Yorkshire businesses succeeding through innovation
A mobile boardroom, created by Bradford University School of Management, has helped 15 business leaders with ideas to innovate in their own organisations.
Professor Christos Kalantaridis, who leads the School's
Innovation Club for businesses, organised a bus to visit Systagenix
(formerly Johnson and Johnson), Webanywhere - a fast growing
education software business and the off-site manufacturing arm of
NG Bailey, the leading building services
company.
Each business highlighted a particular challenge and the
background and asked the directors how they would tackle the issue,
using their experiences from non-competing sectors. The challenges
included how to prioritise good ideas, quality control and building
an innovation pipeline.
Sean Gilligan, MD of Keighley-based Webanywhere, said: "The ideas
and experience from the group was amazing. I looked at the people
on that bus and reckon I would have to pay £10-£20k to get that
level of advice and input. Two people have specific expertise that
they have offered to me as a follow up. I am so grateful to the
management school for organising this."
Other businesses on the bus included Walker Morris, Foster's
Bakery, Beaumont Robinson, Lhasa and Northern Lights PR as well as
ten academics and MBA students.
Christos Kalantaridis, professor of enterprise and innovation,
said: "I was really impressed at how open and helpful businesses
were to each other. It was really a day of innovation at its best.
There were a number of themes identified to look at in the future
and I'm now developing a programme of activities for the year
ahead. Businesses would like to look at how you identify the
problem; measuring and tracking innovation; learning from the
supply chain; innovation from customers; and internal systems to
encourage employee innovation."
Businesses involved in the wider Innovation Club activities
include Pace, Premier Farnell, Hallmark, Foundation and Arco.
For more information, contact Christos Kalantaridis on +44 (0)1274
234318.