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Thames Valley Economic Partnership
TVEP Unlocking the economic potential of the Thames Valley |
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Thames Valley Innovation Conference
Addressing the theme of ‘Commercially Successful Innovation’ in the keynote session of this year’s Thames Valley Innovation Conference, Phil Smith of Cisco Systems, Kevin Dillon from Acision and SEEDA’s Jeff Alexander each highlighted the importance of partnering to innovation.
And it was advice that participants in the Innovation Showcase seemed to be taking, judging by the approach of the 15 companies involved with each of them at various stages of bringing their new products and solutions to market.
"All companies need to innovate to survive,” said Phil Smith. “They should recognise that this is something that generates bottom line. Listening to your customers is a good place to start. “In Cisco, our innovation model is ‘build, buy, partner, collaborate’. It’s all about the cultural ability to take suggestions and make them successful.”
For small companies, he stressed that partnering was the way to develop. “You have to be dogged. Good sales people will identify and develop opportunities for early success stories and provide a balance to the entrepreneurial vision.”
For Archie Macauley of VoxIQ, which was demonstrating its automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech technology in the Innovation Showcase, the Conference provided an excellent first sales opening. “We launched on the 26 September so attending the Conference was mostly about exposure,” he said “We didn’t expect to gather sales enquiries at this stage but we did, and we also achieved a sale. So it went very well.”
Ken Wood of True Concepts was on the lookout for opportunities to help with the next development phase of the company’s Snoopstick, a USB thumb drive computer monitoring and control device.
“Snoopstick is our first product so it’s all been about gaining exposure, talking to potential investors and seeking out marketing partnerships,” he said. “The Conference certainly opened up opportunities in these areas.”
Investor in innovation
Back at the key presentation, Kevin Dillon said that Acision was an investor in innovation whose success had been co-developed with customers through a partnering approach. “It’s a process that benefits customers and excites employees,” he went on.
"We live to innovate and it’s innovation that will help our company succeed in moving on to the next level.”
For SEEDA, Jeff Alexander emphasised the ability to partner and collaborate as key characteristics of successful innovators. “Innovation is fundamental to the Thames Valley as a driver of the national economy,” he said, pointing to the recent opening of a new £400 million Diamond Synchotron in the region, the £43 billion investment in Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and the influx into the Thames Valley of over 150 overseas companies in the last three years.
“This is an innovation super region where companies become successful innovators through being in touch with their markets,” he added.
The partnering theme was further endorsed by Dias Music and InMezzo in the Showcase with both companies highlighting the Conference as a route to potential collaborations. Roger Croft of Dias Music confirmed he had found exhibiting a “good networking and feedback opportunity” in his efforts to inform and develop the market for the company’s new ‘single point’ stereo system.
InMezzo’s Mark Curtis, talking about the company’s range of IT policy and identity management solutions, added,
“The Conference is a great place to gain exposure during the early life of a product and start those all-important discussions that can lead to fruitful partnerships later.”
For BeCrypt, being part of the Innovation Showcase was an extension of its ongoing associations with the University of Reading and UK Trade & Investment, which both had stands in the main exhibition area.
BeCrypt markets a range of secure working solutions including Disk Protect, a disk encryption solution for laptops and desktop PCs. The company’s Dr Bernard Parsons said he welcomed more opportunities for synergy and, in particular, to see how industry is innovating through the range of delegates attending and the quality of the presentations.
But innovation is not just about new ideas in IT or electronics as Zapkut, with its new folding portable vertical panel saw for tradesmen on the move, demonstrated.
Zapkut’s Keith Bunker admitted he had found it difficult to know what to expect from the Conference but was delighted to secure a local lead in his quest for new investment.
“Being featured on BBC Radio Berkshire’s breakfast show live from the event was a great way of spreading the word. All in all, it was a very useful day,” he said.
In all, the 2007 Thames Valley Innovation Conference welcomed over 560 delegates, 94% of attendees rating the event 'good' or 'excellent' in their feedback.
Managed by the Thames Valley Economic Partnership and sponsored by some of the area’s top business and academic institutions, the Conference delivered a stimulating programme of presentations against a back drop of a central exhibition and the Innovation Showcase.
Plans are already taking shape for 2008 with the possibility of expansion into a festival event to be held at multi-site venues across the region.
Download speaker presentations from http://www.thamesvalley.co.uk/content/index.asp?id=123
Dowload the podcast from http://www.thamesvalley.co.uk/podcasts/
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