With successful collaboration increasingly identified as a major driver of business performance,
Science City York and Connect Yorkshire are themselves teaming up in October to promote the value
of forging strong strategic alliances.
Their joint event, 'Collaboration: Friend or Foe?!', brings together high profile
practitioners routinely involved with collaborative projects to share the key success factors for
effective collaboration, together with practical advice on avoiding common pitfalls.
Glen Hopkinson, Managing Director at Connect Yorkshire comments: 'Collaboration is an
effective way of developing innovation, improving performance and establishing synergies. It is
widely recognised that those fostering collaborative relationships are far more likely to achieve
the commercial benefits associated with partnering; such as the creation of new jobs and increased
market share.'
Among the speakers is Neale Harrison, a Global R&D Category Group Director at Reckitt
Benckiser, the company behind leading household brands such as Cillit Bang, Dettol and Airwick.
For the past 15 years Neale has worked in the New Technology Group for Reckitt Benckiser - a
group tasked with identifying and bringing in new technologies developed by innovators and
suppliers from outside the company to solve problems and create new product opportunities.
'Adopting a culture of open innovation and collaboration is key to the continued success of
the company’, he explains. ‘To us, the quality of an idea is more important than its source, so we
actively encourage people from outside the company to submit their ideas and partner in our
success'br />
Further industry perspectives will be presented by Mark Warburton of Dickinson Dees and Dr
Julian Hayward of Digital Chemistry Ltd.
'Collaboration: Friend or Foe?!' is being held in York on 2 October. For further information
contact Connect Yorkshire,
events@connectyorkshire.org
Confidential!: Industry Experts to Reveal Secrets of Collaborative Success