A groundbreaking Innovation Award is looking to celebrate some of Greater Manchester’s most forward-thinking and dynamic businesses.

The Innovation Award, the brainchild of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and PR agency Weber Shandwick, is being spearheaded by Dr. Moneeb Awan, President of the Greater Manchester Chamber and himself an award-winning entrepreneur with a passion for thinking outside the box and embracing new technologies to help deliver business growth.

Said Moneeb, “This award is not dependent on business size, turnover or a track record of previous award wins – it’s open to all whether you’re a multi-national or a one-man band – we simply want to hear from businesses with a great story to tell that have innovative thinking at the root of their success. The innovation could be a service, product or business process – the key is that it really stands out and delivers a demonstrable return on investment.”

Andy Poole, digital strategist at Weber Shandwick continued, “Digital technologies and communications are reshaping business propositions and the way companies take these to market. This is creating numerous opportunities, which, with the right thinking and application, can keep companies at the top of their game. The award will celebrate and share business innovation from across Greater Manchester to make the region even more competitive.”

The award is open to all businesses across Greater Manchester that can show how they have innovated and how this has benefitted their company. Award entries can be submitted now and at anytime until Friday 28th May 2010, by logging onto www.gmchamber.co.uk/innovation. Application forms take less than 15 minutes to complete.

The lucky winner of the Innovation Award will receive digital consultancy from Weber Shandwick worth £5,000. In addition, they’ll also receive a high speed printer, courtesy of leading printer manufacturer Brother UK.

The award is being delivered by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Weber Shandwick, and supported by Brother UK and Manchester: Knowledge Capital.

So, with a form designed to take less time than a tea break to complete – what have you got to lose?

For further information, please contact Nadia Kassas on 0161 238 9416 or email nkassas@webershandwick.com

During a course of four workshops, managers of Greater Manchester SMEs will work with experts such as Nigel Newman of the Edward de Bono Foundation UK, one of only 5 global lifetime master trainers, Jim O’Loughlin who enables senior global executives to enhance their strategic decision making and Mike Ryan, Secretary of Manchester Digital.

The practical 1-day workshops combine insights from business model engineering, neuroscience and practical thinking skills to help leaders develop a fresh perspective to apply current solutions to overcome their immediate business challenges.

The scheme has been described as “a groundbreaking opportunity” by Greater Manchester Chamber’s President, Moneeb Awan, who adds, “Irrespective of the size of your business, the practical benefits of Innovate with Confidence are hugely important. SMEs will learn to develop the tools, embody the perspective and cultivate the contacts to make successful innovation an in-built habit.”

Register to attend the second series of courses

There are just 25 places on the scheme available to Greater Manchester based SMEs. With a waiting list forming as soon as the first course sold out, we expect that this final series of Innovate with Confidence will sell out as quickly as the first series, so don’t delay. Act now to secure your place at www.InnovatewithConfidence.com

The organisers are keen to ensure that this final run of the programme leaves a lasting legacy to a wide range of businesses across Greater Manchester – so we’d appreciate if you could forward the information above onto any businesses you feel would really benefit from the opportunity to ‘Innovate with Confidence’.

More information

Please download the Innovate with Confidence PDF