Pandemic won't stop Malvern Festival of Innovation going ahead

Published by

Nicky Godding

Despite the pandemic, the annual Malvern Festival of Innovation will not be beaten into submission this year, and returns 5th-10th October 2020, but it is going ahead online.

Organiser Dr Adrian Burden, said: “Until a week or so ago, we were hopeful we could stage some of the events live in our local venues with all the necessary precautions in place. But with the recent changes to legislation and the growing number of cases, we will stream the events live using Zoom and Facebook, and encourage questions from the audience to increase interactivity during the week.”

Andy Stanford-Clark, Chief Technology Officer at IBM UK and Ireland, will kick-off the week with an online talk about the recently launched Mayflower Autonomous Ship, explaining how artificial intelligence and a number of other advanced technologies are taking to the high seas.

The Next Generation Innovators schools’ event will be a series of contributors participating from around the country. Speakers will talk about their work in science, technology, design and entrepreneurship. We will also be joined by laboratory scientists and engineers giving us a behind-the-scenes tour of their facilities and providing a unique and fascinating insight into STEM careers and tech innovation. School classes can register to watch live and field questions to each of the speakers.

The popular Startup Stories evening on Wednesday 7th October will feature insights from entrepreneurs including Chris Pinder from Malvern’s HD ANYWHERE and Nicky Godding, founding Editor-in-Chief of the region’s Business & Innovation Magazine. Claire Cockerton, Founder and CEO of Plexal behind the Innovation Centre on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the London Cyber Innovation Centre (LORCA) will also join us for a fireside chat with Festival Founder Dr Adrian Burden.

On Friday 9th October morning, the Environment & Sustainability business symposium returns with an opening talk from Worcestershire’s BetaDen Cohort 3 member Veritherm on energy efficiency of buildings. Professor Louise Manning, Director of Knowledge Exchange at Royal Agricultural University will speak about smart food systems and the food supply chain, followed by a talk on developments in agritech from Dr Rebecca Charnock, Industrial Research Development Manager at Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus Ltd. The morning’s final contribution will be from the Dr Mark Broomfield, author of popular science book 'Every Breath You Take: A User's Guide to the Atmosphere'.

This Family Show on Saturday morning will feature neuroscientist Professor Gina Rippon and author of ‘The Gendered Brain” speaking about sexing the brain and whether there are differences between male and female brains. This will be followed by the National Physical Laboratory’s outreach manager Andrew Hanson MBE explaining the fascinating science of colour, of which there is more than meets the eye!

Please see https://www.festival-innovation.com/programme for more details.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.