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Venturefest is back! – Invest, Innovate and Grow.

Greater Manchester and the wider North West continues to prove a fertile environment for start-ups, entrepreneurs and established businesses, Venturefest will return this autumn for the second time to bring together the region’s most exciting innovators, entrepreneurs and investors.

Venturefest is the North West’s biggest annual innovation event providing a platform for entrepreneurs to meet, network and ultimately collaborate. The event, which is being led by the Business Growth Hub, with support from Innovate UK and the Knowledge Transfer Network, will give Manchester’s community of innovators the all-important boost they need to strengthen their business offering and generate economic wealth.

Taking place at The Point on 22nd September, the event will bring together high growth business leaders from key leading sectors such as advanced manufacturing, low carbon and the digital & creative media sector. It will be an opportunity to hear from individuals who have a wealth of expertise of growing businesses from startup right up to large-scale corporates.

The event will include a competition to find the Venturefest’s ‘Innovation Business of the Year’ and will see eight businesses pitch for the 2015 crown and a range of ‘money can’t buy’ prizes, provided by the partners of the Business Growth Hub. Attendees will also have the opportunity to listen to last year’s winner Abdul Alim of Offers Moments talk about his company’s growth since taking the crown.

Also in session at Venturefest 2015 will be the Three Tribes panel, consisting of investors, innovators and entrepreneurs from across Greater Manchester and beyond. This will be an opportunity for businesses to hear what investors are looking for as the panel sheds light on how to commercialise and bring innovative new concepts to market.

This session will be complemented by a guest presentation by James Akrigg, Head of Technology for Partners at Microsoft UK. A member of the IT industry for almost 30 years, Akrigg has spent the last 14 years with Microsoft and will outline how tech companies can overcome today’s challenging business environment and carve a niche in the market.

Richard Jeffery, director of Business Growth Hub, said: “After the success of Venturefest last year, we’re proud to be leading on this event for the second year running. It is a fantastic opportunity for businesses in the North West to tap into the support networks available to them in the region in order to help them reach their next stage of growth.”

“With the likes of Microsoft and Cisco offering companies their expertise, this is a unique opportunity to learn from some of the best in their respective fields.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Pablo Rodriguez .