Category Archives: Innovation

Innovation

Reinforce innovation in the workplace with these valuable systems 

Innovation is what drives change. This is what we’ve heard recently regarding streamlined business processes. But what is innovation truly? While some businesses collaborate with other enterprises to share innovative techniques and strategies, others approach the issues with their own base knowledge. According to statistics, though, 65 percent of organisations plan to cooperate with their customers during the innovation stages, which benefits them more.

Although many companies consider innovation essential, only a few have reached the point where successful innovation generates revenue or measurable growth, which shows the need for more vision for their procedures. That’s because their business structure also needs change, while leadership finds adapting challenging. Therefore, a substantial swift need to be done in order for businesses to streamline innovation results.

Let’s get in motion and learn about the secrets of business innovation.

 

Start with leadership and management 

Leadership and management are the base of the company’s success. Not only do these departments rule over their employees, but they can also influence the way they take ownership of their ideas and solutions.

Making significant changes in leadership mindset and management approach can be difficult. But if you’re willing to change, you can start by adopting a non-hierarchical style. A flat management structure, for example, is a new way in which leadership can take a turn by providing more levels of management between the workforce and the highest-level managers.

Companies like Google and Tesla leverage this business style. It has helped employees get creative and innovative more often as there are no barriers between work areas, and teams and divisions are open to sharing their knowledge.

 

Develop an innovative strategy

Wanting to get more innovative and creative doesn’t mean you’ll let things go their way. Instead, try making a plan that works for the moment and adapt it as you go. It’s best not to have a drastic approach but clarify precisely what you want to reach. For example, you might want to introduce new products to your line or change the methodologies in your work environment. Depending on the difficulty level of your goal, it’ll be more or less easy for your employees to adapt, which is why you should take it easy.

What you should expect from such a project is a constant failure. That’s because pilot projects take time to perfect, and you’ll notice that innovation doesn’t just appear one day in the office despite your efforts. Therefore, make sure you plan this strategy in the long term because timing here is not a priority.

 

Experiment with different approaches 

Google has brought innovation through its processes by launching various products and earning revenue through PPC advertising. On the other hand, Adobe, Google’s best competitor, became one of the most innovative companies through its aim to advance the creation of digital experiences. They had different approaches but reached the same point, meaning there’s no recipe for perfection.

Your company has unique needs. Monitoring your teams and processes will help you understand where the need for change is. For example, suppose you think your employees could use some more training and knowledge. In that case, you can provide them with ITIL Foundation Training to navigate the new technological era and understand more about the processes you need to introduce in your organisation, such as AI or Internet of Things (IoT).

Another way to experiment with your business processes is to look for an adjacent market that might boost company revenues. These areas are simply products or markets related to your organisation’s activities but are unique enough to bring innovation into your systems. Take Disney as an example; the multinational is known mainly for producing content, but now their successful streaming platform added more value to the brand.

 

Communicate more transparently 

Transparency is praised in companies, but only some successfully implement it in their company culture. In business, transparency translates as being open in regard to internal processes, honest about business values and straightforward about sourcing. Without these aspects, there’s no chance to innovate and navigate challenges over time.

Communication should be reinforced between management in the first place, but employees also must learn how to express their ideas and concerns regarding some business strategies. Efficient communication can help solve complex problems in less time, which provides a competitive advantage in the market.

Communication should also mitigate risks. Ensuring your team is psychologically safe will help them more in streamlining innovation rather than get to burnout, which is quite common in companies that militate for innovation.

 

Create an office that inspires innovation 

It’s widely known that what’s around people affects their mood and productivity. Factors like location, temperature, air quality and noise level can have the opposite effect on productivity, no matter how much you try and reinforce other strategies.

For example, creating flex spaces instead of the old office layout can encourage more brainstorming sessions and efficient communication without barriers. The ergonomics in the office also matters because if you provide the right furniture and products, you’ll help people maintain their health. After all, posture can affect the productivity of human mental tasks.

Another essential element in your office is exposure to daylight. Avoiding closed and dark places will contribute to better sleep and a generally increased life quality, which can be seen in the employees’ capacity to finish tasks on time. Even the way you decorate the office helps innovation. If you look at how Google decorates its offices with bright colours, lighting and fun furniture, you’ll understand how it became one of the world’s most extensive and thriving companies. Finally, some plants around the workspaces and even animals can improve people’s moods and help them concentrate better.

 

Bottom line 

Reinforcing innovation in an office can be quite challenging, especially if you’re a senior company because you must change the whole company layout. Such a swift is troubling, but if it’s successfully done, it can help the business leverage from high innovation revenues, as well as boost the brand’s recognition and ensure customer retention in the long run.

