Leicestershire Innovation Festival 2023 launches, organisers plan biggest event yet

• Fifth festival will take place in February – with opportunities open now for SMEs to stage events
• Focus will be on ‘new to business’ ideas which increase productivity
• Business Gateway Growth Hub is leading planning of fortnight of events

The fifth Leicestershire Innovation Festival will take place in the new year – with organisers placing the spotlight on small business.

The Business Gateway Growth Hub is again leading preparations for the festival – themed on productivity – as 20 events are staged between 6 and 17 February.

Productivity and innovation are central to plans for growth in the UK economy. As 89% of businesses in Leicester and Leicestershire have fewer than 10 employees, small businesses have a key role to play.

Dr Nik Kotecha OBE DL, Chair of the LLEP Innovation Board, said: “The festival will showcase ideas that increase productivity and quality in small, mid-sized, and large organisations.

“People often think of Innovation as being about inventing things. But we also want to hear the stories of entrepreneurs who are making ‘new to business’ changes that can be made by anyone.”

This year’s festival was the biggest to date, with almost 1,000 registrations across 24 events. Organisers aim to build on that in order to grow next year’s fortnight-long festival.

De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) was recently nominated for Outstanding Entrepreneurial University of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards and is a sponsor of the 2023 festival.

Helen Donnellan, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Regional Business and Innovation, and LLEP Innovation Board member, said: “Workplace innovation isn’t necessarily about specific teams working on future projects.

“Rather, the biggest business impact can come from simply questioning how things could be done better.

“This could be anything from how your business creates its products, to processes for how you operate or how you engage with customers.”

Meanwhile, the fifth LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards continues to be the festival’s flagship event – and nominations are open now.

Businesses and organisations of all sizes can be nominated across 10 regional sector-based categories.

Adam Moss, Editor of LeicestershireLive, said: “We never cease to be amazed by the standard of the nominations we receive, as they really do showcase what Leicestershire’s best and brightest minds have to offer.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing this year’s entries come in and know for a fact that our judges will have some very tough choices when they decide our winners for this year.”

The Innovation Awards take place on February 16 at the National Space Centre.

• Does your business have an idea for an event? Email Irshad.mulla@llep.org.uk