Dr Nik Kotecha and AI+ founders to headline Innovation Festival launch

Dr Nik Kotecha OBE DL and the founders of AI+ will be the headline speakers at the launch of Leicestershire Innovation Festival 2025.

They will kick off the seventh annual festival focussed on small business productivity and growth in Leicester and Leicestershire.

More than half of available places for next week's funded launch event have already been reserved.

And festival lead Business Gateway Growth Hub is encouraging businesses to book now before all remaining places are reserved.

Dr Kotecha, who founded and leads both RandalSun Capital and Randal Charitable Foundation, is a major investor in regional innovation.

He will talk on the need for increased regional productivity.

Dr Kotecha chaired the Innovation Board, which launched the festival in 2018, and is the founder and former Chair of Morningside Pharmaceuticals, an international manufacturing firm he built and grew in Loughborough.

Dr Kotecha said: “The accelerating speed of development in digital technology presents a fast-changing landscape of opportunities and challenges for SMEs.

“Technology also offers immense potential for small businesses to make accessible small steps which can transform productivity and profitability.

“As we have seen with the emerging Industrial Strategy, AI and digital are being promoted as a means of moving the East Midlands and UK economies forward.”

Steve Barradell and Guy Boyle, directors of Loughborough-based Institute, will follow Dr Kotecha with a no-nonsense critical discussion on emerging digital tech and its implications for small business.

Guy Boyle said:  “There’s a lot of tactical noise about AI currently out there but very little of the big picture stuff.

“Why, for example, is industry using digital technology yet asking for the same skills it did 100 years ago? Why are businesses designing new processes that reflect an analogue world?

“We’re interested in increasing knowledge among SMEs so they can ask better questions of those selling them current digital solutions.”

Steve and Guy will also reveal details of Phase 2 of their AI+ Innovation for Business Course.

The funded 12-week course for SMEs returns later this year in partnership with Loughborough College.

Supported by Innovate UK, Phase 1 of the successful programme introduced dozens of local businesses to the potential of emerging digital technologies.

The launch event of Leicestershire Innovation Festival runs from 8:30am to 12:30pm at the National Space Centre in Leicester on Monday 31 March.

You can register for all festival events now on the Business Gateway Growth Hub website.