Entrepreneurs and policy makers will gather to discuss how businesses in the South West can help the country recover from the economic impact of the pandemic at a two-day event held by the government's innovation agency.
Innovate UK will host an online series of seminars this week titled ‘Business Innovation and Cyber Futures’.
The free virtual conference will allow for discussion of opportunities and initiatives for the future of cyber, as well as support for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in the region, regardless of sector.
The event will showcase the success of companies in Gloucestershire, Swindon, Wiltshire and the wider region which have previously been supported by Innovate UK funding.
Delegates will hear talks from a start-up in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, helping to detect and prevent crime and a Bristol-based business that is working to improve prosthetics for amputees.
The exhibition will also offer opportunities to network with other businesses as well as local and national support agencies, which will be providing information on how to access funding.
Over the last four years, Innovate UK has awarded more than £220m to SMEs across Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire, supporting 400 projects.
Synalogik Innovative Solutions was founded in 2018 by a group of former specialists from legal, intelligence, special forces and policing backgrounds.
The Tewkesbury-based start-up’s chief commercial officer, Daniel White, is set to speak at the event, to offer insights and share experiences the company has had since collaborating with Innovate UK.
Mr White said: “We’re thrilled to be working alongside the Innovate UK family now for over a year.
“We’ve got ongoing projects funded by them that have allowed us to do research and development to focus our proprietary software on tackling serious issues including the funding of organised crime and money laundering.
“The funding will allow us to scale into a large number of global opportunities across multiple sectors. It’s very exciting.”
Innovate UK has partnered with Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Gloucestershire's GFirst LEP for the event, which begins on Wednesday March 24.
Layla Burrows, Innovate UK’s South West regional manager, said: “Gloucestershire, Swindon, Wiltshire, and the wider South West are packed with pioneering organisations that are leading the way in terms of cyber innovation.
“Meanwhile, our area is home to a wide range of tech start-ups, including those led by Innovate UK-backed young innovators, who are establishing businesses working with all kinds of new technology.
“Just last month, for example, UK awarded Recycling Technologies, a specialist plastic recycling technology provider based in Swindon a £1.2m Innovate UK smart grant as part of a consortia, to enhance and improve the efficiency of chemical recycling technology in the UK.
“Speakers at this week’s Innovate Local South West event will explain how they made their ideas a reality, and the ways in which they are now reacting and adapting in order to help our economy recover following the Covid-19 pandemic.”
