The sixth annual Leicestershire Innovation Festival has been scheduled to take place in February 2024. The event will see a series of events held throughout Leicester and the wider county including the 2024 LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards.
The fortnight-long festival was created to champion the innovation and entrepreneurship that thrives in the county, and past years have included support sessions for start-ups, advice on working in partnership with local universities and how sleep apps can make drivers healthier and more productive on our roads.
The has confirmed that the annual festival will run from Monday, February 5 until Friday, February 16, and will include the flagship – run by festival media partner and BusinessLive parent company Reach PLC – on Thursday, February 15.
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Organisers are already in talks with potential partners for both the festival and the awards – and anyone wanting to sponsor or participate in Leicestershire Innovation Festival 2024 can contact LLEP economic strategy manager Irshad Mulla.
Last year’s festival was the biggest to date, attracting 1,200 registrations across the course of the fortnight.
Sixteen of the events were in-person at venues including HQ Recording in Leicester, Charnwood Campus, MIRA Technology Park and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).
Event hosts included Innovate 海角视频, Leicester Startups, British Business Bank, BeGreat Consulting, and Ruth Coalson Consulting.
The 2023 Innovation Awards sold out the National Space Centre with Indro Mukerjee, chief executive of Innovate 海角视频, delivering the keynote speech.
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Earlier in the day, Mr Mukerjee had toured Space Park Leicester and attended a meeting of the LLEP Innovation Board to hear about opportunities in the region.
Dr Nik Kotecha OBE DL is chair of the LLEP Innovation Board, founder of Loughborough’s Morningside Pharmaceuticals and one of the festival founders.
He said: “We’re aiming to significantly build on the huge success of this year’s festival and our detailed planning is already underway.
“Discussions are advancing with representatives of Reach and a host of other public and private organisations for sponsorship.
“We’re actively developing ideas and growing our partnerships – to make the 2024 Leicestershire Innovation Festival our best and biggest yet.”
BusinessLive East Midlands business editor Tom Pegden said: “We are looking forward to working with our innovation partners to build on the sell-out success we saw at the awards earlier this year.”
Innovation is a key pillar of the LLEP’s Economic Growth Strategy through to 2030 – whatever format the LLEP takes following planned Government changes to its funding.
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Its Innovation Board is developing a delivery strategy to use innovation to increase regional productivity, and launched an Innovative Leicestershire brand at this year’s festival.
To sponsor the LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards 2024, contact Alishia Read, Reach’s Key Account Partnerships Director, at alishia.read@reachplc.com.