How do you develop an innovative idea and then make sure no one steals it? How do you bring your product to market? And how do you make sure you recruit the most innovative people to work with you?

On 30 October in Bristol, three innovative businesses will look at these issues and tell their own innovation stories at Transforming Businesses: South West, part of the Design Council’s Design in Business Week 2000 initiative.

Mandy Haberman and engineer Roger Jones will be discussing the innovation and design processes behind the ‘no spills’ Anywayup Cup for toddlers and the award winning measurement tools produced by specialist instrument maker Renishaw. The Design Council has named the Anywayup Cup and eight of Renishaw’s products Millennium Products in recognition of their outstanding innovation. The third speaker will be Michael Riding, Managing Director of Corporate and Commercial Banking at Lloyds TSB.

The BBC’s Chris Vacher will chair the event, being held at At Bristol, and there will also be contributions from MP Barry Sheerman, At Bristol’s Gillian Thomas and Sir Michael Lickiss, chief executive of the South West of England Regional Development Agency.

Design Council business director Harry Rich said: ‘All these companies are great examples of what businesses can do when they put effective design at the heart of their strategy and put ideas generation at the top of their agenda. We want to inspire all businesses to do the same, both by giving them first-hand examples of the kinds of gains good design can bring and encouraging a free flow of ideas and experiences.’

Mandy Haberman came up with the idea for her first invention, the Haberman Feeder, for babies with sucking difficulty, as a result of the problems faced by her own child, who was tube-fed for four months. She believes this first invention put her in the innovation mindset and enabled her to continue problem-solving in everyday life. Her next invention, the ‘no spills’ Anywayup Cup has proved a massive hit with mothers. Cups using Haberman’s technology sold seven million units last year with sales for this year forecasted at ten million.

But it hasn’t been plain sailing all the way. In January 1999 she finally won a fierce patent dispute after Tommy Tippee launched a product identical to her earlier prototype. One of the lessons Haberman will be sharing at the event is the importance of patenting all ideas as quickly as possible and taking out maximum patent insurance to ensure infringements can be fought.

Haberman is currently working on a significantly improved suction device to stop babies’ feeding bowls sliding off their high chairs, and also a revolutionary form of milking machine set to reduce mastitis in dairy cows.

Roger Jones from Renishaw will describe how an innovation culture has helped the company to grow, over 28 years, from nothing to 1,400 people worldwide and a £105 million turnover. The company is still growing at a rate of 15% per year, providing excellent employment opportunities for local people.

Jones’ message to delegates will be that new products must be a significant advance on their predecessors and that companies must not ‘squander resources on ideas which are not discernibly better’. Recruiting innovative staff is also key, and Jones always picks people who can think their way out of engineering challenges he poses.

Renishaw is also committed to growing its own innovators with its apprentice and sponsored student schemes. It is this commitment to innovation which has enabled Renishaw, based at Wotton-under-Edge, to help - for example - the automotive and aerospace industries make such phenomenal reductions in fuel consumption, emissions and wind resistance in the last 30 years.

Transforming Businesses: South West runs from 10am to 12.30pm and includes lunch. If you want to attend, e-mail: dibw2000@designcouncil.org.uk or phone 01730 235022, quoting reference SW.

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