November 17, 2017, by The Ingenuity Lab

Message from Steve: Ingenuity18 is open!

Over the past few years, we have seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of students and alumni entering the Ingenuity Competition, with over 900 people taking part, and over £250,000 worth of grants awarded.

The Ingenuity Competition has enabled us to build an incredible pipeline of talent and international successes, such as Hungry Panda, Kohl Kreatives and One Third Stories. These and all the 189-active Ingenuity Lab businesses stand testament to the high calibre of talent we have at The University of Nottingham – both here in the UK, as well as with our partners in China and Malaysia.

However, we’re never happy to rest on our laurels! We have decided to once again innovate this year’s event, and are now open to early career researchers and staff in the UK. We hope to be more inclusive and encourage innovation and creativity across the organisation.

We also intend to be more proactive in the generation of ideas, so have introduced the Inspire strand, most notably with the Ingenuity18 Ideas Summit happening in late February. This will offer participants a variety of seminars from renowned innovators and thought leaders, as well as live innovation sessions and seminars. The weekend will focus on how we develop you as an individual, with a programme that aims to challenge, disrupt, and most of all recontextualise your view of the world.

We will also be introducing the Develop strand, where we will draw on the HGI’s wealth of academic expertise by creating the Ingenuity18 Innovation Diploma. Taught over 5 weeks it will take you from ideas to business plan or proposal, and you will be ready to submit your entry to Ingenuity18 at the end of the course. Also for Level 3 undergraduates you can take the spring semester Technology Entrepreneurship in Practice module, and prepare your Ingenuity18 proposal whilst earning 10 credits.

Both Inspire and Develop kick off late February and continue until late March. Adding to this, we will also be having ‘Hacks’ in Computer Science and Product Design; a programme of Disruptive Narrative screenings; and events put on by our Ingenuity Lab Ambassadors to develop our next stage businesses more. There will also be activities happening at UNMC and UNNC aimed at students interested in entrepreneurship.

Then, as is tradition, proposals and business plans will be submitted, judging will take place, pitches will be heard, and we will all celebrate innovation at University of Nottingham in April with our Ingenuity18 Gala Event.

There’s a lot to look forward to, and I hope you will join us on this year’s exciting journey.

For more information visit www.nottingham.ac.uk/go/ingenuity18.

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