• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

North East Connected

Hopping Across The North East From Hub To Hub

North East Businesses have Free Chance to take Centre Stage

ByEmily

Sep 7, 2016

Innovative businesses in the region have a chance to take centre stage at VentureFest North East this autumn.

Organisers of the region’s innovation conference have launched their annual search with the North East BIC to uncover the latest products, services and other big ideas of the region’s cutting-edge businesses.

They are now looking for 15 businesses that dare to do things differently. Those selected will get the opportunity to demonstrate their ideas for free to an audience of 700 businesspeople and investors during the conference’s Innovation Showcase exhibition.

Estelle Blanks, Deputy Director at Innovation SuperNetwork which delivers VentureFest North East, said: “We hear all too often complaints that the innovative talent of this region remains behind closed doors.

“Innovation Showcase is designed to address this – shining a light on the latest exciting developments that are taking place every day on industrial estates, in labs and in offices every day across the region. I’d urge anyone who is working on something innovative to put themselves forward for the chance to be involved in this valuable opportunity to promote themselves and showcase what this region is capable of.”

Entry is open to all businesses in the North East of England – regardless of size or stage of development. Last year the event showcased everything from a seaweed farm to fingerprint biometric readers and from wheelchair adaptations to 3D scanning booths.

Paul Miller, whose company VEO Ltd took part Innovation Showcase last year, said: “We’ve attended VentureFest two years running and found it provided a great opportunity to start discussions with investors and established businesses from the North East.

“Most importantly, we were delighted to secure a significant amount of funding at the event, which enabled us to launch our product successfully. The event also helped us to open conversations with fellow entrepreneurs on ideas and the direction of where to take our product. We now have a number of exciting opportunities in the pipeline involving some large corporates.”

To apply for Innovation Showcase visit http://venturefestnortheast.com/what-is- innovation-showcase/ before October 7.

VentureFest North East is part of the wider Innovation SuperNetwork programme, developed with around 50 partner organisations to support innovation in the North East. Led by the VentureFest North East team, the SuperNetwork is supported by Innovate UK, the North East LEP and North East BIC, with part-funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

For more information and to apply for VentureFest North East visit www.venturefestnortheast.com

By Emily