Reconnection & Rebuilding for All
Taftie Presidency comes to the UK
1st February 2023
Services: Hybrid event management and planning, project management, venue search, production and design
Still Curious was delighted to help Innovate UK and Innovate UK KTN boost innovation, facilitate networking and enhance knowledge sharing among 28 countries during the UK’s Taftie presidency. The events throughout 2022 showcased Britain's leading innovation capabilities and built on international relationships in-person after a series of virtual activations.
Taftie is a European cohort of leading national innovation agencies who meet a number of times a year. The objectives of these meetings are to enable the delegates to share information and best practice in order to enhance their national and cross border R&D innovation programmes and to create policy and governance alignment across Europe.
For the first time in 10 years, the UK hosted the Taftie Presidency which re-focussed on the basics of why Taftie exists and why people engage with the organisation; access to a strong, united and continually improving innovation approach.
Still Curious provided the UK hosts, Innovate UK and Innovate UK KTN, with design and production planning support in the run up to four hybrid events and event management on site.
Still Curious and Innovate UK adopted a 'one-team' approach conferring on everything from creative to content and production to budget.
Together we sourced both meeting and dinner venues that imbued ‘British character’. From Oxford University and Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth to the longest continuous running theatre in England, Bristol’s Old Vic, delegates were immersed in British culture.
From venue management, AV and catering to delegate flow, asset design and registration, we set the scene for smooth running events and offered a warm welcome. In-person attendance began to outweigh online as the series progressed.
This project was a great showcase of the UK’s commitment to innovation and demonstrated the eagerness to collaborate with our European partners. Delegates commented on how useful they found the content and the connections and we are hopeful that Taftie 2022 will have enhanced the innovation ecosystem with shared best practices and greater collaboration.
Author: Joanna Thomson, Co-Founder and COO at Still Curious