Events

Wednesday 6th October 2010

Customer Driven Innovation - A Masterclass with Sheila Mello

Date: 6^th -7^th October 2010, Venue: The MØller Centre, Location: Cambridge

Price: Standard £1500 + VAT, Early Bird £1300+ VAT (excluding travel and accommodation) - OPPORTUNITY FOR 5 REGIONALLY BASED SMEs TO ATTEND THE WORKSHOP FOR FREE!

The Newcastle Innovation Machine (NIM) was created by Newcastle Science City (NSC) to deliver the next generation of high-growth businesses through an insight-led innovation approach. Exposing customer’s real needs is the first step of the NIM methodology.

Newcastle Science City has teamed up with Pure Insight to enable 5 regionally based SMEs to attend the workshop for FREE, saving £1500 course fees. (SMEs will be required to cover their own travel, food and accommodation).

This 2-day interactive Masterclass will deliver tools and techniques for managing the critical front end of product development, covering where and how to use qualitative and quantitative customer exploration techniques and how they can be combined to drive bottom line growth.

Whether you are looking to successfully enter new markets or expand your current customer base, this workshop will enable you to work through a set of proven steps which put profiting from customer value at the core of your NPD process.

You will learn how to Own, Drive and Get results from Voice of the Customer Initiatives

Qualitative and quantitative tools for extracting unmet customer needs:
Learn how to develop and create unambiguous customer requirements
Avoid the creation of ‘me-too’ products by identifying how to uncover and prioritise new opportunities
Gain a 360-degree view of your customers’ problems and challenges

Click here to see workshop flyer containing full details of the event

http://www.pure-insight.com/email/2Days/Customer_Driven_Innovation.pdf

To register your interest for a FREE place please click here

http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?82A6CAD082C7D7D584

For further information on eligibility please contact Caroline Findlay caroline.findlay@newcastlesciencecity.com 0191 211 3014. The 5 eligible companies will be notified as soon as possible.

For further workshop information please contact Xanthe Hay - Head of Events (Pure Insight) at xanthe.hay@pure-insight.com or on 01325 345810.

Thursday 30th September 2010

Building Success Stories - Two Day Workshop

A Workshop for Entrepreneurs and Innovators

Following the hugely successful event held earlier this year, Building Success Stories returns by popular demand on:

Thursday 30th September 2010 3pm – 8pm (including refreshments and canapés)

Friday 1st October 2010 9am- 4.30pm (including refreshments and lunch)

Do you have an innovative idea or a technology that you would like to take to market?

As a regional SME or entrepreneur, this workshop will help you to:

Understand the commercialisation lifecycle for innovative ideas and technologies
Improve and fine tune you investor pitch
Develop an immediate action plan to commercialise your idea

You will also develop a network of like-minded entrepreneurial colleagues and gain access to invaluable resources and management tools.

How is it delivered?

The workshop is highly interactive with plenty of opportunity for discussion and application of ideas to your own circumstances. You will experience an engaging mix of presentations, activities, reflection and application of concepts to case studies and to real-life issues.

Who is it delivered by?

Maffick, a team of innovation consultants, with a unique, powerful and entertaining style of delivery. Previous participants have taken away an energetic and vibrant approach to pitching their business ideas. The tools and techniques demonstrated stay with participants long after the workshop has been completed, and have had dramatic positive effects.

Delivery is complemented by Regional Experts from Sphera Consulting, RMT, BHP Law and Murgitroyd & Company providing advice on every critical issue. Advice ranges from initial company formation to IP protection, legal considerations, business planning, exploitation strategies, funding and finance raising, commercialisation, licensing, and business growth.

Registration:

To book your place on this unique workshop register at http://www.een-northeast.co.uk/buildingsuccessstories/

Alternatively contact either:
Caroline.findlay@newcastlesciencecity.com
0191 211 3014

arun.harish@uk-cpi.com
01704 625 775

“…exactly 7 days after getting the pitch advice from you I was putting into practice… the investor really liked the pitch and provisionally agreed to the investment there and then with the one proviso that he invest twice as much as I was asking for. Happy days!”

“Thanks…for a superbly constructed and enjoyably delivered day and a half of quality material. I’ve already edited some of my pitch documents and will carry the excellent instruction you offered forward throughout my business future…”

Hosted by NSC in partnership with Enterprise Europe Network at CPI. Enterprise Europe Network and Newcastle Science City share a common mission to help regional businesses in the full life cycle of commercialisation of innovative ideas.

Thursday 23rd September 2010

Inkspot Workshop - Helping businesses collaborate more effectively

Your opportunity to qualify for bespoke business support and a free subscription to Inkspot worth £300.

