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The Business Innovation Centre ( Staffs BIC - Not for Profit ) is part of a European network which helps businesses to evaluate and develop inventions, innovations and new technologies. It is part financed through the European Regional Development Fund

YET ANOTHER UNIVERSITY PLACEMENT ENDS IN SUCCESS

Everyone at the Business Innovation Centre would like to wish Littash Jayan all the best with her future career. Littash came to the BIC on a placement from Keele University’s Research and Innovation Support Programme (KRISP) for ten weeks to help set up an on-line platform for the BIC’s workshops and events where resources relevant to each event can be stored and easily accessed by workshop delegates.

Littash worked with the BIC’s IT Manager Paul Longshaw and their Director of Innovation Sandra Butterworth to develop the platform and the on-line resource is now up and running and available to the relevant workshop delegates to access.

The KRISP programme provides dedicated human resource and academic expertise to help small and medium sized businesses to develop a new product, process or service.

Littash has a degree and a Masters in Information Technology and is looking for employment in IT and Business Management. We at the BIC would be happy to pass on her contact details to suitable potential employers

KRISP Information

INVENTOR PRIZE – £50,000 LAUNCHED

CLOSING DATE 22nd October 2017

The Inventor Prize launched on 9 August 2017 by NESTA is open to products that relate to any issue as long as that product helps to make people’s lives better, thereby helping to tackle a social issue affecting the UK.

To be eligible entrants will have to have a working model and be able to show that their invention will help to tackle an important societal issue.

£50,000 will be awarded to the finalist that best demonstrates meeting the judging criteria. There will be two runner up prizes of £15,000 and £5,000.
The finalists will be supported to develop and test their products.

Entry Form / Information

NEWS RELEASE

The Business Innovation Centre’s New Product Development Grant has now been increased to just under £10,000

 

This grant financed through the European Regional Development Fund will help Staffordshire based B2B companies pay for external expertise to help them research and develop a new product or service.

Since the European funded project was launched in April 2016 the BIC has awarded over £400,000 to local businesses to employ experts such as Product Designers; Market Researchers; Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys; Testing Facilities and E-commerce specialists to help them with their innovations.

Thirty Five new products or services have been supported to date including the following which have recently been launched to the market:

  • A mobile phone adapter and technology to take photographs of endoscopic images by Endoscope-i from Lichfield company – www.endoscope-i.com
  • An adjustable line of sight camera which captures what you see from your perspective. Aim Cam – a Staffordshire Moorlands company – www.aimcam.com
  • Radiator fixing kit to allow radiators to be easily reclined without removal from the wall to allow painting or maintenance. Rotarad from Stoke on Trent www.rotarad.com
  • A queue watching phone app to allow people to track queues typically at barbers, car parks, hospitals etc Queue Watch – a Stoke on Trent company – www.queuewatch.co.uk

The BIC’s Grant will represent 40% of the overall project expenditure and so will cover project values up to £25,000 whereby up to £10,000 could be paid back to the company on satisfactory completion of the outsourced work.

The next funding panel to consider applications for the £10,000 grant will be on
11 August 2017 and companies should express interest on the BIC’s website at: www.thebic.co.uk/research-collaboration-grants-and-support

Further information about the BIC and its activities can be found on their website www.thebic.co.uk

Business Boost 2017

CLOSING DATE 17th September 2017

CALLING NEWCASTLE UNDER LYME ORGANISATIONS

£1,500 is up for Grabs for winning a Business Boost Award. Entering and Winning Business Awards is a great confidence booster for businesses and worth a little time and effort in applying.

The BIC is sponsoring these awards for the first time this year as they introduce the Innovation Award

So go on have a go at entering and we at the BIC will be only too pleased to help you with your application

Business Boost Entry Form

ECO WARRIORS WORKING AT THE BIC

With Innovation being the focus of the Business Innovation Centre in Staffordshire it is no surprise that two of its employees – have embraced innovation by investing in totally electric vehicles, in fact they have both invested in a Nissan Leaf.

It works quite well for the company as there are Electric Charging Points outside their office on the Staffordshire Technology Park in Stafford but unfortunately not as yet outside their Longton office at the Sutherland Institute.

There are a number of patents linked to the development and the running of the Nissan Leaf and a number of Trade Marks protecting the name and the logo and associated accessories. A fascinating world and if you would like to find out more about Patents and Trade Marks and other forms of Intellectual Property come and join the BIC at their next workshop on 6 July in Cannock – What IP do you Own? run by the Intellectual Property Office.

ECar

Competition for Growing Innovative Businesses – Innovation 50

Entries will open on 16 June for this first time competition to celebrate the most innovative businesses in the Midlands. Five industry sectors will be assessed –

Manufacturing, Engineering and Utilities
Creative and digital
Science, technology and healthcare
Retail, consumer and leisure
Financial Services

https://www.innovationfifty.com

We work with many successful innovative businesses who have developed fantastic new products and services – come on folks, have a go at Entering!

Submit your case study

BUSINESS IDEA COMPETITION

EIT Raw Materials are seeking innovative ideas from individuals, research team, entrepreneurs and early startup for new products, process and services.