Innovation, News, Tech, Technology

“Young innovators have shown incredible resilience over the past few years and have an integral role to play in the future.” says WJEC

After a tumultuous few years, sparked by a global pandemic, Jason Cates, WJEC’s Design and Technology Subject Officer, looks at its effect on students and ahead to the promising future of the subject.

 “In design, you don’t learn from success, you learn from failure, and only change something if it doesn’t work properly. If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s how vital innovation and design is when it comes to solving a problem, especially one that affects the entire population.

Faced with an unprecedented situation that presented endless design problems, innovators across the world came together to create improved PPE, testing kits, mobile phone apps, and even makeshift ventilators, among thousands of other inventions, all designed to help in the fight against Covid-19.

As the world regains some sense of normality, although reimagined from before, the pandemic has highlighted the incredibly vital role of design and technology, and why every government across the world should be placing the same amount of focus on innovation as we are here in Wales.

Thanks to the Welsh Government’s forthcoming Innovation Strategy, there is to be a renewed focus on fostering a culture of innovation, including within education. Coupled with the new Curriculum for Wales, which looks to reward user centred design and encourage the process of iteration, the future looks incredibly bright for young innovators across the country.

It’s so important that this innovation mindset is championed and nurtured right from the start, and there is no better platform for this than the Innovation Awards, a joint venture between WJEC and the Welsh Government, now in its 25th year. The awards encourage young people in Wales to be technologically innovative by inventing new products and solutions, using the skills they’ve developed in their design technology GCSE, AS and A level classes. Over the past quarter of a century of these awards, we’ve seen some incredible inventions, and this year is certainly no different.

Despite many learners missing out on a huge chunk of classroom time since the pandemic took hold, they have shown a remarkable level of creativity, self-motivation and resilience, which is reflected in this year’s award winners.

From a toe protection device for cricketers, a food peg designed to turn food waste into fertiliser, to a portable blood centrifuge to help diagnose malaria in remote areas, it is clear to see that the past few years have only intensified our learners’ appetites for innovation.

It’s also encouraging to see such an involved collaboration across disciplines, with so many of the projects drawing from often very complex mathematical and scientific principles. This cross-curricular involvement highlights just how important it is for learners to adopt a broad range of skills, and the incredible inventions that can be created when these skills are united.

As an exam board, we’ve seen a blatant shift in recent years from students simply designing a product, to them responding to actual needs in the market. The designs and young designers in this year’s awards showcase just how strong our pool of talent is, and how we must nurture their skills and creativity going forward. Every single project recognised in these awards provides a real solution to a real problem, and this is exactly what we’re excited to see championed in the new Curriculum for Wales – students rewarded for identifying and understanding a problem, then creating a solution that tackles the needs, wants and values of the user.

Recent times have provided us with an avalanche of design opportunities, and together with some great minds, there are endless business opportunities and commercial potential to be sought as we reimagine the future.

It’s wonderful to see students rewarded and celebrated again, after a two-year hiatus, and to fly the flag for design and technology students across Wales.

Wales is an incredibly pioneering nation, and I’m confident that with our renewed focus on innovation, together with the talent and drive of our learners and young innovators, the future is in very safe hands indeed. “

Business Advice, Innovation, News

Six techniques business leaders can use to innovate

Innovation will be key to future business growth after the pandemic, but it is something firms may have put on the back burner until now, says Mark Wilson, CEO at London-based business innovation company Wilson Fletcher, who outlines recommends six techniques for breakthrough innovation.

A recent survey of business leaders by HLB, the Global Advisory Accountancy and Network[i] says leaders are now compelled to switch from managing their response to the crisis to seeking new opportunities from the disruption, with 83% of respondents saying that more rapid and effective innovation is critical to future growth.

Wilson, whose firm helps leaders to future proof their business in the digital economy says, “Now that work life is settling down after the challenges of the pandemic, many organisations need to take a substantial step forward after treading water but are struggling to make it happen. The need to innovate has never been greater.

“Incremental innovation is everywhere, but the real step-change, breakthrough innovations are harder to come by. There’s no fixed formula for success, but there are six key techniques we use to generate big ideas which involve thinking about current problems or future opportunities in different ways.”

