Dr Paul Koshy is new to our team, joining us as an innovation manager within our Innovation Challenge project. He’ll become a familiar face as his work takes him across the North East to help connect regional innovation talent with commercial opportunities. Here he tells us a little about himself and what he’s looking forward to …
Q. Can you tell us a bit about your professional background?
A. I started off in medical research, having done my PhD in arthritis, before taking on an administrative role for a charity. For the past eight years, I worked at Marketwise Strategies delivering strategic market research to inform development of new products or services, business models and marketing strategies for a diverse range of clients in, for example, education, life sciences, digital and technology markets. A large part of my work focused on helping clients to develop and commercialise their innovations, ranging from novel therapies, diagnostics and medical devices in the health sector to robotics solutions for the food & drinks and process industries to emerging technologies in renewable energy. It was always varied and brought me into contact with many interesting people doing some incredible things.
Q. What attracted you to this role?
A. In addition to my prior experience in supporting innovation across a wide range of sectors, I’m highly people oriented, I love making and facilitating connections and the thing that motivates me is knowing that what I do makes a difference. I saw this role as being a good fit with all of that.
Q. Had you come across the SuperNetwork before seeing the job advert?
A. I’d actually been a fan of the SuperNetwork for a few years, having attended VentureFest North East and FinanceCamp over the past couple of years. I really appreciated the vibe of the organisation and the quality of its events. The audience mix – i.e. the critical mass of entrepreneurs, investors, academics, larger businesses and support organisations – seemed to create a vibrancy and productivity that you didn’t always see; it felt like something really meaningful was happening at those events.
Q. So, how would you describe your new role?
A. My role as an innovation manager focuses on supporting open innovation by helping (often larger) organisations define their innovation challenges and then connecting them to the most relevant solution providers within our network of more than 10,000 businesses. Conversely, I will be helping small businesses with new ideas for product and services connect with larger organisations that have access to much larger markets via innovation challenges, innovation competitions, accelerators and corporate venture programmes.
Q. What are your immediate priorities?
A. As I start this role, I am keen to connect with:
· Innovative North East-based companies to find out what they are doing, with a view to connecting them to the right opportunities as they arise;
· Larger national and international businesses and organisations with innovation challenges, to find out how we can use our network to help address those needs.
If that’s you, then please get in touch by dropping me an email at paul@supernetwork.org.uk
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