Deadline for submissions is 31 May 2017

UP to 12,000 Euros, free training and webinars and support along the way

Register & submit your idea here

Sentinel Business Awards Innovation Winner 2017

We would like to congratulate everybody who was shortlisted for the Sentinel Business Awards on Thursday 30 March 2017 and in particular to Johnson Tiles who won the Innovation Award sponsored by the BIC:

SENTINEL BUSINESS AWARDS EVENING APPROACHES – 30 MARCH 2017

Excitement is brewing at the BIC office as we start to plan for the Sentinel Business Awards Ceremony next Thursday.
 
Paperwork? Presentation? Promotional Material?
 
No – the important issues are What to Wear on the Night!!
 
Long Dress – Tick
Sparkly Shoes – Tick
Sparkly Jewellery – Tick
Posh Perfume – Tick
 
and that’s just the men ……
 
No seriously we are all looking forward to celebrating with the Shortlisted Companies and of course the Winners.
 
As sponsors of the Innovation Award we have also had the pleasure of judging the Awards and everyone has a wonderful night in store.
 
Celebrations started on Thursday 16 March with a Pre-Awards Drinks Evening with the shortlisted companies.
 
The BIC’s Chief Executive Geoff Riley and the BIC’s Director of Innovation are seen below talking to Sponors and Shortlisted Companies.
 
Good luck everyone!

Future Innovation Predictions for 2017 – Part 4

NESTA is an independent charity that works to increase the innovation capacity of the UK. It acts through a combination of practical programmes, investment, policy research and the formation of partnerships to promote innovation across a broad range of sectors. As such it has a really good insight into what organisations and companies are researching and investing in for the future and is certainly an organisation the BIC is closely linked to.

There are 10 NESTA predictions for 2017, I previously looked at the first six Predictions which can be seen on our website and now look at the final four predictions which I hope you find of interest.

A New Artistic Approach to Virtual Reality

As artists blur the boundaries between real and virtual, the way we create and consume art will be transformed in 2017. AR and VR are also being embraced beyond the gaming industry, as museum curators and artists start to explore the potential these technologies have to help them better engage with their audiences and art creation will become more collaborative and playful .

The technologies behind virtual art will also have an impact on the artists themselves as they will need certain skills to reproduce them beyond their artistic skills. Questions will also arise – can a virtual painting or sculpture be stolen, hijacked or pirated? Who will own the art? The artist or the technology provider who enabled the realisation of the work in the first place?

Hopefully it won’t destroy traditional visual arts – after all, photography didn’t wipe out painting as an art form. Quite the opposite, it will blur the boundaries between real and virtual and provide new avenues for artistic expression until the next radical art-enabling technologies emerge.

Computer Says No: The Backlash
In 2017, public disquiet about the decisions that algorithms make, the way they affect us, and the lack of debate around their introduction, will become mainstream. An algorithm is a step-by-step sequence of rules that sets out how to make a decision about something – computer programs are nothing but complex algorithms that tell computer hardware how to make decisions. Algorithms have replaced human decisions in huge swathes of life. While removing human biases can make decision making fairer in some cases, it is not necessarily always the case.

In the coming year, the backlash against algorithmic decisions will begin in earnest. The trigger could take many forms. It could be a politician forced to resign over fake news pushed by a news algorithm. It might be a murder committed by a violent thug released on bail thanks to court software. It might be an employer successfully sued over a discriminatory recruitment system or a pedestrian killed by a self-driving car that’s protecting its passenger.
But it is algorithmic decision making as a whole that will be in the firing line when the controversy comes to life.

When this happens expect business to start advertising algorithm-free services, ranging from mortgages approved by real bank managers, to a resurgence of news websites with humans curating the content. Just as customers are willing to pay more for food without genetically modified crops or pesticides, people will place a premium on decisions made by humans if they don’t trust the machines.

Next Generation Social Movement for Health

We have already heard of incredible stories of the power of passionate people working together to drive change, not just in the healthcare system, but in the wider culture and environment in which health and healthcare happen. They use social media, protests, campaigns, self-organising, sharing knowledge and other means to change minds and systems. For example, the disability rights movement and HIV/AIDS campaigns have engaged with social attitudes, stigma and justice.

In the future they will be increasingly enabled by digital technology, with movement leaders and members communicating, collaborating and co-ordinating across nations and continents without ever meeting in person bringing the world closer to people’s experiences. However there are real difficulties for established health and care organisations to work alongside people who are ‘raging and roaring’. The challenge therefore is how social movements and the health and care system can engage together in ways that forge new paths and develop ‘win-win’ solutions, rather than fighting each other.

How Brexit turned the UK German
When Britain voted to leave the European Union, few people expected it would result in the UK becoming more like Germany, the country that runs the European show. But that’s what has ended up happening. Brexit inspired the government to invest £23 billion in infrastructure, skills and research just like in America, Israel, Finland and, of course, Germany.

It is now expected that there will be a rise in urban devolution driven by Scotland, Wales and certain major cities such as Manchester already pushing for a Northern Powerhouse. As a result public investment will increase across the country, and places outside the South East will see the benefit. Some would call it the growing Bundesrepublik of GB.

Followed on by the increasingly illiberal United States under Donald Trump and from France under Marine Le Pen, Britain and Germany, having seemed on a collision course at the end of 2016, will find increasing common ground, striking accords on joint defence, trade and diplomacy.

Brexit seems to ironically have brought Britain closer to Germany, economically, politically and constitutionally. Will Britain end up the better for it?

Further details on the above future predictions can be found at http://www.nesta.org.uk/news/2017-predictions

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