Meerkats and Avatars 2011: open for applications

What determines which technologies make it big? Attracting the attention of those who matter is essential – whether this is potential investors, collaborators or customers – and media relations is a rapid way of spreading the word widely.

We are working with St John’s Innovation Centre on an event to help up-and-coming businesses, and at the moment we’re looking to hear from early-stage or pre-spinout companies with innovative products or technologies. The event, Meerkats and Avatars 2011, was devised to contribute to the success of technology companies by raising their profile in the media and with investors.

This year’s event follows Meerkats and Avatars 2010, which saw film and radio crews join journalists from national, local and technical publications to view 13 technology demonstrations. A highlight for me was a horse outside the Hauser Forum having its heart-rate trace sent to a mobile phone (which doesn’t quite the top live bees that attended a few years earlier). Other popular demonstrations included drug tests using fingerprints, magnetic detection of breast cancer and sound-recognition for CCTV.

I had a very interesting conversation this week with one of the organisers of the event, Janette Pallas, and she gave me some insight into which businesses succeed. As Enterprise Manager at St John’s Innovation Centre, she is at the heart of it when it comes to the community of aspiring start-ups. She sees promise in businesses led by passionate people who believe in what they are doing – who work to put things right rather than make excuses for why things are going badly. She is a firm believer that this ‘can do’ attitude is essential to success.

I love meeting the region’s entrepreneurs, and hearing about their ambitions. The passion of everyone who attended last year’s Meerkats and Avatars was clear, and I think that’s one of the reasons the event had such a buzz about it.

Please get in touch if you would like to be considered for Meerkats and Avatars 2011. I’m Rebecca Nesbit and I can be reached on rebecca@holdsworth-associates.co.uk or 01954 202789. I look forward to hearing from you!