Featured image: adapted from photo by Matt Hoffman on Unsplash
Together with the Enterprise Research Centre, the Innovation Caucus was delighted to host another series of the Innovators’ Breakfast Club. The Innovators’ Breakfast Club brings together Innovate UK and UKRI staff with social science academics for an engaging early morning discussion on key issues in the UK’s innovation ecosystem. You can read about our first series here.
In these busy online times, we were grateful that participants not only made the time to join us each Wednesday at 08:15, but that they actively engaged in the lively discussions each morning. Once again the series was designed to feed into the ongoing work to develop Innovate UK’s new strategy, with our topics covering Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Levelling Up, Talent and Skills and Business Collaboration.
Each week a member of Innovate UK set the scene for us by providing an overview of current work and future plans on the relevant theme. The opening talks are then followed by 2-3 ‘provocations’ by Innovation Caucus and ERC members (and invited friends) – these are short talks that probe at the key issues at stake and bring in actionable research insights. The focal point of each morning is the discussion section, using participants’ questions from the chat box to further explore the key issues, chaired by Professor Tim Vorley (Innovation Caucus Academic Lead).
We would like to thank everyone who provided spoke (full list below) or joined the discussions and a special thank you to Debbie Johnson, Dr Geeta Nathan (Innovate UK) and Dr Vicki Belt (ERC) for all their work behind the scenes. If you participated in one ore more the Breakfast Club sessions we would appreciate your feedback via the evaluation form you received or you are very welcome to get in touch to discuss directly.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (30.09.20)
- Dr Emily Nott (Innovate UK)
- Dr Beldina Owalla (University of Sheffield)
- Professor Helen Lawton Smith (Birkbeck, University of London)
- Professor Monder Ram (Aston University)
Levelling Up (07.10.20)
- Dean Cook (Innovate UK)
- Professor David Charles (Northumbria University)
- Professor Philip McCann (University of Sheffield)
Talent and Skills (14.10.20)
- Joanna Burgess (Innovate UK)
- Dr Tamara Friedrich (University of Warwick)
- Professor Bruce Tether (University of Manchester)
Collaboration (21.10.20)
- Stewart Miller (Innovate UK)
- Dr Chris Haley (Nesta)
- Professor Ammon Salter (University of Bath)