Innovation festival will stage events at Space Park Leicester and University of Leicester
A week-long festival dedicated to promoting productivity and growth across Leicestershire will stage three of its key events at Space Park Leicester and the University of Leicester.
Launched in 2018, this year’s Leicestershire Innovation Festival programme will feature a range of topics, including innovation funding, artificial intelligence, cyber security, digital manufacturing and collaborating with universities to help businesses boost their productivity.
Two of the 2026 Innovation Festival’s events – ‘The Money Map: Funding Journeys that Power Innovation’ and ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnership – Access to Subsided Innovation Workshop’ will be held at the University of Leicester’s £100m space research, innovation and teaching hub, Space Park Leicester. Another key event – ‘The Growth Forum: Shaping Tomorrow Through Innovation’ – will be held at Brookfield, the home of the University of Leicester’s School of Business.
Space Park Leicester Head of Commercial and Innovation, Vinay Patel, said: “We’re proud to support the Leicestershire Innovation Festival because we’re committed to helping businesses to accelerate their ideas and growth by connecting them with pioneering research and academic expertise.
“The Money Map: Funding Journeys that Power Innovation session will show businesses the potential routes that are available to them to help them fund their innovative companies.
“The session on Knowledge Transfer Partnerships will showcase one of the UK’s most successful innovation funding programmes for businesses. It will show organisations how these partnerships can help them to accelerate growth, unlock new capabilities and drive innovation regionally, nationally and internationally.”
The Growth Forum session will bring together businesses, academics and policymakers to address the challenges of today’s rapidly changing economy.The Leicestershire Innovation Festival is led by the Business Gateway Growth Hub and will run from Monday, March 9, to Friday, March 13. ‘The Money Map: Funding Journeys that Power Innovation’ session will take place from 12.45pm to 4pm on Monday, March 9. ‘The Growth Forum: Shaping Tomorrow Through Innovation’ will be held from 1.30pm to 4.30pm on Wednesday, March 11. The ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnership – Access to Subsided Innovation Workshop’ will take place from 10am to 12.30pm on Friday, March 13.
Space Park Leicester has also recently launched a programme that gives organisations the opportunity to hire its award-winning building for events.