The creative and heritage sectors are widely viewed as incredibly fertile spaces for innovation, consistently stepping outside the boundaries of traditional thinking to find new ways of working. As these sectors continues to navigate uncertainly, now more than ever, businesses, organisations and networks are looking to reach their customers in different ways and develop new processes, services and products. However, from identifying possible areas of innovation- to articulation, funding and undertaking R&D – embarking on the journey can seem like a daunting and complicated process.

In this practical workshop, John Mackenzie, Senior Development Manager for Innovation at Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), will break down their range of innovation services, how to access them and talk through the dynamic opportunities it could offer the creative and heritage sectors.

John Mackenzie provides innovation support to both HIE staff and clients providing advice on innovation funding, IP, access to external expertise and support on how to structure an innovation project. He is also HIE’S lead on their partnerships with the Censis and Best innovation centres, the advanced manufacturing cluster builder programme, and Interface.