The programme for this important event has been developed in cooperation with Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership and Chair of the Productivity Leadership Group, Carolyn Fairbairn, Director General of the CBI and McKinsey, who are our Knowledge Partner for the summit. We are delighted that Sir Charlie Mayfield, Carolyn Fairbairn and Vivian Hunt, Managing Partner, UK & Ireland, McKinsey, are all confirmed to speak at the summit.

Innovation is critical to the success of UK industry as it navigates these uncertain times. It is the key to improving productivity and ensuring the competitiveness of UK companies. That is why it lies at the heart of the Government’s industrial strategy. There is a limit, however, to how much the Government can do and it is down to individual companies to embrace innovation and drive improvements in their own productivity.

For busy management teams that are immersed in the day-to-day running of their businesses, it can be difficult to find sufficient time to stand back and consider how innovation can benefit their business, bringing improvements in productivity and improving their growth potential. However, it is particularly critical that they take time to do this now with the uncertainties of BREXIT already being felt and the need to access new markets becoming more urgent.   

This is a highly practical summit that looks both at the Productivity Leadership Group’s initiatives and the broader issues involved in innovation and productivity – the Government’s own strategy; digital innovation as a driver of innovation; improving investment in R&D and commercialisation; the importance of becoming an export-led business and re-orienting trading strategies to the world outside Europe; and education, skills development and talent retention in a more complex national and international context. Above all, the objective is for delegates to take away practical ideas that they apply to improving innovation and productivity in their own organisations.