Inkspot is based in North East England and has developed a web-based platform upon which innovative companies can analyse data, run workflows, share their work with selected individuals and groups and do research, development and science faster, more cheaply, more efficiently and effectively. This free workshop, kindly hosted at Newcastle University Business School and in partnership with Newcastle Science City, will be highly interactive, providing a demonstration of the Inkspot platform and information about how it can best be used to support your specific business.

Workshops are being held on both the 23rd and 24th September 17:30-21:00

For further information or to request a place at the workshop(s) for yourself or your technical team, please contact Joanna Berry on joanna.berry@inkspotscience.com or call her on 07875 541 180. You will be sent a venue map, more details about the workshop and pre-workshop questionnaire. Please ensure that you fill this questionnaire in and return it prior to the event. This will ensure that we can help you use the platform as effectively as possible.

What benefits does Inkspot provide?

Access to a library of sophisticated analytical software

Innovative workflow tools to automate data processing and analysis

State of the art collaborative tools to allow projects teams to share data

What will you take away?

Qualifying attendees will be provided with a year's free subscription to Inkspot valued at £300.

In addition, selected companies may benefit from a further two or, in some cases, four free days of more personalised assistance from the Inkspot team to help with particularly complex collaboration.

Tuesday 7th September 2010

International Conference on Ageing, Disability and Independence

Ageing affects everyone socially, physically and economically. For the first time in its history the International Conference on Ageing, Disability and Independence (ICADI) will be held in Europe and with it will come the unique opportunity to participate in the internationally acclaimed, wide ranging and exciting ageing research that is taking place across the world and brought together by ICADI. This is your opportunity to learn about the approaches to support people as they age and maintain independence in daily living at home, at work and in the community.

The Conference, which is normally held in USA, will this year take place in the iconic Sage Newcastle/Gateshead from 8^th to 10^th September, with the preconference and welcome reception on 7^th September.

The line up gives you the most comprehensive understanding of the issues, developments and progress needed to understand and change the way you think about ageing in your business, community and other aspects of life. The themes cover the following areas: transport; liveable homes and communities; home and community safety; rehabilitation and assistive robotics; intervention effectiveness; telehealth and telecare; assistive/smart technology; work and ageing; and, physician/clinician role in promoting independence.

Special guest speakers include:

Professor Tom Kirkwood CBE FmedSci - Director of the Institute for Ageing & Health at Newcastle University

Professor Greg Tagart AM FTSE - retired from the Australian Public Service as Secretary of the Australian Science and Technology Council and Visiting Professor to a number of Australian academic institutions

Professor Steven Kyffin - Dean of the School of Design at Northumbria University, (formerly Global Design Research Director of Philips Design Eindhoven)

Gary M. Moulton – Product Manager in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group

For more information, to book tickets and for travel and accommodation details, please go to: http://conferences.ncl.ac.uk/icadi/index.php

This conference is pending CPD accreditation.

Sponsored by: One North East, Newcastle Science City, N8, Newcastle University

For Sponsorship opportunities, please contact hannah@sailorgirlltd.com

Friday 3rd September 2010

First Friday North East - First Anniversary!

First Friday North East - First Anniversary!

First Friday North East is an informal forum to discuss innovation and entrepreneurship. This month the event celebrates its first anniversary!

The events are specifically targeted at the science community, including entrepreneurs, designers, scientists and financiers.

Events take place on the first Friday of every month at Central Bean Coffee Shop on Gallowgate in Newcastle city centre.

The next event, takes place on September 3rd between 8-10am. Please register your attendance at firstfriday@newcastlesciencecity.com

We look forward to seeing you there.

Thursday 1st July 2010

Focus on Ageing & Health - How will it affect your business?

The over 50s are 20 million strong, hold over 80% of the UK's wealth and are responsible for around 40% of UK consumer spending. This presents a fantastic opportunity for businesses to engage and trade with a longer living, healthier and increasingly demanding and diverse population.

To understand the impact of this opportunity, Newcastle University, invites local businesses to an event which aims to identify how these opportunities can be maximised. The event will be hosted by Professor Tom Kirkwood CBE, an internationally renowned expert on ageing and Director of the Institute of Ageing and Health, followed by an opportunity to discuss your business with staff from the University in a networking session.

The event takes place on Thursday 1st July from 2pm, at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead. To register for the event visit http://www.ncl.ac.uk/iah/boa/

Monday 14th June 2010

Newcastle Science City hosts a breakfast with Steve Radcliffe

Promoting effective leadership within the Science and Technology based sectors for start-up companies and SMEs.

