Developing productivity through innovation
Our Innovation Board and Innovation Strategy use several platforms to promotion innovation as a way of unlocking productivity.
Examples include running programmes of events, convening peer networks, and signposting to funding. There is also our annual Leicestershire Innovation Festival.
Reaching small business
In a region in which the vast majority of businesses have fewer than 10 employees, it is essential to provide meaningful and practical support in which simple changes can add real efficiency gains.
The LLEP's Business Gateway Growth Hub signposts to a host of incubators, programmes, funding opportunities and peer networks offered to SMEs both through LLEP programmes and those of partners.
Leicestershire Innovation Festival
The annual Leicestershire Innovation Festival is used to bring together large and small organisations from all sectors to promote and signpost to opportunities for increasing productivity. It is a method of highlighting and developing both new-to-market and new-to-business innovation.
That festival began in 2018 with a handful of events over a single week. It has since grown to a fortnight of 20+ handpicked, free events promoting practical benefits of innovation to a host of industries and interest groups.
How the festival works
The festival format brings together a diverse group of partners from across sectors and industries. It launches with a public event led by Innovation Board members and closes with the University of Leicester’s long-running Innovation Friday.
In between is the flagship LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards and a host of practical events led independently by partners including universities, nonprofits, investors, consultants and mentors, and small businesses.
Outcomes
The festival has become an established part of the East Midlands business calendar. Demand for staging events now typically outstrips supply.
The Festival is promoted across a network of partners in business, education, local government, and local media. It attracts more than 1,000 registrations each year.
Our Partners
Our Associates and Stakeholders
Get involved with Innovative Leicestershire
Collaboration is fundamental to achieving our goals. If you are interested in becoming part of what we are doing then there are a host of ways to get involved, from attending an event to relocating your organisation.