Wilson highlights the following six techniques businesses can use to innovate:

 

  1. Deconstructing ‘truths’: The key breakthrough often comes when businesses can identify a fundamental truth (or a series of them), remove them as constraints, and free up the thinking process. So often, what are considered foundational components of the current business or service — and viewed as key strengths — are the very things holding it back. Identify and deconstruct them and everything changes. Sometimes these are bound up in single words, sometimes in organisation-wide behaviours that, once removed, switch on the innovation gene in teams and enable them to take a big step forward.

 

  1. Building on untapped assets – Companies are frequently sitting on unrecognised assets that have enormous innovation potential. Digital businesses can be built on a wide range of asset bases, and they are rarely assets in the traditional sense, so many established companies don’t identify them. For example, Mark identified that a 30-year-old client’s greatest asset was not their remarkable team or stellar reputation for service, nor their world-leading products; it was their customer network. What they saw as important to the business, but not really an asset, he saw as pivotal. The question he then posed became “what new proposition can leverage that network in a new way?”

 

Wilson says that building on hidden assets is one of the most powerful ways to redefine a company’s future — once the right assets have been identified.

 

  1. Applying parallel experiences – Often the answer to a problem, or the approach to an opportunity, has been addressed in some other form elsewhere: it is simply a case of identifying the parallel and applying it to the current challenge. Frequently, the parallel experience that makes an impact wasn’t even in-market: it may have been part of a workshop discussion or a concept that was ultimately progressed in a different direction.

 

  1. Contrarian positions – Over-reliance on logical analysis and data tends to lead down rational, obvious paths — paths that competitors are likely to walk down. A key technique
    Mark uses is simple contrarianism. People’s brains are wired to look for opportunities to explore whatever is opposite to the accepted norm, counter-intuitive or contrary to accepted practice. The key to contrarianism is to learn how to de-program your brain from running on rails and allow what is not logical to come to the fore.

 

  1. Sparks of insight

Sparks of insight are the gold nuggets that emerge from working with customers. It’s not the general trends or patterns, it’s the outliers; the single, aberrant points that fall way outside the line that is intended to show, by volume, where the most important data lies. Often the breakthrough idea had its origins in one single comment that one single person said.

Businesses need to engage people in the right conversation and listen to what they say with an opportunist’s ear, not a statisticians’ mindset. Breakthrough innovations need breakthrough ideas, and if the breakthroughs were found in the averages and median distributions, everyone would be having them.

  1. Loud and lively

Get stuff up on the wall and discuss it aloud, as a group. Some of the best ideas emerge during a ‘hearty’ debate or soon afterwards. They are more pub discussion than structured workshop and they can bring out passionately held views. They can be frustrating because the answer will not come. They can also be exciting when it does.

Wilson believes these techniques are instrumental in breakthrough thinking — partly because they are the perfect feeding ground for the earlier techniques, and partly because they seem to leave the same processes active in the brain long afterwards. So often ‘the idea’ emerges overnight, in the shower, in the bar later, while driving, or in many other scenarios where the brain has switched down a gear again.

For more information on Wilson Fletcher visit: www.wilsonfletcher.com

 

[i] https://www.hlb.global/powering-your-innovation-engine/

Innovation, News, Tech

New digital resource launched to support health, social care and industry innovation

Achieving Innovation is a new resource developed by Life Sciences Hub Wales to inform and guide those working across industry, health and social care innovation. It summarises key research, provides critical insights and delivers fresh perspectives from cross-sector thought leaders.

This new digital resource reviews the wealth of knowledge available about innovation in health and social care to equip those who need it with the most relevant and important information. Life Sciences Hub Wales has worked closely with contributors spanning health, industry, academia and social care providing input.

Innovation is perceived by many stakeholders as essential for catalysing system-wide change and making a difference to patients and people. A recent survey commissioned by Life Sciences Hub Wales for Beaufort Research found that 97% of health and social care regarded innovation as being very important, alongside 91% of industry.

However, barriers can make innovation more difficult, including a lack of common language, resources, and cross-sector engagement. Life Sciences Hub Wales has created the Achieving Innovation resource to help address these challenges, identifying evidence-based solutions and answers to help navigate the innovation ecosystem and futureproof our health and social care systems.

The resource is set to be regularly updated with new material, and launches with a:

Cari-Anne Quinn, CEO of Life Sciences Hub Wales, said: “This new resource can play a key role in helping stakeholders of all backgrounds navigate the health and social care ecosystems in Wales and beyond. Innovators hold the key to large-scale transformation of health, care and wellbeing in Wales and this resource will support them in achieving this.”

