Innovation Workshops
NOTICE: Due to the COVID Pandemic, our workshop sessions may be moved online in accordance with government guidance. If this happens and you have booked to attend the in-person sessions, you will have the opportunity to attend them digitally.
The next series of Innovation Workshops are taking place in February 2022!
Leading academics from Aston Business School and Birmingham City University work with small businesses to create a strong brand, identify opportunities to innovate, and grow.
The in-person workshops give you the opportunity to work with renowned academics to develop your business.
From the last phase of Innovation Vouchers (2016-18) the average increased turnover as a result of attending the full workshop series was £11,500 p/a with future expected benefits over 3 years of over £200,000 p/a.
By attending all workshop sessions, attendees will receive prestigious “Managing Innovation in Business” certificate, from Aston Business School.
Workshop Content
The workshops are on three key areas in your business:
2nd February 2022: Envisioning Growth through Innovation
9th February 2022: Leadership & Strategy for Innovation
23rd February 2022: Marketing for Innovation
Workshop Location
The workshop location for the February 2022 series will be announced soon
It is advised that companies attend each workshop just once.
Workshop Times and Dates
All Innovation Workshops start at 9.30am and end at 5pm.
Sessions take place on the following dates:
Wednesday 2nd February 2022
Wednesday 9th February 2022
Wednesday 23rd February 2022
Free lunch and refreshments will be provided in a Covid-safe manner.
These workshops are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and therefore are free* to the participating companies.
Event Dates / Booking
Wednesday 2nd February 2022
Location to be announced
Academics:
Professor Barny Morris: Head of Strategy, Management, & Marketing at Birmingham City Business School
Professor Barny Morris: Head of Strategy, Management, & Marketing at Birmingham City Business School will support your business to develop its value proposition, i.e. the unique value that your business delivers to customers. The session will consider how you can create a strong brand to attract and retain customers. Factors such as what your company stands for, how it operates, and why you deserve business will be discussed.
Dr David Carrington: Lecturer of Strategy at Aston Business School
The session will be lead by Dr David Carrington from ABS and will consider two aspects of the environment in which your business exists; the macro and micro.
The workshop will teach you to consider the environment outside of your company and how it can create both opportunities and threats and in the future. You will be shown how to minimise the threats and seize the opportunities available to you.
Wednesday 9th February
Location to be announced
Academics:
Professor Pawan Budhwar: Head of Aston Business School
Head of ABS will work with you to consider leadership and organisational culture within your business. Innovation is important to keep your business competitive. Surprisingly few UK businesses do not experiment or take risks, which can hinder business growth.
This workshop is designed to help participant SME owner/managers build their strategic leadership capacity and enhance the cultural and structural effectiveness of their organisation for innovation.
Professor Nick Theodorakopoulos: Innovation Vouchers Project Director & Full Professor of Entrepreneurship Development at Aston Business School
The session will support your business to identify opportunities to innovate. The workshop will consider the innovators within your organisation and how they could be more effective.
Innovation Vouchers Project Director Nick Theodorakopoulos will work with your business on three key areas:
1. Developing a business model based on opportunity
2. How to effectively position your business
3. Learn how to identify business opportunities
Andrew Salmon: Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Birmingham City University
The BIG Ten characteristics of growth: characteristics that successful SMEs use to understand and build their strategic and leadership capabilities. All these tools involve organisational behaviours and mechanisms needed to identify and take advantage of sources of innovative thinking, evaluate the potential success of creative ideas, and take calculated risks by using sound judgement.
Wednesday 23rd February 2022
Location to be announced
Academics:
Dr Geoff Parkes: Senior Lecturer in Marketing & Strategy at Aston Business School
Senior Lecturer at ABS Geoff Parkes will work with you to understand your marketing strategy in much more detail for a changing work. The session will support you to consider the close links between what’s happening in the outside world which effect your business and you can utilise this to become more effective. The workshop will work with you to create an effective marketing strategy through market segmentation. Market segmentation will support you to identify key customers and how to closely tailor your marketing strategy to their wants and needs.
Andrew Salmon: Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Birmingham City University
The workshop supports your business to develop your unique purpose, vision, and values. Andrew Salmon will lead the session and assist you to develop a strategy for your business, by considering factors including; the purpose of your business, the environment, and its identify.
The session will show you how to look the future as a strategic landscape to support you to keep on track with your business and grow. By developing a strategy, your business is more likely to prosper during difficult times as you will be able to react in a considered and effective way.
De Minimis State Aid
*The support we plan to provide through the workshops will comply with the State Aid rules using the de minimis exemption (in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013, OJ L 352/1). Under this exemption a single undertaking may receive up to the limit of €200,000 of De Minimis aid from the Member State within which it does business and which provides the aid over any period of three fiscal years.
To attend the workshops, you will be asked to complete a Statement of Previous Aid received under the De Minimis exemption and arrange for a director of your business to sign it. Using this information we will assess your eligibility to receive assistance.
We expect the value of the aid under this initiative to attend the full workshop series to be which at the current European conversion rate is . An up-to-date figure may be provided to you. You may need to declare this amount in the future. It is your responsibility to ensure your business does not exceed the de minimis threshold by attending the workshop series.
Workshops Calendar
Loading…- Digital Workshops
- Digital Workshops Part 1
- Digital Workshops Part 2
- Workshop 1
- Workshop 2
- Workshop 3
Meet The Academic Team
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Professor Nicholas Theodorakopoulos
Programme Director
Innovation vouchers
Aston Business School -
Professor Pawan Budhwar
Professor
Aston Business School -
Dr Geoff Parkes
Senior Teaching Fellow
Aston Business School -
Barny Morris
Associate Professor for BCU Business School
Birmingham City University -
Andrew Salmon
Senior Lecturer, International Business
Birmingham City University
