"Our aim is to empower the business owners and managers who want to move their businesses forward through innovation to take the initiative and make it happen. There are too many people simply working to stand still. It is events like these that help people to gain the clarity and direction they need to do something original and innovative to reap the rich niche market rewards.

"In addition to hosting the sessions, we are hoping to create an online community that maintains and builds on the networks formed in this programme."

"The idea is that creative, innovative practices need to be spread throughout an organisation rather than being located in a specific department or being the sole concern of those in charge of the business. Rather than a linear model, where invention begins at the top and then percolates downwards, we are interested in promoting an alternative model in which feedback, from all parts of the business including the consumer, contributes to the actual generation of new ideas. In a globally competitive marketplace, the solution can often be found in honing the 'creative' side of a business."