Latest updates

SmartKem, a Denbighshire-based company with an innovative printing solution takes top spot

Solaqua, the developer of the world’s first zero carbon desalination plant, is runner up

Oxford based software company RealTime Health gains bronze

SmartKem, a high-tech enterprise from St. Asaph, Denbighshire, has been named gold prize winner of Venturefest’s Best of British Innovation award 2010.

The award sought to find the most progressive technology emerging into the market, and encouraged entries from all over Britain.

The gold prize winning entry summarised the company’s development of innovative materials and processes that created high resolution microelectronic components directly onto thin flexible materials.

Steve Kelly, CEO of SmartKem, commented: “I am delighted to be awarded with this prestigious accolade. Venturefest is highly regarded by entrepreneurs and investors alike, so to be recognised with the award as this year’s most exciting technology business is a great honour.”

Solaqua, from Bury, Lancashire, gained the silver prize with the world’s first zero carbon, zero waste, linear flow solar powered desalination plant.

Barry Coots, CEO of Solaqua, commented: “For the first time in human history we can start to make serious use of the vast water resource locked up in the oceans. This prestigious prize will shout to the world and tell them how to turn the tap.’‘

RealTime Health, from Oxford, won the bronze award for its software which helps hospitals reduce save time and manage the flow of patients.

Jim Gabriel, CEO of RealTime Health, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to be recognised in the Best of British Innovation awards. Our “RealTime” product is a game-changer in the performance improvement space in acute hospitals. It really is a radical step up from everything that has come before.”

Dave Waller, Chair of Venturefest Oxford, commented: “The three winners highlight how strong this year’s competition was. We received a diverse range of entries from innovative businesses throughout the country. The Best of British Innovation Awards demonstrate that innovation and enterprise is truly alive in Britain and will hopefully encourage others to take up the challenge in the years to come.”

Ten companies ranging from the world’s first zero carbon water desalination plant to a trackable memory stick make the shortlist

Venturefest has revealed a shortlist of ten for its prestigious Best of British Innovation award.

The competition searched nationwide to find the best emerging technology and innovation with the aim of showcasing at the popular event, now in its 12th year.

Entries were critiqued by a panel of judges including investors, entrepreneurs and industry consultants, and after much deliberation a shortlist of ten companies has been drawn.

Have a look at the shortlisted companies and entries here

Registration for Venturefest closes on Thursday 17th June at 1700 – have you registered yet?

There’s just 14 days to go until Venturefest 2010…have you registered yet?

Places are limited, so registration is recommended; visit www.venturefest.com/delegates to register and guarantee your place.

With a great speaker line-up, two exciting competitions and a host of surprises, Venturefest 2010 will be our best event ever. To find out more, visit www.venturefest.com

As a reminder, Venturefest Oxford will take place on Tuesday 22 June at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford, and is free to attend.

What’s New?

Attend the Venturefest Dinner

This year’s dinner will be held at Oxford’s newly-renovated Ashmolean Museum. The world’s first university museum, the new Ashmolean is a stunning demonstration of modern architecture and museum design, and is the perfect place to celebrate Oxford’s success at linking tradition and innovation. David Kester will speak on the issue of design and its vital role in adding value to great technical innovation. Tickets cost £75 per head and there are running out fast. If you would like to book a ticket please visit the website.

Opportunity to test drive the MINI E – pre-registration required!

If you would like to take a short test drive on Tuesday June 22, you will need to register your interest, by email to Roz Smith at the Sustainable Vehicle Engineering Centre, Oxford Brookes University, before 14th June 2010. There are only a limited number of test drive sessions during the day, lasting about 20 minutes each. You will need to be over 21 years old, with a valid UK driving licence. In addition you will need to bring both copies of your driving licence with you to the event and sign an indemnity form.

The MINI E is a left-hand drive development vehicle from BMW Group and arrived in the UK in the winter of 2009. 40 vehicles are currently on field trial in the Oxfordshire area and are also being used by Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council. For more information about the MINI E visit the website.

Find out what shape your business is in

The Oxford Alliance’s Value Creation Profiler highlights organisational strengths and opportunities, and how to improve effectiveness within a company. Venturefest is offering the chance for ten companies to find out what shape their business is in before the main event. To find out more or book your free profile, go to: www.venturefest.com/latest-news#what-shape-is-your-business

Breakfast sessions

There are two breakfast sessions taking place at this year’s event, from 7.30-9.00am.

