Leeds Innovation Lab

On Wednesday I attended the inaugural meeting of 'Leeds Innovation Lab'. The event was organised and facilitated by Mike Chitty, who in my opinion is one of the most important assets and voices we have in Leeds at the moment.

The people who attended were from a number of different backgrounds: social enterprise, communications, culture, charities, adult healthcare, the council, financial services and more. The mix of people and backgrounds seemed to work very well. There were a number of common themes and ideas between us all and the enthausiasm for Leeds was really inspiring to see.

As the people who know me personally can testify to, I am really passionate about Leeds and our potential both to improve things internally and then take our city and its talent to a national and international audience. Sometimes when reading certain publications or hearing certain messages in the media it can be easy to almost want to 'give up' or at the most 'consolidate' as a city. Seeing some of the other people at Innovation Lab and hearing their views gave me a shot in the arm and renewed belief that the current financial mess we are all in, could have created the perfect window of opportunity to take a breath and evaluate what we are doing, and perhaps make some changes.

Innovation Lab could potentially be something very important moving forward. Where the idea will end up is still a couple of steps away at the moment but an excellent start has been made. I am sure Mike and everyone else involved will want to keep the momentum going and achieve tangible results and outcomes from the ideas put forward.

It seems there is a lot going on 'underground' in Leeds at the moment. Lots of great events are going on, thanks to people like John Popham & Monica Tailor with Leeds Social Media Surgery, the awesome Emma at The Culture Vulture with the Cultural Conversations events, and many more. Working groups are being formed, people are connecting and talking, tweets are turning into friendships and it seems everyone is wanting the same thing overall... to make Leeds as great as possible. Everyone has their own motives and areas of expertise and there will be a lot of people fighting for their 'space' in this new landscape, but overall I really do feel that this is the most exciting/intriguing time in city for... well as long as I can remember and I am delighted to be a part of it!

Comments

[Mike Chitty]

Lee

Glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing just how much interest there is in those who attended for trying to move the venture forward...

Thanks also for your kind words...

Mike