Venturefest Success
15th January 2010
Indications were that the seventh annual get-together of the region’s entrepreneurs with investors at Venturefest, was going to beat the previous year’s attendance of 2,000.
Even before the doors opened, 1,200 people had registered to attend the free event – hundreds more than last year.
Another good indication of the reputation of the event was the packed early morning networking breakfast with a presentation by mobile phone music service Musicode, winners of last year’s Venturefest Yorkshire investment competition.
Visitors crowded around 100 stalls – ranging from technologists, educationalists, accountants, solicitors, patent lawyers – everyone who could help ventures turn ideas into profit.
It set the scene for an event designed not only for mature ideas, but also to encourage the next generation to become entrepreneurs.
To that end, 25 primary and secondary schools took part in the Enterprise Inspirations showcase, displaying a spectrum of innovations.
The finals of the Regional Enterprise Awards – the best spin-out companies from universities across Yorkshire battled it out for a £5,000 cash prize, plus £5,000 worth of support.
Among the eye-catching stands in the University showcase area was Professor John Robinson’s automatic object analysis system. The technology, which was devised at the University of York, identifies human faces through digital images.
Another big attraction was Catwalk Genius, the York-based website where fashion fans can interact with designers and get rewards for their support, either by buying direct from designers or investing in collections for a share of the profits.
Professor Tony Hardy, chairman of Venturefest York, said: “The buzz is greater than last year. We got 2,000 through the door last year and we were in recession, but there definitely seems to have been a new level of optimism that augurs well. There is a clear recognition that we in the business world in Yorkshire are ahead of the game.”
A new innovation introduced by Prof Hardy and his team was a Venturefest networking website.
He said: “The whole object was to ensure Venturefest Yorkshire was not just a one day in the year event, but an ongoing process. As a result, this year business people arrived with a list of appointments in their pockets as a result of opportunities found at venturefestyorkshire.net.
We hope and expect that a lot more deals will have been done this year."
To visit the Venturefest website please click here.
The date for Venture fest 2011 has already been set; mark your diaries for February 9th 2011.
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