The Clean & Green Network Breakfast is run by Oxfordshire Innovation & Growth, will feature Leo Johnson, partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and co-founder of Sustainable Finance Limited. This session is interactive and is designed to drive engagement and collaboration between companies across the eco-business sector. If you would like to be part of the clean and green ecosystem, either as a direct supplier or part of the wider supply chain, come along and get involved.

Dr Jon Rees, CEO of The Oxfordshire Bioscience Network, will be providing an overview of the Life Science Sector Industry in the South East during the OBN Breakfast. OBN organise the annual BioTrinity Biopartnering and Investment event, which is the largest UK-focussed biopartnering conference. There will also be a discussion forum after the presentation around tackling opportunities and threats that the sector needs to address in order to prosper.

Tickets for both sessions include a breakfast of bacon rolls, croissants, pain au chocolat, Danish pastries, a fruit platter, orange juice, tea and coffee and are priced at £15 per head. Availability is strictly limited and running out fast. To purchase tickets or to find out more please go to: www.venturefest.com/programme/breakfast-sessions

The Technology Showcase

This is an exciting exhibition of innovative technology from local entrepreneurs, coordinated by South East Business Innovation & Growth. Small and early-stage companies from a wide range of technology sectors will provide displays and hands-on demonstrations, allowing you to interact directly with the people behind the ideas. In addition, the three winners of our Inaugural Best of British Innovation competition will be showcased within this exhibition.

Technology Showcase Spotlight –Eykona Technologies Ltd.

One of the companies exhibiting in this year’s Technology Showcase will be Eykona Technologies Ltd. The company is a spin-out from Oxford University and their goal is to commercialise an approach to the assessment and monitoring of hard-to-heal (chronic) wounds using 3D imaging.

Speaker line up

Speakers confirmed include Jon Moulton, David Kester, Liz Cable, Jayne McLaughlin, Dexter Moscow, Mike Paton, Marc Paul, Dr Jon Rees, Mark Sargeant, Ian Walton, Tony Hart, Eileen Modral, Dr Elizabeth Shotton, Dr Andrew Mackintosh, Professor Dermot O’Hare, Dr James Thompson and Leo Johnson. The list of speakers is growing fast and will be updated regularly on our site. Sessions are free to attend and seating is allocated on a first-come first-served basis. However some sessions are enormously popular so please arrive early to take your seat. For more information go to: www.venturefest.com/speakers

Speaker spotlight –Jon Moulton

Jon Moulton is the chairman of Better Capital and formerly managing partner of Alchemy. Jon is passionate about technology and is also a successful private investor, and he will be sharing his view on the opportunities ahead. Jon’s speech is going to be popular so please arrive early to get a seat.

Join a world class workshop (worth £450) with an exclusive group of business leaders for free!

MD2MD, a group of Managing Directors who work together to grow their businesses more effectively than they could operating alone, is holding its monthly meeting at the Kassam Stadium as part of Venturefest. The core purpose of MD2MD is to provide members and peers with ideas that provoke new insights and motivate practical improvement every month. This Kaizen-style continuous improvement process encourages members to raise their game and achieve far greater success in business, whatever their goals.

Grant Leboff, will be running a group workshop on Sales and Marketing in a consumer led, social media world, during the morning of Venturefest. For more information on the workshop click here.

Venturefest has secured two free guest passes for registered attendees, so if you own or manage a business employing 20-250 staff and would like to meet and work with peers to discuss how to build your business in today’s interesting times, please email Bob to request a free guest places now!

Hire a box

Private boxes provide a place to do business away from the hustle and bustle of the exhibition area, and are available to hire for a full or half a day, allocated on a first come, first served basis. There are only a few boxes left, to find out more or purchase one please go to: www.venturefest.com/venturefest-2010/hire-a-box

Stay updated

Follow us on Twitter, Ning, LinkedIn or Facebook. Join our ever growing community and take part in discussion. For anyone following us on Twitter wishing to tweet about us, please use the hashtag: #vf2010.

Venturefest is a free one day conference, open to all, that serves to celebrate enterprise and innovation

For more information contact us at info@venturefest.com .

There’s just 18 days to go until Venturefest 2010…have you registered yet?

Places are limited, so registration is recommended; visit www.venturefest.com/delegates to register and guarantee your place.

With a great speaker line-up, two exciting competitions and a host of surprises, Venturefest 2010 will be our best event ever. To find out more, visit www.venturefest.com

As a reminder, Venturefest Oxford will take place on Tuesday 22 June at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford, and is free to attend.

