L Marks Launches Five New Innovation Programmes

Our five new initiatives are Young Sparks; Launchpad; The Network; Innovation 52 and Challenge Sprints. Designed to discover new business opportunities and challenges, these new innovation programmes will complement the existing accelerator programmes and will train participants in ideation and problem solving designed to tackle corporate business innovation needs for successful open innovation labs.

Young Sparks

Young Sparks is designed to provide tomorrow’s entrepreneurs access to mentorship, support, investment, and commercial relationships with global corporates. Open to aspiring 11-18 year-olds with an interest in business and innovation, the first corporate-supported Young Sparks programme will take place this summer.

Stuart Marks, Chairman of L Marks, said: “As an entrepreneur who started my first venture at a young age, I’m passionate about supporting young people and helping them find their way in the business world. Supporting young entrepreneurs should also be on the agenda of big businesses in this country. We want to bring the two together through our Young Sparks programme. By actively engaging with the brightest young minds in the country, our corporate partners will gain access to not only the best new ideas but further insights into the expectations, behaviours and needs of a new generation.”

In addition to Young Sparks programme, L Marks new suite of programmes includes:

Launchpad – Launchpad enables large businesses to develop their own internal think tanks and develop strategies to tackle their key commercial challenges – all in the space of three days. Launchpad is bringing together corporate executives and employees from a range of disciplines and facilitating the development of solutions that are directly addressing corporate business opportunities and challenges.

The Network – The Network is bringing together L Marks’ network of leading figures across 20 different industries at a series of global events to promote cross-sector innovation. Events include the Innovation World Tour L Marks Innovation Day, roundtable discussions on local issues; sessions with thought leaders, and pre-commercial showcases of emerging technologies. Innovation World Tour showcases global tech hubs including Europe, USA and Israel with the next expedition taking place in May 2018.

Innovation 52 – In order to make startup collaboration a key part of their business operations, L Marks has created a continuous accelerator programme that runs throughout the year. Startups will now be able to apply to work with L Marks’ corporate partners at any time with successful teams joining one of three accelerator cohorts, gaining access to mentors, data and trialling opportunities with the corporate partner.

Challenge Sprints – Encouraging a continual innovation strategy, L Marks is running a rapid startup scouting process based on challenge sprints. As individual challenges are set, the process is fast-paced with the launch, scouting, onboarding and integration within the corporate partner all taking place within a few months.

Commenting on L Marks’ innovation programmes Daniel Saunders, Chief Executive of L Marks, said: “As the leader in applied corporate innovation, we’ve curated these new initiatives based on our experiences and ability to deliver quantifiable value to our corporate partners and ensure they engage with startups in a way that complements the traditional accelerator model.”

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