Innovation is about commercialising new ideas, thinking differently and finding solutions. Having the idea is often the easy part, what comes next can really test your concept and turn it from an idea into reality.
With so much support and resources available to businesses, it’s worth thinking about what you need to take your innovation idea to the next stage and getting clear on the next step.
If you’re a small to medium sized business wanting to innovate, it can be an overwhelming space to navigate what you need and how to access it. Whether you have an idea for a new product, process or service, are already prototyping but seek specialist expertise, or haven’t considered how commercial your idea even is, there are a number of organisations and people ready to help.
Help can come in the form of funding, research support, advisory services, training and upskilling, sector expertise and many other types of specialist support.
To help get you started, here are some ideas to help set you up for success:
- Surround yourself with the right people
Seek out colleagues, peers, friends who can act as a sounding board to help validate, understand and share your progress with. Don’t be afraid to have people who will constructively challenge your ideas too. Engage with those who will give you a different perspective and keep you pushing forward.
Having some ‘go-to’ people will also expand your thinking, constructively challenge your ideas, generate new ideas from talking and sharing with like-minded people. Input from colleagues can influence and recharge your mindset for success, encourage better productivity and result in a more creative output.
2. Speak to your network
Who in your network has expertise that could help with your innovation project? If you’re stuck or need specialist insight, tapping into your network for the right resources can move your project forward with real progress. When something is your idea it can lead to a one way thinking approach and by considering who else can help you, who can offer alternative approaches or reinforce that you’re on the right track, based on the knowledge they have.
3. Challenge yourself
Being so close to the planning, development and progression of an idea can bring challenges when it comes to being objective. Try and take a step back to see how far you’ve come, what could you be missing and how you can review progress or where there are gaps.
Maintaining clarity throughout by reminding yourself of where your innovation idea started, so you can stay aligned to how best to move your project forward.
4. Consider external expertise or funding support
As well as using your network, contacts and finances to progress your innovation, there are other options available. Collaborating with a third-party gives the opportunity to leverage additional skills and expertise, that you may not have in-house. Seeking this expertise requires time, research and finance, which is where securing funding for collaborative projects can help to get things off the ground.
Business case study: innovation in practice
Ascentys Ltd. is a digital health start-up developing ground-breaking rehabilitative videogame-based technologies for children’s depression and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Founder and owner, Dr Sayed Kazmi, comments on how he was able to move his project forward after seeking the right support: “Coming from an academic and technology research background, we were struggling with the fundamentals of running a business rather than a games-based research company.
“Creating a credible yet effective business plan, identifying capable local collaborative partners in the digital health space and finding the all-important local funding mechanisms were absolutely critical to sustain and further develop our company. All of these remained largely elusive or misunderstood by us, until we worked with the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership.
“The innovation team provided much needed and effective advice to reach a genuine resolution that works. It allowed us to develop and refine our ideas, technology and potential, in order to positively thrive as a high growth business and ensure a prosperous future for our company.”
There’s no one size fits all approach when it comes to innovation. The Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership’s (the LEP) Business Support Service can help you determine the right support for your business. The LEP’s innovation team, part of the Connecting Innovation programme, will make sure you have the right support for your business needs.
To hear more about how we the LEP can help contact BusinessSupport@the-lep.com or call 0113 348 1818.
Connecting Innovation is delivered by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (the LEP) in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Northern Powerhouse Growth Deal.
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