As part of Morningside Pharmaceuticals’ headline sponsorship of the 2019 Innovation Awards, our CEO Dr Nik Kotecha OBE was proud to speak at the ceremony.
The awards were the first of their kind in Leicestershire and featured an exhibition by many of the nominees and other local companies; a soap box style stage for businesses to pitch their products; and the main awards which honoured some of the county’s most significant innovators and innovations.
Here are extracts from Dr Nik’s speech, written into a blog to help support other businesses looking to grow by investing in innovation:
“What is Innovation? I have often wondered what the straightforward answer is and realise now that it can mean so many things, depending on what your business does.
“In a nutshell, innovation means to me: the process of turning your ideas into reality. For businesses, being innovative often means embracing measured risks whilst taking a holistic approach to the whole business.
“It also means having a strategy that delivers improved customer satisfaction and better management of your suppliers and supply chain.
“So how do businesses become innovative? From my experience, a good place to start is to have a clear vision and strategy.
“Another essential ingredient is investing in infrastructure, regular training of our people, embracing technologies and R&D. Also encouraging our teams to share ideas by holding regular brainstorming sessions.
“Lastly but most importantly, being passionate about continuous improvement whilst embracing change.
“Therefore, it is clear Innovative businesses will have the natural edge over their competitors. They will be able to drive growth and profitability and it will be these businesses, which are able to identify and benefit from a changing market place.”
“My hope is that the 2019 Innovation Awards will help galvanise companies to see the benefits of investing in new approaches to grow their businesses.”