What’s New?

Investor panel discussion

The "New Normal" is emerging and the landscape has changed. Find out where the smart money is going and hear some of Europe’s leading technology investors share their views on the current opportunities in the technology market and get an understanding of what today’s investors are looking for. The discussion will be moderated by David Mott of Oxford Capital Partners and will have the following panellists:

• Rogan Angelini-Hurll, general partner, PROfounders Capital
• Dermot Berkery, general partner, Delta Partners
• Monish Suri, general partner, Prime Technology Ventures
• Colin Watts, investment director, Oxford Capital Partners
  
  

Opportunity to test drive the MINI E – pre-registration required!

A small number of Venturefest delegates can have the chance to try out the fully-electric, zero-emission MINI E during Venturefest 2010.

If you would like to take a short test drive on 22nd June, you will need to register your interest, by email to Roz Smith at the Sustainable Vehicle Engineering Centre, Oxford Brookes University, before 14th June 2010. There are only a limited number of test drive sessions during the day, lasting about 20 minutes each. You will need to be over 21 years old, with a valid UK driving licence. In addition you will need to bring both copies of your driving licence with you to the event and sign an indemnity form.

The MINI E is a left-hand drive development vehicle from BMW Group and arrived in the UK in the winter of 2009. 40 vehicles are currently on field trial in the Oxfordshire area and are also being used by Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council. For more information about the MINI E visit the website.

Join a world class workshop (worth £450) with an exclusive group of business leaders for free!

MD2MD, a group of Managing Directors who work together to grow their businesses more effectively than they could operating alone, is holding its monthly meeting at the Kassam Stadium as part of Venturefest. The core purpose of MD2MD is to provide members and peers with ideas that provoke new insights and motivate practical improvement every month. This Kaizen-style continuous improvement process encourages members to raise their game and achieve far greater success in business, whatever their goals.

Grant Leboff, will be running a group workshop on Sales and Marketing in a consumer led, social media world, during the morning of Venturefest. For more information on the workshop click here.

Venturefest has secured two free guest passes for registered attendees, so if you own or manage a business employing 20-250 staff and would like to meet and work with peers to discuss how to build your business in today’s interesting times, please email Bob to request a free guest places now!

Breakfast sessions

There are two breakfast sessions taking place at this year’s event, from 7.30-9.00am.

The Clean & Green Network Breakfast session is presented by Leo Johnson, partner of PWC LLP and co-founder of Sustainable Finance Limited. This session is interactive and is designed to drive engagement and collaboration between companies across the eco-business sector. If you would like to be part of the clean and green ecosystem, either as a direct supplier or part of the wider supply chain, come along and get involved.

Dr Jon Rees, CEO of The Oxfordshire Bioscience Network, will be providing an overview of the Life Science Sector Industry in the South East during the OBN Breakfast. OBN organise the annual BioTrinity Biopartnering and Investment event, which is the largest UK-focussed biopartnering conference. There will also be a discussion forum after the presentation around tackling opportunities and threats that the sector needs to address in order to prosper.

Tickets for both sessions include a breakfast of bacon rolls, croissants, pain au chocolat, Danish pastries, a fruit platter, orange juice, tea and coffee and are priced at £15 per head. Availability is strictly limited and running out fast. To purchase tickets or to find out more please go to: www.venturefest.com/programme/breakfast-sessions

Find out what shape your business is in

The Oxford Alliance’s Value Creation Profiler highlights organisational strengths and opportunities, and how to improve effectiveness within a company. Venturefest is offering the chance for ten companies to find out what shape their business is in before the main event. To find out more or book your free profile, go to: www.venturefest.com/latest-news#what-shape-is-your-business

Speaker line up

Speakers confirmed include Jon Moulton, David Kester, Liz Cable, Jayne McLaughlin, Dexter Moscow, Mike Paton, Marc Paul, Dr Jon Rees, Mark Sargeant, Ian Walton, Tony Hart, Eileen Modral, Dr Elizabeth Shotton, Dr Andrew Mackintosh, Professor Dermot O’Hare, Dr James Thompson and Leo Johnson. The list of speakers is growing fast and will be updated regularly on our site. Sessions are free to attend and seating is allocated on a first-come first-served basis. However some sessions are enormously popular so please arrive early to take your seat. For more information go to: www.venturefest.com/speakers

Speaker spotlight – David Kester

David Kester will be delivering the keynote address for the Innovation Futures Stream, and will speak about the future of design. As CEO of the Design Council, David has led central government policies and regional programmes that strengthen competitiveness, drive innovation and support growth in the creative economy, and his presentation is definitely one to arrive early for as seats will run out fast!