Minister for Health and Social Services, Eluned Morgan, said: “Innovation plays a critical role in supporting our health and social care sectors in Wales to deliver new ideas and technologies in partnership with industry. I welcome Life Sciences Hub Wales new ‘Achieving Innovation’ resource as a key tool for innovators who are working to overcome real challenges and grasp exciting new opportunities. When we established and funded Life Science Hub Wales, innovation was at the heart of its ethos – this ethos has played a key role in our recovery and response to the impact of Covid-19.”

Dr. Chris Subbe, Acute, Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Consultant at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and Senior Clinical Lecturer at Bangor University, said: “I was delighted to contribute to the Achieving Innovation resource by exploring the importance of making innovation an everyday habit.

In this time of exceptional pressures on our ability to provide quality care we need to find ways to develop talent and ideas from wherever they come. This new resource should empower multidisciplinary innovators from industry and healthcare backgrounds with the information, context and language required.”

Darren Hughes, Director of Welsh NHS Confederation, said: “We welcome the new Achieving Innovation resource from Life Sciences Hub Wales, as we have seen the impact of innovation and service transformation in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The resource supports a deeper understanding of innovation and complements our multi-agency report prepared by Swansea University, The NHS Wales COVID-19 Innovation and Transformation Study Report, which draws from a vast evidence-base of staff experiences from across NHS Wales, examining why and how they innovated and looking at practical recommendations to further this agenda.

“As we embark on recovery, it’s imperative that we capitalise on opportunity to improve service delivery, efficiency, patient outcomes, staff wellbeing, and encourage a culture of learning and sharing best practice across organisational boundaries.”

The resource comes at an exciting time for innovation in Wales, with the launch of the Intensive Learning Academies earlier in 2021. The first of their kind in the world, these world-leading academies are delivering innovation-focussed taught courses, research and bespoke consultancy services, with Life Sciences Hub Wales supporting relevant partners.

If you would like to explore the Achieving Innovation resource, then please visit: http://www.lshubwales.com/achieving-innovation

Finance and Banking, Healthcare, Innovation, Investment

IQ Endoscopes secures Development Bank of Wales and Creo Medical led £1.5m funding round to develop single-use flexible gastroscopes

The Development Bank of Wales is co-investing with corporate investor Creo Medical Group plc alongside other funders as part of a £1.5 million equity round into IQ Endoscopes Ltd.

The investment will support the rapid product development of the IQ platform – a range of single use flexible endoscopes which provides images of the full length of the gut, helping in diagnostics and therapeutic procedures.

AIM listed Creo Medical is an emerging Med-Tech leader and has developed CROMA, an electrosurgical Advanced Energy Platform powered by its unique full spectrum Kamaptive technology, which combines bipolar radiofrequency for precise localised cutting and microwave for controlled coagulation.  Creo Medical has also developed a suite of medical devices designed, initially, for the emerging field of GI therapeutic endoscopy.

The IQ Scope is IQ Endoscope’s leading product. The IQ platform will initially consist of a complementary disposable gastroscope and colonoscope, which can be used safely with Creo Medical’s suite of consumable GI devices. IQ Endoscopes believes that single use endoscopy can eliminate the risk of disease transference and is easy to deploy outside of hospital settings making it ideal for developing countries where endoscopy procedures are rare.

Creo Medical has been supported by the Development Bank of Wales as an investor over multiple rounds through to their successful IPO on AIM in 2016. Creo Medical is now working alongside the Development Bank as a corporate investor. The Development Bank is an active equity co-investor, with funds available for high-growth potential technology businesses from seed and spin-out through to IPO and beyond.

Creo Medical CEO Craig Gulliford will join the board of IQ Endoscopes as a non-executive director.

Craig Gulliford, Chief Executive Officer of Creo Medical, commented: “IQ Endoscopes disruptive technology eliminates the risk of cross contamination which is at the forefront of clinicians’ minds at the moment with the prevalence of COVID-19. Practitioners can’t risk contamination between endoscopy procedures. Creating a disposable endoscope, which is expected to be positioned at a lower cost point than current technology, is an extremely thrilling prospect and the reason why Creo Medical is keen to support the product development to get IQ Scope and platform to market as quickly as possible.”

IQ Endoscopes, will relocate its operations to Wales following the funding round.

Matt Ginn, CEO of IQ Endoscopes added: “We are delighted to have secured this initial investment from the Development Bank of Wales, Creo Medical and a group of angel investors. It provides us with the perfect opportunity to rapidly develop our product technology and bring to market a range of single use, flexible endoscopes. Our platform will not only eliminate all threat of cross contamination between endoscopy procedures, but also increase throughput of patients. Having worked in the medical device industry for over 15 years, IQ Endoscopes has a vision for technology that will have global impact.”

