP Centre Newcastle .