8am - Registration and breakfast

8.30-10.30am - Workshop

You’ve been enjoying our first Friday events and now Newcastle Science City is offering you a unique opportunity to develop your leadership skills, making you a more capable and confident leader and helping your organisation to prosper. Our breakfast workshop will be led by one of Europe’s top leadership coaches, Steve Radcliffe whose ambition is to help develop people, regardless of their position or job title, who truly know how to develop as leaders.

Steve wants a future where the question “How are we leading this place and how can we do it better?” is part of an explicit and regular conversation throughout organisations.

Steve’s highly effective and proven coaching style will help you to identify what’s most important to you as a leader, showing you how to identify the areas where you, personally should focus your efforts. The workshop will give you the actions, practices and guidelines you need to accelerate your leadership skills, whatever you are aiming to achieve.

“Leadership is not about making clever decisions and doing bigger deals. It is about helping release the positive energy that exists naturally within people. Leadership isn’t complicated -
keep it simple, make it count.”

Steve will focus on:

How to recruit the right people for your business and how your leadership style might affect the appointments you make amongst others
The importance of strong leadership both in dealing with VC companies who look at the whole team - not just the key players- as well as how it affects your ability to communicate your vision and goals for success and engender team spirit
The challenges of being a good leader within a science or technology based business - is it any different being a good leader in fmcg or public sector organisations
Gaining a better understanding of effective leadership and people skills from the early days of start up

Steve has published several books and in November was picked as a ’rising star’ by the compilers of
‘The Thinkers 50’ list of most influential management thinkers.
You can find out more about Steve by visiting his website www.futureengagedeliver.com

Thursday 10th June 2010

Cambridge Technology Ventures Conference 2010

The Cambridge Technology Ventures Conference 2010 will serve as a platform to display how high-tech products continue to push back the boundaries of human ability. Breakthroughs in bioengineering, sensors, and smart materials are transforming recreational and professional sports. New feats are achieved daily and new avenues are available to engage sports and gaming consumers thanks to current multimedia technology. The Telegraph has already coined this era as The Golden Decade of Sports in the UK, and Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club (CUTEC) hopes to address the opportunities and limitations of high-tech businesses entering this timely market.

A major component of the event is the Technology Showcase, which aims to give early-stage start-up companies the chance to demonstrate their new technologies to the conference attendees. This year’s event includes a showcase competition in which entrepreneurs will pitch their companies to a selected audience of investors and entrepreneurs. Newcastle Science City supported Adtronik will feature in the technology showcase this year.

For more information and ticket bookings visit: http://tvc2010.cutec.org

For more information about Adtronik visit: www.adtronik.com

Tuesday 25th May 2010

Nurture Programme Breakfast Meetings

Looking for support in the development of new products and services for the healthcare and wellbeing sector?

Northumbria University’s Nurture Programme can help.

Join us at this breakfast meeting to find out more about how the Nurture Programme can support your business.

Northumbria University’s Nurture Programme offers small to medium size businesses, based in the North East of England, access to skills and expertise to develop innovative solutions for the healthcare and wellbeing market.

The Nurture Programme will provide £1.6m of design-led support, funded by One North East and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF 2007-13) over the next 3 years. The programme will offer North East businesses access to an integrated service of multidisciplinary design and development expertise, providing clear and practical development route from initial research through to the development of fully market-ready products and services.

Northumbria University’s aim is to support North East businesses in growing through the development of innovative and commercially successful healthcare products and services that provide high value to the end user. The Nurture Programme is co-funded by One North East, the European Regional Development Fund and Northumbria University.

If you are a North East based business looking to develop products and services for the healthcare and wellbeing sector, come to this breakfast meeting to find out how you can gain access to this programme.

The meeting will explain how the Nurture Programme can help your business, what the application process is to gain this invaluable support as well as showcase some of the companies that have already benefited from this programme.

The FREE breakfast meeting will be held on the 25th May, 8am – 10.30am at the International Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Don’t miss out, register now (places are limited). To register, please contact Samantha Davidson on 0191 519 7416 or by emailing samantha@horizonworks-marketing.co.uk

Tuesday 11th May 2010

Business Design Camp

Entrpreneurs will be invited to design a business using the insight led model of business creation of the Newcastle Innovation Machine. Participants will be given access to the Newcastle Science City Insights Database to browse insights that have been gathered in the Science City themes. Individuals will be encouraged to select their favorite insights and attend the event to build compelling business propositions using the NIM tools and techniques, with the support of innovation and business experts.

The day will culminate with presentations pitching the business proposition to a panel of judges. The best propositions will be eligible for continued support for 3-6 months leading to incorporation of viable companies.

Do you have what it takes to develop a compelling business proposition in a day? please contact Caroline Findlay caroline.findlay@newcastlesciencecity.com