Tickets are available for a round table discussion looking at what Leicester and Leicestershire have to offer when it comes to innovation, science and technology, and the very latest research and development.
The free, online LeicestershireLive and BusinessLive Innovation Round Table will bring together an intimate group of educationalists, entrepreneurs and manufacturers to share their thoughts on where the world is heading.
The event – hosted by LeicestershireLive Business Editor Tom Pegden – will run from 6-7pm on the evening of Thursday, June 24.
READ MORE: {}
The round table is part of this year’s Leicestershire Innovation Week starting on June 21, which will be looking at innovations being made in sectors such as food and drink and life sciences, changes currently underway in health and wellbeing, game-changing business ideas and the part we all have to play in making the world zero carbon.
The event is being held in association with the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Zone (LLEP) Business Gateway, Morningside Pharmaceuticals, De Montfort University and the University of Leicester.
The four guests taking part will be:
Prof Phil Baker, Pro-vice-chancellor for Research and Enterprise at the University of Leicester
Helen Donnellan, Director of Enterprise and Business Services De Montfort University
Most Read
Dr Nik Kotecha, founder and chairman of Morningside Pharmaceuticals in Loughborough
Byron Dixon OBE, founder and chief executive of Micro-Fresh
In recent years the two universities have led the way in promoting innovation, from supporting the new Space Park Leicester to helping start-ups involved in innovative areas of fashion, business software design and using satellite data to analyse risks on earth.
Pharmaceuticals business Morningside has been using its products to help people at home and in the developing world for decades while Dr Kotecha regularly shares his experience as a business champion through organisations such as the LLEP.
Byron Dixon made a name for himself after developing a chemical formula that stops the growth of mould and bacteria including MRSA, e.coli and salmonella.
It can be added to home furnishings, clothes and even built into homes and hospitals to stop the spread of spores.
Don’t miss
The formula is based on “naturally occurring ingredients” and Mr Dixon said it had been approved by various industry bodies.
It is now used in products stocked by Sainsburys, John Lewis and Deichmann.
The expert panel will be considering issues such as:
The role Space Park Leicester will have in shaping the 海角视频’s part in the space race
Whether the new Freeport around East Midlands Airport will encourage innovation
Whether Leicester’s history of entrepreneurship going back as the textiles trade is being replicated in innovation and hi-tech sectors
The impact Covid-19 and Brexit have had on 海角视频 innovation and what we need to do about it next.
BusinessLive editor Alistair Houghton said: “Innovation now more than ever is at the heart of 海角视频 society.
“The whole country had to adapt almost overnight when Covid-19 hit. Millions of us had to start using technology that hardly existed a few years ago, to allow us to work, communicate, shop and socialise from home.
“IT systems in the retail sector had to be upgraded at short notice to manage the huge shift in shoppers having no choice but to go online to buy their food and buy their clothes.
“And scientists and health officials had to come up with new ideas for helping people who became critically ill with this new disease, and to ultimately develop a series of vaccines in a remarkably short timescale.
“As we come to the end of the pandemic, we are now evaluating what needs to come next and thinking about what new technologies, innovations, ways of thinking and ways of working we need to start considering.
“This online discussion will bring together the sort of people who will know the answers to some of these issues, and who will be playing their part in helping Leicester and Leicestershire back on the road to recovery post-Covid.”