Inspiral - What's new

Inspiral inspires awards success

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:33:29 +0000

Two Inspiral clients were honoured at the inaugural Sheffield Telegraph Environment Awards in October.

Sustainable Building Solutions; part of the High Growth Start-Up programme, won the Innovation award for their energy-saving builders’ products.

Another high growth client, Bag It Don’t Bin It, was a runner-up in the same category. The eco-business produces cotton and jute branded shopping bags with the aim of getting people to stop using harmful plastic bags.

“We’re really proud of the achievements of Sustainable Building Solutions and Bag It Don’t Bin It,” says Inspiral’s enterprise advisor Chris Baker. “Hopefully they will inspire more of our high growth clients to enter awards, to achieve the wider recognition they deserve.”

Inspiral secures nationwide NESTA Creative Pioneer contract

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:34:12 +0000

Inspiral has won a competitive tender to manage a nationwide programme of business support on behalf of NESTA [National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts].

The contract, which runs until June 2010, will see Inspiral provide mentoring and guidance to 38 creative businesses across the UK.

The businesses are part of NESTA’s Creative Pioneer Team, formerly the Creative Pioneer Programme, which was set up to help creative businesses take their ideas to market.

NESTA’s Creative Pioneer Team members were chosen through open competition and selection, an 11-month residential training course and a further competitive process.

Once selected, the 38 businesses were awarded a £35,000 grant to turn their business dreams into reality. Inspiral will now help the Creative Pioneer Team entrepreneurs to develop their businesses to the next stage.

“We chose Inspiral to manage our Creative Pioneer portfolio because of their proven track record of delivering specialist business support to the Creative and Digital Industries, their enthusiasm and complete professionalism,” says Jackie McKenzie, acting head of NESTA’s Creative Pioneer team.

“We are delighted to be working with NESTA on this project,” says Inspiral’s Managing Director Phil Shankland. “As the country’s leading supplier of specialist business support to the creative industries, we can make a real difference to the progress of the Creative Pioneer businesses."

Inspiral research disruptive innovation

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:40:19 +0000

The success of Inspiral's business mentoring is fast gathering pace and we've gained a well-deserved reputation for recognising the potential of creative content and digital business ideas that might have gone unnoticed by more ‘generic' business support agencies.

This emphasis on innovative business models has resulted in Inspiral carrying out an original research project specially commissioned by Creative Sheffield on the positive impact of ‘disruptive innovation' on the City-Region.

What can we learn from disruptive innovators like eBay and iTunes - does it happen by accident or design? What does it take to accelerate innovation?

The research report will be released at a special launch event hosted by NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) in London.

Our customers and what we do for them

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:27:39 +0000

Our customers are national organisations such as Business Link, Channel 4 Talent, Skillset and NESTA, Regional Development Agencies such as Yorkshire Forward and City-Region Development Companies such as Creative Sheffield. They recognise the vital role that the CDI can play in growing the UK economy, and that CDI businesses need specialist business support to help them enter and survive in fast moving and disruptive markets.

To help our customers grow businesses in the Creative and Digital Industries sector we offer:

- Consulting
- Business support program design
- Business support delivery
- Networking

NESTA select Inspiral as partner for Creative Business Catalyst pilot

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:20:28 +0000

Inspiral have been selected by NESTA as the delivery partner working with University Management Schools in Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

The innovative Creative Business Catalyst pilot from NESTA will partner business school MBA students with creative businesses to catalyse business growth and stimulate innovation. Creative Business Catalyst aims to tap into the skill-base of UK business schools to exploit their expertise in supporting the development of growth in the creative industries sector. The pilot project will pair MBA students with creative businesses to deliver a specialist, structured programme of business intervention and support.

http://www.nesta.org.uk/creative-business-catalyst

Read the thoughts of participants here

Inspiral . Skillset TV Freelance Fund . C4 Talent.

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:18:15 +0000

Inspiral, in collaboration with Skillset TV Freelance Fund and C4 Talent, are launching a new programme of support aimed at TV Freelancers.

The UK wide programme is aimed at providing one-to-one mentoring to enable the TV freelancer to address the commercial challenges of the rapidly changing 360 degree commissioning marketplace.

This is one of Inspiral's 'Design-Manage-Deliver' contracts.

NCI09, 'Creative Economy' report

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:40:23 +0000

NCI09, 'Creative Economy', the fifth National Creative Industries Conference, took place on 24th and 25th November 2009 at BFI Southbank. Set over two days, the event brought together a very senior audience of over 250 delegates and an exceptional speaker line-up to discuss the challenges of the 2010 and beyond.
You can download BOP's Bulletin reviewing the event here:

https://www.eventsforce.net/CIVIC/media/uploaded/EVCIVIC/event_24/NCI09%20Conference%20Bulletin%20-%20Final.pdf