VENTUREFEST North East, the region’s innovation conference, took place at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead last week, bringing together more than 500 entrepreneurs and business people to hear all about the latest thinking on innovation and how it can be applied in a business context.

The sell-out event was delivered by Newcastle Science City with support from Innovate UK, the Government’s Innovation Agency, and the North East LEP.

Small and medium sized businesses from across the region came together to hear inspiring innovation stories and case-studies from over 40 speakers at the free, all-day event.

Delegates heard from business champion Paul Callaghan of The Leighton Group, Matt Mead who runs Nesta's social impact investment fund for innovative ventures tackling major social need in the UK, and Simon Evetts of Wyle Group, a partner of the European Space Agency and NASA, who spoke about how learning from space can be reapplied on Earth.