How innovation can fast-forward economic recovery

One thing is clear: Bristol is a vibrant city that fosters innovation and supports the growth of smaller businesses.

“Bristol well placed and very connected. As a smaller city, the city gives opportunities for creativity and innovation to happen,” said Dr Aby Sankaran during the Bristol24/7 Presents panel discussion on innovation and economic recovery.

The free virtual event took place on Thursday and was hosted by the Bristol24/7 Community Manager, Hannah Beatrice alongside James Snelgrove, an innovation specialist with Business West.

The second event in the Bristol24/7 Presents 2021 series included an expert panel, featuring the production manager of Crack Magazine, Ben Price, innovation manager for Future Space, Aimee Skinner, head of innovation and partnerships at Science Creates, Dr Aby Sankaran and creative producer Zahra Ash-Harper.

Watch the event in full:

In the panel discussion, it was widely agreed that Bristol is a city that supports and nurtures innovation – however, innovation as a concept remains a complex journey that requires constant evolution and inclusion.

For Zahra Ash-Harper, innovation is not about the light-bulb moments that force change. It is about everyday innovation, which includes everyone.

“The journey is very much part of the innovation. We need to embrace the average everyday interactions and include everyone within the systematic processes,” said Zahra.

“What does it mean to involve and support new collaborators? The mundane experiences are key to engaging people long term.”

For Aimee Skinner, innovation is also something that is vital for inclusion and has the potential to “bridge the digital divide.”

According to Aimee, this can be done through creativity and examples of crisis including the pandemic can be seen as windows for opportunity.

“Creativity is the start of the innovation process. Bristol is a creative place where innovation results in new business, creates new jobs, output and develops our learning,” said Aimee.

“Crises lead to both challenges and opportunities. We saw this over Covid. Innovation led to huge breakthroughs in the health crisis and next we’ll see the same with economic challenges.”

For Crack Magazine, the pandemic led to serious challenges where the cancellations of events and festivals also led to a pause in the print magazine. Crack also used the challenges as a way to discover new opportunities with the launch of the new Music is Everything app.

 

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“We wanted to create something permanent in the digital world and present contemporary musicians. It’s our first true piece of innovation. It’s a platform for music, tech and innovation in the city,” said Ben Price.

This year, Crack launched a new digital museum project telling the musical history of Bristol and Bath. Thanks to award-winning technology through their partner Landmrk, the new platform allows users to walk to pins on their phone’s maps and unlock stories, sounds and experiences from the South West’s past, present and future.

On an immersive walking tour around Bristol and Bath, users are able to a long-form conversation with Portishead about the recording of their debut album, as well as a walkthrough of the various iconic sound systems of St. Pauls Carnival.

The full extent of the Covid-19 pandemic on industries is not yet known but it has already proved important for developing new technologies at an exponential rate.

To meet the challenges we are facing, businesses have had no choice but to constantly innovate themselves to adapt to our new normal. And how can Bristol support this innovation?

“We need to be advocates for each other and be united to ensure businesses have the best chance of success. The stronger the system is, the quicker we’ll solve the challenges we face,” said Amiee.

Aimeé Skinner was a panel member at the Bristol24/7 Presents event.

Look out for the next events in the Bristol24/7 Presents series coming up this year.

Main photo: Bristol24/7

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