Hire a box

Private boxes provide a place to do business away from the hustle and bustle of the exhibition area, and are available to hire for a full or half a day, allocated on a first come, first served basis. There are only a few boxes left, to find out more or purchase one please go to: www.venturefest.com/venturefest-2010/hire-a-box

Stay updated

Follow us on Twitter, Ning, LinkedIn or Facebook. Join our ever growing community and take part in discussion. For anyone following us on Twitter wishing to tweet about us, please use the hashtag: #vf2010.

Venturefest is a free one day conference, open to all, that serves to celebrate enterprise and innovation

For more information contact us at info@venturefest.com .

There’s just 21 days to go until Venturefest 2010…have you registered yet?

With a great speaker line-up, two exciting competitions and a host of surprises, Venturefest 2010 will be our best event ever.

As a reminder, Venturefest Oxford will take place on Tuesday 22 June at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford, and is free to attend.

What’s New?

Mini E
On show at this year’s Venturefest will be the Mini E, an electric version of the famous BMW Mini. Delegates will get the opportunity to test drive the car on the day. More details about this exciting opportunity will be released next week. To stay updated and for more information go to: www.venturefest.com

Breakfast Sessions
There are two breakfast sessions taking place at this year’s event, from 7.30-9.00am.
Dr Jon Rees, CEO of The Oxfordshire Bioscience Network, will be providing an overview of the Life Science Sector Industry in the South East during the OBN Breakfast. OBN organise the annual BioTrinity Biopartnering and Investment event, which is the largest UK-focussed biopartnering conference. There will also be a discussion forum after the presentation around tackling opportunities and threats that the sector needs to address in order to prosper.

The Clean & Green Network Breakfast session is presented by Leo Johnson, partner of PWC LLP and co-founder of Sustainable Finance Limited. This session is interactive and is designed to drive engagement and collaboration between companies across the eco-business sector. If you would like to be part of the clean and green ecosystem, either as a direct supplier or part of the wider supply chain, come along and get involved.

Tickets for both sessions include a breakfast of bacon rolls, croissants, pain au chocolat, Danish pastries, a fruit platter, orange juice, tea and coffee and are priced at £15 per head. Availability is strictly limited and running out fast. To purchase tickets or to find out more please go to: Breakfast sessions

The Technology Showcase
This is an exciting exhibition of innovative technology from local entrepreneurs, coordinated by South East Business Innovation & Growth. Small and early-stage companies from a wide range of technology sectors will provide displays and hands-on demonstrations, allowing you to interact directly with the people behind the ideas. In addition, the three winners of our inaugural Best of British Innovation competition will be showcased within this exhibition.

Showcase Spotlight: Intacare International Limited
Intacare International Limited has developed SM (Integrated AfterCare and Survivorship Management), a web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cancer survivorship management solution that enables healthcare organisations to achieve their core financial goals without compromising patient care. INTACARE SM is designed to facilitate the assessment of a patient’s well-being from both within and beyond the clinical care environment and to plan their cancer aftercare with a focus on prevention, early intervention and life-long management – as opposed to costly and inefficient reactive practices currently employed. Developed in consultation with the University of Surrey, Intacare has attracted the attention of both national and international hospital consortiums as well as global onco-medical and Insurance giants. Intacare’s CEO, Matt Hickey, will be presenting this innovative solution within the Technology Showcase at Venturefest.

Find out what shape your business is in
The Oxford Alliance’s Value Creation Profiler highlights organisational strengths and opportunities, and how to improve effectiveness within a company. Venturefest is offering the chance for ten companies to find out what shape their business is in before the main event. To find out more or book your free profile, go to: What shape is your business

Speaker Line Up
Speakers confirmed include Liz Cable, David Kester, Jayne McLaughlin, Dexter Moscow, Jon Moulton, Mike Paton, Marc Paul, Dr Jon Rees, Mark Sargeant, Ian Walton, Tony Hart, Eileen Modral, Dr Elizabeth Shotton, Dr Andrew Mackintosh, Professor Dermot O’Hare, Dr James Thompson and Leo Johnson. The speaker list is growing all the time and will be updated regularly on our site. Sessions are free to attend and seating is allocated on a first-come first-served basis. However some sessions are enormously popular so please arrive early to take your seat. For more information go to: Speakers

Speaker Spotlight – Liz Cable, Social Media Guru
Liz Cable is a social media trainer who has been running online communities for over 15 years. She advises small businesses and entrepreneurs on how to use social networking to increase recognition, referrals and profit. Liz is also an online communities consultant who has been running a successful team for four years. Liz will be presenting social media sessions all day at Venturefest; the morning session will focus on highlighting how small businesses are making the best use of Social Media. The afternoon session will focus on social collaboration for growth and the ‘Noded’ philosophy.

