Innovate Lancashire increases business engagement capacity to accelerate county’s innovation growth

Innovate Lancashire, Lancashire County Council’s dedicated innovation economic growth programme, has bolstered its business engagement capabilities with two new appointments to its core delivery team.

Trudi Waldram has been appointed innovation engagement manager, a role which will involve identifying Lancashire companies, including startups and scaleups, which have high growth potential.

Working across Lancashire’s innovation ecosystem, and taking a sector-agnostic approach, Trudi will help these companies access the resources, funding, and expertise they need to maximise their full commercial potential.

Prior to working for Innovate Lancashire, Trudi was senior projects and engagement manager for the Food and Drink Forum (FDF), a national trade organisation for advanced manufacturers working within the food and drink sector. 

During her eight years at FDF, Trudi was a member of the senior leadership team, responsible for delivering projects to build a resilient UK food system: working with SME food businesses across the UK access grant funding, training and innovation support to enable them to grow.

Another core element of her work was stakeholder engagement and partnership development. 

A second new member of the Innovate Lancashire team is Natalie Wilson.

 Natalie, who has worked as an outdoor practitioner and expedition leader for over two decades – including leading over 35 international expeditions and high-altitude treks in areas like Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan - has been appointed community manager at Fraser House, the LCC-funded coworking hub in Lancaster.

 Natalie will oversee all aspects of Fraser House’s operations, including recruiting and supporting Fraser House members, programming high-value events, and ensuring the hub continues to maintain its distinctive inclusive and community-led culture.

Facilitating new business growth and collaborative opportunities for companies based at Fraser House will also be part of Natalie’s remit.

 In addition to their day-to-day duties, both Trudi and Natalie are set to play an important role in the delivery of Innovate Lancashire’s wider strategic objectives.

That will include helping Innovate Lancashire to fulfil its mission to accelerate innovation activity across Lancashire, connect and strengthen county’s innovation ecosystem, and build Lancashire’s reputation for innovation at a national and global level.

 Lancashire County Council’s innovation lead, Hannah Churchman, said: “Over the last 12 months, Innovate Lancashire’s activities have significantly evolved and expanded as we focus on accelerating innovation across Lancashire.

"Projects which we initiated, including the fhunded VC finance programme and the Lancashire Digital Hub digital and tech business community, now operate as standalone initiatives, and the Fraser House tech hub has been widely recognised for its ability to foster economic growth, innovation, and inclusivity.

 “But to capitalise on our success, and maximise the momentum we’ve built, we need to further connect with those ambitious Lancashire businesses which could benefit from more innovation-led support.

"Trudi's role allows us to increase our capacity for more targeted business engagement, helping us to better understand the needs of our business communities and complement our approach of being led by data and insights. 

“Similarly, Natalie’s role at Fraser House will have a focus on driving economic growth by supporting new and existing member companies. That will entail enabling more collaborations between founders already based at the hub, as well as bringing more investors, business support organisations and external partners into the space.

 Aidy Riggott, cabinet member for economic development and growth at Lancashire County Council, said: “As demonstrated by the incredible success of fhunded, the Lancashire Digital Hub, and the Fraser House co-working space, our Innovate Lancashire programme continues to go from strength to strength.

 “But to ensure we fulfil Lancashire’s potential as a world-leading investor destination for fast-growth sectors such as defence, energy, cyber and cleantech, we need as many Lancashire businesses as possible to be geared up for rapid technology-enabled growth.

"Increased business engagement which highlights the innovation support that is out there will be vital to that process, as reflected by these new appointments.”      

 As well as playing a key role in the delivery of Lancashire County Council’s new economic growth strategy which is currently being developed, Innovate Lancashire’s work continues to be aligned to the Lancashire Innovation Plan (LIP).

 Developed by the Lancashire Innovation Board - a strategic private and public sector advisory group chaired by the University of Central Lancashire’s vice chancellor, Graham Baldwin - the LIP is focused on maintaining, strengthening, and extending Lancashire’s world-class capabilities in established innovation-led sectors, broadening the county’s R&D offer, and exploiting opportunities in emerging markets.