11/08/2023
In recent years, there has been a growing movement to recognise and celebrate the achievements of women in innovation. This movement goes beyond just acknowledging the past; it aims to pave the way for a more equitable future where women are given equal opportunities to succeed.
One significant occasion that celebrates the accomplishments of women in innovation is International Women’s Day (IWD) which takes place each year in March. This event sparks a flurry of activities and enthusiasm. However, as time passes, the momentum of this celebration can sometimes be lost.
This leads us to question: what must we do to sustain the cause? Though the answer is not simple, I believe we must start our reflection by revisiting the long-term commitment to #EmbraceEquity that we were all asked to make earlier in the year.
Embracing equity is about ensuring that everyone receives equal access to opportunities and resources, while also recognising historical barriers that have hindered the involvement and advancement of certain individuals.
This theme took centre stage at the Innovate UK KTN’s conference, ‘Celebrating the Legacy of Women in Innovation on International Women’s Day,’ which I was delighted to attend.
The conference champions successful women innovators and provides a platform for them to share actionable advice with other women to help them succeed in their businesses.
Now, some months on, I felt compelled to revisit my report on that day, which you can find below. It serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of embracing equity and emphasises the importance of sustaining the spirit of celebrating innovative women. It is through our dedication and collective action that we can genuinely empower women, granting them the equal opportunities they deserve.
Opening Address
Emily Nott, the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Programmes at Innovate UK KTN, opened the conference. Emily spoke to the true meaning of the IWD 2023 theme by making clear that, as women do not start on a level playing field, we need to focus on equitable actions over equal actions.
Lou Cordwell OBE, Chief Creative Officer at Magnetic and Chair of Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership, gave the opening address. Lou stressed the need for female innovators if we are to make innovation work for all people. We need to lift everybody up to the table, allowing us to collectively drive an agenda that sees innovation working for all. Empowering women to pursue their innovation, we embrace our diversity of thought. Lou ended her speech with a message of hope for the future – “we have an opportunity as women to maximise our positive impact on the world around us”.
Izzy Obeng, CEO and founder of Foundervine, spoke to the importance of innovating your mindset. Foundervine aims to remove the social and economic barriers to innovation by providing mentorship, training and financial support for early stage companies in the technology industry. Izzy reinforced the need to encourage women to take their seat at the table and recognise that their involvement diversifies the narrative.
Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Innovate UK KTN, discussed the essential stages of the innovation journey. In particular, he observed that the innovation journey is multifaceted and thrives on funding, advice, encouragement and the development of skills. Indro reiterated Izzy’s point about the need for diversity in innovation, positing that if you always have the same type of person innovating, you are always going to achieve the same type of results.
Panel Discussion: “Innovation as a force for good”
Chaired by Reedah El-Saie, Founder of Brainspark Games and 2021/2022 award winner, this session brought together a panel of Women in Innovation Award holders to discuss a range of topics surrounding innovation as a force for good.
Joining the panel were Penny Trayner of Clinical Neuropsychology Services Ltd, who created a workflow management tool for rehabilitation; Chantal Epp the founder of ClicknClear, a music licensing and tech startup which delivers officially licensed music to performance sports worldwide; Abbie Lawrence the founder of Consumer Insights Lab, an insights company that provides evidence-based actionable insights and Tammy Banks the co-Director of Taye Training & Consultancy LTD, a training and consultancy service.
Despite the panel having different backgrounds and innovation journeys, there were commonalities in the advice they gave. They conceded that, in the past, it has been difficult for female innovators to win funding. Chantalle reminded us of the shocking statistic that more funds run by men called Dave than there are female-run funds in total. However, the panel noted this narrative is changing – there is now an increasing number of funding opportunities for women innovators as the value of female founders is increasing.
Panel Discussion: “Women in Innovation Alumni; Inspire, Involve, Invest”
The panel was chaired by Priya Giha MBE, Venture Partner at Merian Ventures. Joining the panel were Claire Buckle, the founder of Ability Consultancy, which provides education and training services for disability awareness and Christine Boyle MBE, the founder and CEO of Senergy Innovations, a company providing solar thermal panels.
The panel discussion focused on how an idea is transformed into a successful business. Christine spoke to the importance of considering intellectual property when starting out a business and advised seeking sound advice to fully understand your options. It can be greatly beneficial to understand how to leverage your intellectual property and build upon it with the right support and legal advice. Christine illustrated the need for intellectual property protection for your ideas with a great analogy: if your idea is the castle then IP protection is the moat surrounding it.
The panel also reiterated the same actionable points: encouraging women innovators to 1) recognise the value of their diversity of thought and 2) seek funding, especially as funds evolve and try to break into new networks.
In Conversation with Yvonne Greeves and Christine Hockley
This discussion between Yvonne Greeves, Director of Women in Business at NatWest and Christine Hockley, Managing Director at British Patient Capital, focused more intently on financial support for female innovators. Yvonne spoke to NatWest’s involvement with the Rose Review – a government commissioned report on female entrepreneurship that outlines new initiatives to support female founded businesses. Yvonne, like many other inspirational women speaking at the conference, spoke of the need to ensure women have the right access to tools that enable them to accelerate their innovation. On a practical level, to action change, we must track data, set targets and reporting on KPI’s – as well as reporting when we have not met targets.
Christine discussed access to finance for female and diverse founders. British Patient Capital was set up to invest in venture capital funds and is the largest investor in UK venture capital. In particular, the company actively invests in life sciences and deep tech.
Final Remarks
In conclusion, embracing equity is crucial not only to allow women innovators equal access to opportunities, resources and support, but also to make innovation work for all. It was a pleasure to attend the conference and listen to successful women lift other women up by sharing lessons they have learnt on their innovation journey. The event provided actionable advice we can all follow to ensure the theme of embracing equity is sustained. At Reddie & Grose, we are committed to embracing equity, diversity and inclusion.
This article is for general information only. Its content is not a statement of the law on any subject and does not constitute advice. Please contact Reddie & Grose LLP for advice before taking any action in reliance on it.
