Later this month the great and the good of the region’s business community will come together to discuss, debate and celebrate the wealth of innovation in the area.
Now in its fourth year, VentureFest Tees Valley, will take place on Wednesday 25th September at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough. The annual event attracts hundreds of established, growing and start-up enterprises each year.
This year’s event will also see the launch of live innovation challenges, presenting businesses with the opportunity to work on a live brief and potentially win a contract to work with a large customer like housing provider Thirteen.
With around 35,000 homes and serving 70,000 customers, Thirteen builds property for rent and sale, and provides care and support services to vulnerable people across the region.
Speaking about their involvement in the live innovation challenge, David Ripley, Director of Investment and Maintenance, Thirteen Group, said: “Ensuring we deliver a great customer experience is central to Thirteen and our future. As a business we are always looking to improve our response times and service levels.
“One area we are keen to focus on is reducing the time taken to effectively and accurately diagnose a repair. With over 150,000 repairs to respond to every year, this is a key area of work for us.
“Working together with a range of Thirteen colleagues we are seeking to collaborate with people and businesses who have expertise in this area and also those from other sectors and backgrounds who can bring a fresh perspective. We are really looking forward to launching this challenge at VentureFest Tees Valley and seeing what ideas people bring to the table.”
As well as the live innovation challenges, Tees Valley’s elected Mayor, Ben Houchen will be joined by an impressive speaker line up of local and national innovation experts. These include Kate Baucherel, a leading expert in the practical application of emerging technologies such as blockchain, augmented reality and artificial intelligence to businesses.
Simon Green, Director of VentureFest Tees Valley, said: “We are really excited to be bringing businesses together once again for VentureFest Tees Valley 2019.
“The event continues to go from strength to strength and the addition of live innovation challenges alongside work with investors means that there are real opportunities on the day for local businesses to access new contracts, expertise and the finance they need to grow.”
VentureFest Tees Valley is a free event and businesses can secure their place now at www.venturefest.tv.
VentureFest Tees Valley is delivered by ed/ge with support from Teesside University.