That's a Wrap!

So, let’s get the terribly sad news out of the way…I’ll be leaving AUB at the beginning of 2023!

Yes, it’s me,?Lucy Devall, the one who’s been writing these articles for the past 12 months. I’ll be heading to pastures new in January to set up an innovation team elsewhere and with that taking a great deal of fun experience in engagement and creative practice with me. It's been wonderful and I'll miss AUB a great deal.

I joined AUB in 2017 in the snappy title of ‘Innovation Studio Outreach Senior Officer’ working alongside the wizard of Knowledge Exchange (and comic books),?Daniel Cox. Since then, we’ve been a two-person band of fun beats and moody interludes. The primary objective of my role has been to manage the university’s innovation activities – not an easy feat given the disparate nature of innovation here but one that’s resulted I think in a very positive outlook for AUB's strategic ambitions.

There's plentiful updates on what's been achieved during this time (read the last couple of articles) - suffice to say there’s been lots of learning along the way.

I wasn't sure what to put in my final post so will be signing off with a list of recommendations for managing innovation projects i've learned along the way! If you were wondering what to get your beloved for Christmas look no further.

You gotta network to get work, baby*

1.????Innovation management is fundamentally about social networks. Map what and where your existing networks are and any new networks you want to enter.

*my cheesy lines are borrowed from political comedies.

2.????Identify what relationships you have with these desirable networks – do they match your current operational relationships or are you missing a link?

3.????The chances are yes, you are missing something. The person in charge of this is increasingly called something akin to an ‘Innovation Lead’ and their job will be to figure out what kind of relationship you want, the gap between you all, and the best routes to reach it. It might be within your capacity to hire this position but if not, there’s plenty out there whose job it is to help in this area – for starters, try?Innovate UK Edge?or your?Local Enterprise Partnership.

4.????More and more it’s about collaboration between research entities (i.e. universities) and businesses when it comes to securing an innovation project, as there’s complementary value and an increased scope for funding applications. If you're a business looking to collaborate on a commercial project, approach a university's Knowledge Exchange department, they'll tell you whether it's feasible to take on.

Never mind the b*llocks

5.????It’s a man’s world; this we women have known for a millennium. The Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) conurbation is certainly no different in terms of representation. Yet there’s hundreds and thousands of female entrepreneurs and innovation leaders across the region whose impact can get overlooked because of a) the narrative around innovation, and b) how we monitor and evaluate innovation. Let me explain…

6.????Ever wondered why innovation funding programmes seemingly favour science and technology activity? In my experience, this has a lot to do with the foundations of innovation policy and how the production of science and technology generates revenue value across our systems of business. The creative industries* in comparison has a more difficult time in fitting to this economic model. What my experience has taught me is that creative subsectors generally perform and manage their relationships differently to science and technology sectors - it’s not always a process of moving from raw material to widget to scale intensive manufacturer - close regional ties are incredibly important. Nevertheless, with transformations in our creative technologies, we're blurring the lines between creative, digital and technology processes, opening up all kinds of interdisciplinary activity.

(The?creative industries subsectors?are defined by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes as:?advertising and marketing; architecture; crafts; design and designer fashion; film, TV, video, radio, and photography; IT, software and computer services; publishing; museums, galleries and libraries; music, performing arts and visual arts).

7.????Worldwide,?the share of female entrepreneurs?tends to be lower than the share of male entrepreneurs in three categories: the owners of limited liability companies, directors of limited liability companies and sole proprietors. Monitoring of these business activities for innovation tends to favour the transparency of incorporated companies who claim R&D tax credits and those who can be easily identifiable through SIC code. As such, if you’re a sole trader you’ll be excluded from this measure.

In our experience of delivering a five-year EU R&D programme for Dorset businesses the majority of sole trader owners were female, compared to a majority of male owners/directors of limited companies. Notwithstanding the other pressures of female-run businesses, this might mean you need to work twice as hard to be seen and valued. If you're a female business owner, take a look into specialist women in business support through the likes of?Dorset Growth Hub?or?Women + Innovation?events run by?Sophie Godfrey, MD of Studio Wood. If you’re feeling super activist, read up on the third year progress of?The Alison Review of Female Entrepreneurship.

There’s no such thing as a unique idea

8.????When attempting anything innovative: there’s no such thing as a unique idea. Leonardo da Vinci was scribbling ideas for automobiles in the 1400s. Don’t upset your aura by getting too precious about that lightbulb moment in your head.

9.????The chances are that NDA is only worth the paper it’s written on. If you’re serious about protecting your idea, explore design protection (this will entail the actual design) or if you’ve got a potential technological innovation, a patent. Neither are fail safe measures but understanding how to protect your R&D is important. For creative IP, it's worth checking out the work Professor Towse and her team are doing over at BU in the Centre for Intellectual Property, Policy and Management.

10.?The idea will just be the start, the value is created through the development of that idea into a ‘proof of concept’ or further still, a ‘minimum viable product’ (MVP). It’s at these two stages you’ll gain investors, but it requires some kind of effort on your part – whether that’s project management, or time and money to spend on specialists...If it was that easy you could do it yourself, so value the activity appropriately. Have a look at Nesta's explanations of innovation prototyping for some handy examples.

That's the end of my 10 top tips for innovation management - I'm sure there's more I've missed! I hope you all have a relaxing break. The team are set to run lots more activities in the new year (schedule to be sent out soon). If you're not yet a member of our Innovation Studio and would like to be, drop us an email to [email protected]

We'll be welcoming in a new member of the team from January -?Clare Trevanion (née Astley)?who'll be taking on the role of?Innovation Studio Senior Officer. Clare comes with a wealth of experience from Bayes (Cass) Business School MBA programme in London.

I hope to keep in touch with many of you and will doubtless be at future Innovation Studio events!

- Lucy