IfM’s Centre for Technology Management in Cambridge to host an Open Innovation Workshop

27 April 2011

The Institute for Manufacturing is hosting a full day workshop,  titled “Open innovation for small firms: how to set up and manage collaborations with large firms”.

This workshop, the first in a series of three, will be taking place on Tuesday 10 May 2011 at Colworth Park, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, MK44 1LQ.

Today’s rapidly changing technologies and complex markets mean that few firms can innovate using only in-house resources. As a result, many firms are trying to implement ‘open innovation’ by looking outside their organisation to find new ways of creating value. However, working and sharing information with other companies creates many challenges and pitfalls.

These workshops will present practical approaches to help businesses successfully implement open innovation. Aimed at smaller companies it will focus on how to form and manage successful collaborations with larger enterprises.

The programme will focus on how to form and manage successful collaborations with larger enterprises. Key issues will be:
• How to make partnerships between technology-based start-ups and established firms work
• What every start-up should know about large companies
• Problems with large firm/start-up partnerships and how to overcome them
• Case studies for successful alliances

The IfM’s Centre for Technology Management in Cambridge are able to offer a registration fee of £50 + VAT to small firms, due to generous sponsorship.

Further workshops will take place in June and October.

For more information, and to book your place, please visit the IfM website http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/service/events/info/openinnovation.htmland download a booking form, or contact Jo Griffiths, Event Manager at the Institute for Manufacturing on +44 (0)1223 748260.