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News Release from: Editorial Articles: Miscellaneous submissions
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 28 March 2008
Innovation Advisory Service shows
business growth
The Innovation Advisory Service (IAS) has marked two years at the forefront of innovation management by hosting a National Conference on Open Innovation in Practice at The Royal Society, London
Launched in 2006 by Lord Sainsbury and Digby, Lord Jones, the IAS supports ambitious companies across the South East region, helping them to plan and implement innovation programmes so that they can maintain a competitive edge in a global marketplace The Service is an initiative funded by SEEDA and delivered by Oxford Innovation with its partners, the National Physical Laboratory and CLIK
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 21 Feb 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Through its work, the IAS has established a reputation for championing the concept of Open Innovation* - the belief that by looking outside of their own boundaries, companies can gain better access to new ideas, knowledge, technology and markets.
The Service's Innovation Advisors, all former senior managers from a range of industry sectors, have particular expertise in brokering links between large corporates, growing businesses with new technologies and world-class research establishments.
The National Conference included keynote speeches by a senior representative from the Government Technology Strategy Board as well as some of the global firms and growing innovative businesses involved in the IAS programme who shared their experiences of using the Open Innovation model to develop new products and services, with an audience of over 100 delegates.
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Dr Treve Willis, IAS Project Director, said: "During the last two years the IAS has worked with around 1,000 companies and as well as brokering a number of substantial contracts for our clients, it is estimated that the Service has helped them to raise some GBP29 million in business development funding.
"This is a remarkable achievement and these results underscore the significant commercial benefit to our regional economy that is generated by a region-wide programme such as the Innovation Advisory Service.
Through our Innovation Advisors and partner organisations, Oxford Innovation, the National Physical Laboratory and CLIK, we are able to offer access to a unique combination of highly specialist knowledge and networks for funding and partnering.
"We are pleased to celebrate the second anniversary of the IAS by showcasing some innovation success stories from the programme to date and we look forward to assisting more companies to take forward their innovative ideas".
Clients of the IAS have included household names such as General Dynamics, 3M, Philips, Thales Research and Balfour Beatty, and growing businesses developing cutting edge technologies in medical healthcare, engineering, defence, ICT and nanotechnology as well as research establishments in the South East.
Greg Ward, Director of Global Markets at SEEDA, said: "We are delighted with the outstanding success of the Innovation Advisory Service.
The IAS plays a key role in encouraging organisations to innovate and in assisting them to realise the commercial potential of their innovations - this is vital if the South East is to maintain its position as a globally competitive region." Dr Allyson Reed, Director of Strategy and Communications at the Technology Strategy Board, said: "There is no doubt about the power of Open Innovation.
Our experience at the Technology Strategy Board is that collaboration between innovative businesses and organisations can bring huge dividends, as combining perspectives and expertise brings new solutions to life and makes unexpected ideas a reality." Jim Ironside, Chief Scientist at General Dynamics UK, a leading player in the UK's knowledge economy and defence industrial base employing around 1700 people, said: "General Dynamics UK is a major prime contractor and complex systems integrator delivering military capability to the UK Armed Forces and export markets.
We depend on a large and varied supply chain for the execution of our programmes, and we value very highly the critical role played by SMEs and academic institutions in our success.
Finding and nurturing partners so that customers and the supply chain all benefit is a crucial challenge which we take very seriously.
The support of the Government and the IAS is important in identifying and forging those links".
Dr Dan Daly, Director of Lein Applied Diagnostics, a Reading-based company that is developing an optical device to measure blood glucose levels, commented: "The IAS has provided invaluable support for my business.
This has ranged from brokering contacts with potential partners and customers, including major healthcare firms, to assistance with getting a secondment off the ground with NPL through the Manufacturing for Industry scheme as well as market research and funding advice.
I cannot recommend the Service highly enough." Kevin Dempsey, Director at Jack Knight Designs , a Surrey-based company that has developed designs for new products ranging from a flood defence system to an intelligent gear box to reduce fuel consumption, said: "We were at a crossroads as we had designs for five new products but we hadn't found a single company to partner with us and take the designs forward.
"The IAS helped us to develop a business model to take our designs to market and introduced us to major national companies with the capability to sell our products.
They were also able to assist in sourcing an electronics company with the specialist skills to handle prototype production.
As a result of the IAS support, at least two out of our four original designs will get to market during 2008 and we are designing new products for new markets in 2009 - most importantly, we now know how to move our business forward." The Innovation Advisory Service can be found at www.iasse.co.uk.
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