Dragons’ Glen will listen to business ideas

Innovation: Region gets together to brainstorm

Aseries of events are taking place around Fort William as part of Lochaber Ideas Week.

The week is the flagship event of Lochaber Chamber of Commerce. Among the highlights is a Dragons’ Glen competition, inwhich aspiring and developing local businesses will have the chance to compete for a £7,500 prize.

Three finalists will pitch their ideas to the dragons at a dinner on Friday night.

Ideas week celebrates business, education and community through a gathering of talks, workshops, competitions, discussion and networking opportunities. Ultimately, Lochaber Ideas Week is a catalyst to stimulate fresh initiatives and ventures, creating new connections and points of collaboration.

Bruno Berardelli , chairman of Lochaber Chamber of Commerce, said: “It is an exciting week with lots of events aimed at Lochaber businesses to help them not only showcase what they can do, but also listen to a range of speakers from various industries to help them develop and hear about different practices.

“The highlight of the week will be the inaugural Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture which is open to everyone in Lochaber to come and listen to Baron Wallace of Tanker Ness who will be speaking in West Highland College on Friday at 5pm.”

Lochaber Ideas Week runs in parallel with Global Entrepreneurship Week and Scotland’s Towns Week. Attending the Lochaber event will allow delegates to become part of a diverse community of practitioners from Lochaber, the Highlands and the UK. The launch of Lochaber Ideas Week took place in Ben Nevis Distillery yesterday, which is hosting a week-long exhibition challenging businesses to build models using their products.

Another highlight of the week today, Scotland’s new generation of independent video games developers are heading to Lochaber High School, Fort William, to take part in XpoNorth: Games Playground and Hands-on Camera Workshop. This one-off event will give Lochaber residents a rare opportunity to test the most innovative and creative prototype video games.

They can network with the talented young guns of Scotland’s thriving gaming industry and try out some of the most cutting edge film equipment used in the creative industries, all on their own doorstep.