About The Awards

Yorkshire Forward is celebrating the passion and talent of organisations and individuals who are driving innovation in our region. So, if you're an innovator in your field, who has successfully delivered a new businesses idea, then we want to hear from you.

Innovator/09 - the second Yorkshire and Humber Innovation Awards - has been established by Yorkshire Forward, together with key regional and national supporters, to celebrate and reward the amazing innovation and creativity that is ripe in the region's businesses and universities.

Why Enter?

An Innovator/09 Award will help raise you or your organisations profile - both regionally and nationally - whilst increasing awareness of your innovation. These in turn could lead to improved and enhanced relationships with your partners, and new collaborations and opportunities with businesses and universities. It could even attract new clients. It is an excellent way of demonstrating your commitment to being an innovator in your field.

Winners will receive a cash prize of £3000, to spend on developing innovation within their organisation through training, services or products that will enable their business to further enhance their innovative progress.

Recent changes in technology are leading to exciting new products, processes and services reaching the market place at considerable speed. With Innovator/09, we hope to identify the innovations with staying power, and to pick out organisations and individuals with the capacity to inspire yet more creativity and innovation in the future.

Innovator/09 builds on the success of Innovator/08, which culminated in a prestigious ceremony last year and the 'Business of Innovation Awards', held in 2005 and 2006, which celebrated the most successful partnerships between Yorkshire and Humber's Centres of Industrial Collaboration and business.

The awards will open for applications from 3rd November 08.

Applicants will be able to apply online or using a paper version from the 3rd November 08. For further details please contact us.

We hope that you as businesses, universities, research organisations, professional services and individuals within the Yorkshire and Humber region, will engage with the awards and tell us about the outstanding innovations which are helping to drive the future growth of our region.

Eligibility

You can apply to these awards if you are a business, university, research and development organisation, professional service or individual located in Yorkshire and Humber. Applications can only be received by the actual organisation delivering the innovation, and not by nominated third parties.

Timings

3rd November 08 - Applications open
16th January 08 - Application deadline
19th January 09 - Meeting of judging panel
13th February 09 - Announcement of Innovator/08 finalists
5th March 08 - Innovator/08 awards ceremony

Application Process

Online Applications
If you are completing the application on-line, an authorisation form will be generated automatically on your screen for you to print off and sign (N.B. a facsimile signature is not accepted). For joint applications involving more than one partner playing a significant role, please provide signatures from each party (i.e. a collaboration between a business and university). We will send an acknowledgement of your application within seven working days of receiving the authorisation form. Your application will not be valid until we receive your authorisation form, which must arrive prior to the deadline of 12pm on Friday 16th January 09. To begin your online application, please register here
Offline Applications
If you have requested a PDF version of the application form and intend to complete a hard copy, you must sign the form (N.B. a facsimile signature is not accepted) and send it to Yorkshire Forward to arrive no later than 12pm on Friday 16th January 09. To download/ print off an application form, please select the category you wish to enter in the Award Categories section.
Images & Logos
All applications must include submission of relevant logos and any photographs demonstrating their innovation. These should be submitted as high resolution EPS or JPEG files. Please note these photographs may be used at the awards ceremony and by sending them, you are agreeing for these to be used.

Enter Now

Winners will receive a cash prize of £3000, to spend on developing innovation within their organisation through training, services or products that will enable their business to further enhance their innovative progress.

The awards will open for applications from 3rd November 08.

The deadline for the submission of completed applications (including the signed authorisation form) is 12pm on Friday 16th January 09.The application process is on-line, however, if you are unable to submit electronically, you can request a PDF of the form by contacting Yorkshire Forward.

Applicants will be able to apply online or using a paper version from the 3rd November 08. For further details please contact us.

Judging process

All completed applications received and authorised, will be evaluated against the scorecard available to download below.

A preliminary short list of eight applications in each category will be generated by Yorkshire Forward. These will then go forward to a judging panel, made up of representatives from each of the Award Supporters, held during January 09. The judging panel will evaluate the applications against the scorecard to select three finalists, plus an overall winner for each of the six categories.

Yorkshire Forward will notify both successful and unsuccessful applicants about the outcome of their application prior to the media release of the Innovator/09 finalists on 26th January 09. The category winners will be announced at the Innovator/09 awards ceremony on 5th March 2009.

All category finalists will receive two complimentary tickets to the awards ceremony. Please ensure two representatives will be available to attend prior to submitting your application (additional tickets may be available where several partners are involved in an application, subject to request).