Ingenuity events are a chance for individuals who are driven to use their ingenuity to drive change across the UK to meet, share ideas and gain insight from other participants and supporters of the programme. This will enable greater understanding, hear from diverse perspectives, and facilitate a better understanding of the key issues we face as a society.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all events and activities will be online for the Ingenuity 20/21 Programme.
The Challenge Summits explore each of the Challenge Pathways from both a national and regional perspective; bringing together specialist speakers and those who are interested in creating start-ups to transform society, change lives, and tackle climate change.
Each Summit will include sessions from our four Ingenuity Regions and will be hosted by our regional University Hosts: the University of Nottingham (East Midlands), the University of Warwick (West Midlands), the University of Sussex (South Coast) and the University of Gloucestershire (the West of England). The online events, which run from 9.30am – 5pm, will take place on the following dates:
Following the Challenge Summits, participants will have access to a half-day mentoring session (9am – 1.30pm), where they will work through a structured problem-solving workshop to develop, test and validate their ideas.
Whilst we understand that the Regional and National Finals will be taking place during the wider university exam period, we have purposefully chosen to use video pitches that can be recorded and submitted during a two-week period at the Finalists’ convenience.
In late April 2021, submitted business plans and ideas for organisational innovation will be assessed by a specialist panel, who will shortlist the most innovative Challenge solutions from each region. The shortlisted teams will be asked to create and submit a video pitch, with the most viable ideas from each region then being invited to attend the National Finals.
Each National Finalist will be assigned a mentor in order to help them develop their pitch for the National Finals. The week will culminate with the Ingenuity Impact Evening, where we will celebrate the Finalists and Winners, and invest in the next generation of impact innovations.
During summer 2020, Ingenuity invested £20,000 in promising early-stage ideas related to the Challenges. You can find out more about the Feeder Events and winning teams for each Challenge below: