Achieving innovation and incorporating innovation strategies | Scale-Up Forum

Original Thinking Podcast

The Scale-Up Forum is a peer-to-peer network for ambitious scaling up businesses in Greater Manchester. It gives businesses at all stages of the scale up journey the opportunity to share experiences, challenges and lessons learnt for mutual business benefit.

Launched in 2018, it provides a platform for businesses in the scale up phase to gain insight from their peers and from academic experts on challenges experienced by business growing at pace, whatever their sector. The Forum is managed and delivered by our Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange team, who help to identify routes for mutually-beneficial collaboration between our academic researchers and business partners.

Our quarterly events are all based around themes proposed by the partner firms.

Achieving Innovation and incorporating innovation strategies

How have large and growing organisations successfully embedded innovation strategies to deliver success? We will hear an academic perspective presenting past research into this area along with a practitioner perspective.

As per the usual format the session will encourage interaction and shared learning, starting discussion points include “Should innovation be tasked to specialist teams within a business or is it everyone's responsibility? How should businesses plan their strategy and decision-making process to facilitate innovation?”.

Speakers

Bruce Tether

Bruce Tether is Professor of Innovation Management and Strategy, Associate Head of Research for the Innovation Management and Policy Division, and the Research Director of the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre led by Nesta in London. He teaches innovation management and his research interests centre around three inter-related themes:

1. Innovation and entrepreneurship through creativity and design.
2. The competitive dynamics of professional service firms, especially those oriented to design and creativity, such as architecture practices, design and engineering consultancies.
3. How firms make choices regarding their geographical locations for competitive advantage.

Azhar Quaiyoom

Azhar is the director and CEO of QSustain, an independent award-winning specialist consultancy to the construction industry offering strategic support across many sectors.

Azhar is a highly motivated and charismatic entrepreneur and Engineering professional with 20 years’ experience within sustainable design and delivery across different sectors such as mix use, commercial, and in particular, rail, creating first of its kind achievements across complex projects. This is coupled with invaluable experience in practical major programmes with extensive knowledge of the feasibility, design and implementation stages. With this experience, Azhar now runs a successful consultancy that is well placed to expand and diversify.

Azhar has a rare and exclusive combination of Engineering design, sustainability and practical project management experience with knowledge of how to implement low carbon and sustainable developments from concept, design, and procurement to construction and operation.

The Scale-Up Forum is sponsored by Bruntwood Works