20th November 2008
National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham

Business managers at all levels are challenged by the constant need to change. Why has change become so important, or has it always been the key business objective?

A recent IBM survey of 750 global CEOs suggests that two-thirds are convinced that they will have to make fundamental changes to their businesses over the next two years, and that means innovation.

Where innovation might once have meant changing the colour, refreshing the packaging or more recently outsourcing a call centre, most CEOs today think these changes can't be limited to their products and services but must also involve innovation in their underlying business models and business processes.

For innovation to thrive you need the right corporate culture, an innovative environment which requires support and drive from the very top, to employees and managers who are in touch with each other, their customers, and - often overlooked - in touch with other industries.

Some of the very best ideas will almost certainly come from companies in a totally different field. Innovation doesn't always have to be a brand new idea; it's often just about making things new to you and your customer group, and adapting things from other industries can be a good place to start.

The biggest worry however, is that as the economic slowdown bites, companies cut their direct investment in innovation. Recent work by the CBI suggested 84 per cent of companies were in just this situation, with a resultant threat to long term competitiveness.

Less than a fifth had contemplated trading, selling or spinning out ideas that they could not use immediately in-house. Only a third conduct any sort of regular audit of their innovation.

Although the survey suggested that 60 per cent currently overrate their abilities, three quarters of the companies had introduced at least one major product, process or service over the past 12 months.

So, whilst innovation is regarded by many companies as complicated, high cost and high risk, it is clear that without innovation British businesses cannot compete.

As seen within all leading innovative companies, it is critical that innovation needs to have a holistic view of emerging trends and the influence that these might have, so that you can make better informed decisions on how and where you should innovate.

Watching these trends and understanding their likely impact needs to be an ongoing process that is undertaken in a methodical manner. The first step is to identify emerging trends. There is plenty of information out on the web and on analyst websites that will enable you to do this. The second step is to understand how and when each trend is likely to have an impact. Lastly you need to establish what this means for you and what course of action, if any, you should take.

Hosted again by Stuart Linnell MBE, delegates at this years conference will discover what SMEs need to look out for, how they can innovate their business and tools and techniques that they can take away to implement within their own business. The conference will provide plenty of opportunity to network with a wide range of exhibitors and networking sessions included in the day.

This year's agenda will be confirmed shortly. However delegates are still able to book their place. Due to such high demand last year delegate places will be based on a 'first come first served' basis.

Registration
Places are complimentary, however due to the heavy demand for places a charge of £49 + VAT will be implied for non-attendance.

The 2008 West Midlands ICT Conference, 20 Nov 2008 (Birmingham) Register
ICT Excellence Awards 2008
The 2008 ICT Excellence Awards will be open for entry from May 2008. More information will be available in due course on the ICT Cluster website at www.wmictcluster.org.

Categories for the 2008 Awards are:

ICT Excellence for Innovation (Product)
ICT Excellence for Innovation (Service)
ICT Excellence for Best Added Value (Product)
ICT Excellence for Best Added Value (Service)
ICT Excellence for Best Knowledge Transfer
ICT Excellence Award - Chairman's Award
ICT Excellence Regional Champion Award
An overall Regional Champion will be selected by the Awards Panel from the winners of the above individual awards. The Regional Champion will receive additional recognition, Award and prize in this category. The Awards will again be presented at an evening ceremony following the ICT Cluster Conference on 20th November.

Sponsorship
Sponsorship packages are available for the Conference and Awards, for further information please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If you wish to attend please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it