Dr Richard Thompson, Senior Investment Executive at the Development Bank of Wales said: “IQ Endoscopes has an impressive team and platform technology that addresses a vast global market. This is a real opportunity to develop a new, complementary medical technology that can widen access to endoscopy. Creo Medical has significant expertise in this area, which is why we are delighted to further deepen our working relationship with them and this impressive syndicate of angel investors as a part of this funding round.”

Construction, Coronavirus, Innovation, Local Government, Property

Ambition Board awaits final decision on future of billion-pound North Wales Growth Deal

THE transformational North Wales Growth Deal that will create thousands of jobs and boost the economy for generations to come is one step closer.

North Wales Economic Ambition Board (NWEAB) met last week and gave its support to move forward with the five programmes that make up the £1bn Deal, underpinned by £240million investment from both the Welsh and UK Governments.

These programmes cover low carbon energy, innovation in high-value manufacturing, agri-food and tourism, digital connectivity and land and property.

Progress is reflective of how the region worked together with UK and Welsh Governments to define a portfolio of investments, which once fully approved, will see work begin in 2021.

The Deal has now been submitted to both the UK and Welsh Governments for consideration, with a final decision expected before the end of the year.

Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn, Ambition Board chair and leader of Gwynedd County Council, said this was a “major milestone” after years of hard work and collaboration between the region’s local authorities, colleges, universities and private sector representatives, with support from both governments and national stakeholders.

“The Growth Deal has been developed to deliver long-lasting positive investment and change that will enable economic and employment growth for the long-term,” he said.

“Over the next 15 years it will empower us to work together and take control of how we invest in our future. It is a unique opportunity to make investment decisions locally and demonstrate the value this brings.

“Ultimately, as part of a broader programme of investment, the Growth Deal will enable us to build a more vibrant, sustainable and inclusive economy for us all in North Wales.”

Driven by the Ambition Board’s Portfolio Management Office, based at Conwy Business Centre in Llandudno Junction, the three main objectives of the wider Growth Vision for North Wales are to create up to 4,200 new jobs by 2036, support an uplift of £2bn-2.4bn for the economy over that same period, and deliver total investment of up to £1.1bn.

Portfolio Director Alwen Williams is confident the business cases put forward to both governments will meet these targets and spark a sustainable economic and social resurgence when the country needs it most.

“Our Investment in low-carbon energy projects enable us to contribute directly to the climate change emergency, not only helping to make North Wales a cleaner, greener environment, but also positioning ourselves as one of the leading UK locations within the low carbon energy sector,” said Alwen.

“Not forgetting our foundation economies in agriculture and tourism, we will help to enable and encourage diversification to improve the long-term future of these key industries, ensuring they have opportunity to thrive.

“We recognise and value our obligation to deliver the Growth Deal in a way that improves and enhances our social, cultural, environmental and economic well-being and look forward to leading this important investment in our home and our region – North Wales.”

Askar Sheibani, chair of the Ambition Board’s Business Delivery Group, believes connectivity between communities is going to be key as momentum grows.

“The Growth Deal will invest in the region’s digital infrastructure,” he said.

“This is essential and underpins economic growth. Accessible and reliable high-speed fibre broadband and 5G capability throughout the whole of North Wales is essential.”

Jim Jones, chair of North Wales Mersey Dee Business Council, added: “A Deal that delivers on supporting business and productivity growth for both our home grown SMEs and the international businesses based in North Wales – in our key sectors of manufacturing, tourism and hospitality, agriculture and energy – has the potential to make a once in a lifetime positive impact for us all.”

Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart welcomed the positive steps made in past weeks, and said: “The UK Government is working to bring greater investment and job opportunities to communities across Wales and the latest steps in the North Wales Growth Deal represent real progress in achieving those aims.

“It is a huge opportunity to transform the region and help rebalance the Welsh economy and that is why UK Government is committing £120million to the deal. Working hand in hand with local government and business, we will continue to develop the Growth Deal and ensure it unleashes the full potential of North Wales.”

Minister for Economy and North Wales Ken Skates added: “I’m pleased to see the progress made on the North Wales Growth Deal, which has the potential to transform the region’s economy.

“This is now more important than ever in these very challenging times. I’d like to thank all the partners for their hard work in reaching this stage.  We’ll now work with the UK Government so we can progress the next steps as quickly as possible.”

For more information on the Growth Deal, follow @northwaleseab (English) and @buegogleddcymru (Welsh) on social media.