Hire a box
Private boxes provide a place to do business away from the hustle and bustle of the exhibition area, and are available to hire for a full or half a day, allocated on a first come, first served basis. There are only a few boxes left, to find out more or purchase one please go to: Hire a box

Stay updated
Follow us on Twitter, Ning, LinkedIn or Facebook. Join our ever growing community and take part in discussion. For anyone following us on Twitter wishing to tweet about us, please use the hashtag: #vf2010.

Venturefest is a free one day conference, open to all, that serves to celebrate enterprise and innovation

For more information contact us at info@venturefest.com .

There’s just 28 days to go until Venturefest 2010…have you registered yet?

With a great speaker line up, two exciting competitions and a host of surprises, Venturefest 2010 will be our best event ever.

As a reminder, Venturefest Oxford will take place on Tuesday 22 June at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford, and is free to attend.

What’s New?

Find out what shape your business is in
We’re offering ten companies a unique opportunity to find out before Venturefest 2010. The secret to being effective, and creating value, is to have capable, aligned teams working with efficient business processes, but until now it has been very difficult to separate the two and gain insights into where to start in order to improve. The Oxford Alliance’s Value Creation Profiler™ is a unique way of visualising organisational strengths and opportunities, and the extent to which people are aligned. This means that you can quickly and easily see how and where to improve to maximise team effectiveness and their contribution to value creation. To find out more or book your free profile, go to: What shape is your business

Speaker Line Up
Speakers confirmed include Liz Cable, David Kester, Jayne McLaughlin, Dexter Moscow, Jon Moulton, Mike Paton, Marc Paul, Dr Jon Rees, Mark Sargeant, Ian Walton, Tony Hart, Eileen Modral, Dr Elizabeth Shotton, Dr Andrew Mackintosh, Proffessor Dermot O’Hare, Dr James Thompson and Leo Johnson. The speaker list is growing all the time and will be updated regularly on our site. Sessions are free to attend and seating is allocated on a first-come first-served basis. However some sessions are enormously popular so please arrive early to take your seat. For more information go to: Speakers

Speaker Spotlight: Dexter Moscow, Audience Dynamics
Dexter Moscow is the managing director of Audience Dynamics, and a TV personality. He also coaches communication and influencing. People attending his courses have gained heightened communication abilities, new insights and increased confidence in ‘selling’, business pitching and presentation situations. He will be presenting a session on persuasion and influence tools.

Best of British Innovation 2010
Our Best of British Innovation competition has proven extremely popular so far, so we have extended the closing date until Tuesday, 1 June. It’s open to all UK companies, and entrants will be assessed by a panel of judges comprising business leaders, technology experts and financiers. Go to: Best of British Innovation 2010 for an application form and further details.

Your ideas wanted to save Britain £1million
The initiative has been set up to find ideas with the potential to help save the country £1 million. Businesses, individuals and students are invited to submit their ideas on how any part of UK public service can save money, with the best ones promoted and featured at the event. The competition is open people of all ages in the UK with the aim of finding inventive ideas and putting them into action, and the deadline for entries is Tuesday, 1 June. For more information please go to: Save the country £1 Million

Hire a box
Private boxes provide a place to do business away from the hustle and bustle of the exhibition area, and are available to hire for a full or half a day, allocated on a first come, first served basis. There are only a few boxes left, to find out more or purchase one please go to: Hire a box

Breakfast Sessions
Apologies for the error in our last news letter – it will in fact be Dr Jon Rees, CEO of The Oxfordshire Bioscience Network, providing the overview of the Life Science Sector Industry in the South East in the OBN Breakfast. The second session is interactive and designed to drive engagement and collaboration between companies across the eco-business sector, presented by Leo Johnson, partner of PWC LLP and co-founder of Sustainable Finance Limited. Just a few tickets are left for both sessions. To purchase tickets or to find out more please go to: Breakfast sessions

Stay updated
Follow us on Twitter, Ning, LinkedIn or Facebook. Join our ever growing community and take part in discussion.

