Success at first South Yorkshire Innovation Showcase

“We’re a region with innovation in our blood” – this is what South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard told attendees at the recent South Yorkshire Innovation Showcase where we were proud to showcase some of the great work happening across our region.

We were also delighted to welcome Laura from Nifty Fox Creative, who was our ‘live scribe’ for the day. She expertly captured the event as it happened with a series of digital summaries – you can see her summary of Oliver Coppard’s speech below, and see how she captured the essence of each of the ten on-stage presentations.

The event was delivered in partnership with the South Yorkshire Integrated Care System, and highlighted innovative practice that is benefiting the people in our communities from before they are born to our older population and everyone in between.

Out of 75 submissions, 25 were painstakingly selected to present their work at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre in Sheffield, where over 130 health and care leaders, innovators and partners gathered to hear not only about the great work happening across South Yorkshire, but also how that work is contributing to the four bold ambitions of the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Partnership strategy.

Each of the ten on-stage presentations and 15 marketplace stalls was categorised into one of the bold ambitions, which are:

• Focus on development in early years so that every child in South Yorkshire is school ready
• Act differently together to strengthen and accelerate our focus on prevention and early intervention
• Work together to increase economic participation and support a fair, inclusive and sustainable economy
• Collaborate to value and support our entire workforce across health, care, VCSE, carers, paid, unpaid. Developing a diverse workforce that reflects our communities

There was also a fifth category for other cross-cutting themes.

Our on-stage host for the day was Richard Stubbs, CEO of Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, who spoke inspiringly about how South Yorkshire is the bridge to national change and encouraged the audience to be champions of the great work on show and beyond.

Alongside the presentations, we heard from South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard who gave the opening address and South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board CEO Gavin Boyle who highlighted that the strength of South Yorkshire is the willingness to work together.

Partnerships across the region were evident as many of the innovative practices on show were collaborative projects between trusts, local authorities, VCSE partners as well as universities and sports clubs, with Doncaster Rovers FC and South Yorkshire ICB coming together to run the Fit Rovers Families programme, Doncaster Council, darts (Doncaster’s creative health and learning charity) and Doncaster theatre Cast collaborating on the Tuneful Chatter sessions and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Cancer Alliance, and Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber creating C the Signs, to name just a few. You can read more about each presentation and more in our digital brochure.

The showcase serves as a catalyst for shining a light on the vast amount of innovative practice in the region, which we’ll continue to share and celebrate, and we’ll be sharing details of future events in due course.

If you have any questions on this update or would like to work with us, get in touch syinnovation@yhahsn.net