Innov8 -The eight critical capabilities you need right now

We are pleased to announce that our successful two-day Innov8 programme has moved to an ‘in person’ fully interactive format.  However, your safety continues to be our priority, and we will continue to monitor government guidance – please find current guidelines below.

By working across two sessions – and exploring the eight critical capabilities – you will gain the tools, capacity, skills, and confidence to respond to the challenges of change.   This will help you adapt to the now, shape your future thinking and future proof your business.  

Workshop 1: Thursday 10th March 8:30am-2:30pm

Market research: transforming data into insight. In a world of data, how do you find the right information to make sense of things?  This session will help you grow in confidence in gathering information, developing insight, and using this to validate the new opportunities that can power your business.

Catching customers.  Customer behaviours are changing – in some cases a seismic change – and your business needs to respond and develop great ways of staying relevant.  This session provides the tools you need to help you explore and understand your specific customer needs, ensuring what they want is reflected in your products and services.

Generating killer ideas and solutions.  How do you generate fresh ideas when things need to change?  This session will help you uncover sources of inspiration, adapt and widen your thinking style, and give you the skills to generate and explore great ideas.

Leverage the power of others: who might help me.  You do not need to do it all alone.  From universities, knowledge centres, great suppliers, business partners, and business support organisations, there are many organisations with the expertise, technical capabilities or specialist skills needed to power your business. This session will help you build successful collaborative business relationships and introduce you to our great business support ecosystem.

Workshop 2: Thursday 17th March 8:30am-2:30pm

Making it all pay: pragmatic planning and successful execution. Without an effective plan it becomes hard to see what needs to be done and to hold yourself to account.  This session will offer a rapid and pragmatic approach to business planning – giving you some of the practical methods you need to drive your idea, sales and the overall business.

Failing faster: quickly establishing what will work. Cut through the noise and learn faster. You need to be agile and able to test ideas quickly and efficiently before committing valuable business resources.  The session will show you how to undertake the rapid testing of new ideas and concepts with potential stakeholders, allowing you to prioritise winners. 

Communicating with impact.  You often only get one good chance to get your message across. You must be equipped to take it.  This session will give you the tools, techniques and confidence need to present your ideas clearly and succinctly.

Finding, understanding and securing funding.  Commercialising ideas costs money. How can you share the costs and de-risk your investment through external sources?  This session introduces the main options available and helps you better understand the overall process.

What will you learn / take away from the session?

• Supercharge your projects – see faster results, outcomes and financial impacts
• Understand the tools that can help respond and adapt to the 'new normal'
• Help you stay relevant as customer behaviours change
• Come up with new creative solutions to the problems you face
• Speed up thinking and test ideas more quickly
• Increase your flexibility, agility and adaptability
• Help you stay competitive in a changing world
• Find out who can help, support and fund your project

Download the Innov8 programme brochure

Bio of Deliverer

Rob Holdway is co-founder and Director of environmental management consultants Giraffe, working with companies on carbon management and foot printing, sustainable design, innovation management and EU environmental legislation. Rob was described by ‘The Manufacturer’ magazine as ‘Britain’s leading eco-design consultant’

Eligibility

Our Workshops are part-funded by European Regional Development Funds.

Our workshops are delivered free of charge to participants; however, as they are fully-funded, they are classed as state aid to participating businesses and are subject to state aid rules and the associated eligibility criteria:

Greater Manchester Clients Only

SME: Small or medium enterprise i.e. less than 250 (Full Time Equivalent) employees

Annual Turnover less than 50 Million Euro OR Balance Sheet less than 43 million Euro

COVID-19 statement

As these workshops are delivered face to face your safety is paramount.

• On 27 January 2022, England lifted all measures under Plan B and returned to Plan A. This means that:

  • People are no longer advised to work from home if they can
  • It is no longer a legal requirement to wear a face covering in indoor venues. However, these will continue to be required in health and care settings. This includes hospitals and primary or community care settings, such as GP surgeries. They must also be worn by everyone accessing or visiting care homes. The government also suggests that individuals continue to wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces where they may come into contact with other people they do not normally meet.
  • Mandatory certification in certain settings has ended. Businesses can still choose to use the NHS COVID Pass on a voluntary basis though.