Venturefest is a free one day conference, open to all, that serves to celebrate enterprise and innovation

For more information contact us at info@venturefest.com .

An opportunity to improve your ability to create value

Being busy is easy…the difficult bit is being effective!

The secret to being effective, and creating value, is to have capable, aligned teams working with efficient business processes, but until now it has been very difficult to separate the two and gain insights into where to start in order to improve.

The Oxford Alliance’s Value Creation Profiler™ is a unique way of visualising organisational strengths and opportunities, and the extent to which people are aligned. This means that you can quickly and easily see how and where to improve to maximise team effectiveness and their contribution to value creation.

How does it work?
Team members fill in a short survey that asks them to rate their views on core business capabilities, the style that the business operates in, and main business objectives and emphasis. This takes about 15 minutes to complete.

The Value Creation Profiler’s proprietary software analyses the inputs and produces a profile of the 12 core capabilities that impact your ability to be innovative, implement practically, and ensure you operate in an informed way. The Profiler also you to assess your status against 8 key Value Creation Factors which include strengths and opportunities, the degree of alignment in the team, and key risks. Additional risks and opportunities can also be identified by comparing your data to the norms in our database.

Together, these analyses will allow you to develop actionable insights that will facilitate improvement of your value creation ability.

8 Key Value Creation questions to get into ‘shape’
Desired Outcomes: Are you clear and agreed on where you are going?
Approach: Are you clear and agreed on how to get there?
Engagement: Does your team feel part of the process?
Capabilities: Do you have the right mix of strengths?
Interventions: Can you identify practical ways to fill any gaps?
Style: Will your way of working help or hinder progress?
Emphasis: Can you visualize the changes required?
Benchmark: Can you show where you are and where you want to get to?

So what shape is YOUR business?
We’re offering 10 companies a unique opportunity to find out before Venturefest 2010. To book your free profile, please contact david.laskowpooley@oxalliance.com

Venturefest 2010 is looking for innovative ideas to save the public sector £1million

Venturefest, the UK’s leading innovation event, has launched a new initiative to find ideas which have the potential to save the UK public sector a minimum of £1m. People are invited to submit their ideas, which will be voted for on the Venturefest website and presented to entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders at Venturefest in Oxford on 22 June 2010.

The initiative is open to businesses and people of all ages, and Venturefest welcomes suggestions in any area of public service. These could include efficiency measures, new technology, fresh innovations or the creation of new streams of revenue; there are no restrictions on the kind of ideas submitted, which can be as simple or as complex as desired.

The current economic climate is forcing most government departments to introduce new ways to save money without cutting back on services. For example, Norfolk County Council plans to save up to £1.3m this year by paying for bikes so that local children can cycle to school rather than take a subsidised bus.

Dave Waller of Venturefest commented, “The public sector is already tackling these issues but often the simplest ideas are the ones that make the biggest impact. With this initiative we want to reach out for inspiration which could really make a significant change. We’ve all had ideas that we think could improve things, so this is a chance to put some of those ideas into action.”

Suggestions will be posted on the Venturefest website, where visitors will be able to vote for their favourites, which will be presented at Venturefest, held this year in Oxford on June 22.

Venturefest welcomes contributions in any form, including written proposals, prototypes, videos and images.

Entries should include a description of the idea, and an explanation of how the idea would save money, but there are no other restrictions, and entries can be presented in any way or form.

Venturefest Oxford 2010 is kicking off its annual programme with a search to discover the best new technologies emerging from the UK this year.

“Best of British Innovation 2010” is part of Venturefest’s exciting annual technology showcase, which showcases future technologies being developed in the UK, and their commercial applications.

The competition will identify three of the most progressive technology businesses, showcasing them to the UK’s foremost investors, innovators and entrepreneurs Venturefest Oxford 2010.

The competition is open to all UK-based companies, whatever their size. Innovations can cover any area from communications to computer hardware, pharmaceuticals to renewable energy. As well as brand new technologies with a planned launch in 2010, the competition is also open to products currently in development, which aim to go to market within the next 18 months, or a new or refined version of an existing technology.

A panel of judges, comprising business leaders, entrepreneurs, technology experts and financiers will determine three winners for the competition. The closing date for entries is Tuesday 1st June 2010, and winners will be informed by 4 June 2010.