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In partnership with Birmingham City University we are pleased to announce the launch of ‘CLIC4WM’
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The Challenge:
Challenge-led innovation activity has been gaining traction in the region over the last few years, however there are still whole sectors that had not yet piloted or investigated challenge-led activity. Harder-to-reach sectors require innovation guidance.
The Challenge-Led Innovation Consortium for the West Midlands (CLIC4WM) is designed to enable an innovation collective with a sense of collaborative ownership, increased profile and expertly designed quality innovation pathways for challenge-led business opportunity across all sectors. The project has been aligned to the VIT areas and the WM Plan for Growth to leverage existing activity and networks in the region.
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Main Objectives:
1. Align existing challenge-led practice across the ecosystem to the VIT areas (digital tech, creative industries, health, fintech), identify best practice, and derive the innovation support pathway required for challenge-led innovation activities.
2. Assess feasibility of challenge-led practices in new areas (for example, light rail) and the support pathway for that area.
3. Attract sponsorship opportunities from the corporate sector and further funding potential for challenge-led pilots in new areas.
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Main Outcomes:
1. Develop a structured consortium for challenge-led innovation work within the region targeting specific objectives, such as increasing revenue streams for challenge led work; increasing visibility of regional expertise; driving quality into our support pathways enabled by new technologies.
2. Boost the opportunities for SMEs to engage in challenge-led innovation providing more efficient access to market through the delivery of challenge-led programme in Circular Economy and the groundwork for future programmes in all VIT areas.
3. Increase corporate investment into challenge led-programmes.
Slingshot