Help and support

Covid 19 Measures and Guidance for the Innovation Festival 2022:

We are very much looking forward to welcoming you back in-person to Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival for what promises to be a long-awaited return to connecting.

We have evaluated our covid policy in line with government guidance and the venue’s requirements and as a result we have put plans in place to ensure as safe an environment as possible, while still providing a great experience to all our attendees.

We have installed extra hand sanitiser stations and introduced extra cleaning measures around the site. Most of our Innovation Festival activities are taking place outdoors or in tents.

• Please make regular use of the hand sanitiser available and follow the government guidelines when washing your hands.
• Let fresh air in if meeting indoors or meet outside.
• Consider wearing a face covering in crowded, enclosed spaces.
• Stationery is provided at the event; however, you may prefer to bring your own pens and notebooks etc. to avoid sharing any stationery items provided with others.

Please do not attend the event and avoid contact with other people if:

• You have a positive COVID-19 test result
• You are a close contact of someone who has had a positive test result for COVID-19
• You have symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as COVID-19, and you have a high temperature, or you do not feel well enough to go to work or carry out normal activities

Please leave the event and return home if you test positive for Covid 19 during the event or feel unwell and are displaying any of the symptoms above.

Covid tests are available at the information point.

Newcastle Racecourse
High Gosforth Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE3 5HP

Sandon Valley House
Canon Barns Rd, East Hanningfield, West Hanningfield, Chelmsford, CM3 8BD

Do you enjoy working on challenges with others? Do you want to collaborate with a diverse global audience virtually or in-person? Do you get satisfaction from working on a challenge and seeing it through to fruition? Are you thinking about your future career path If you answered yes to any of these questions, Innovation Festival 2022 – Untapped Potential is made for you.

The festival is open to all who wish to join — no matter your expertise or experience. With a plethora of Sprints, YWWIW, Hacks and Daily Dashes to take part in, in person or the opportunity to join our live stream sessions online Innovation Festival 2022 could be the catalyst that inspires you and creates the next big global solution.

Check out our Checklist to make sure you have everything you need.

We’re happy to be able to offer Innovation Festival 2022 – Untapped Potential free to all attendees globally.

In person at Newcastle Racecourse please visit the Information Point or speak to one of our crew members in the turquoise t – shirts.

In person at Sandon Valley House please speak to your sprint lead.

For online help you can access the information point on our Interactive map on the homepage of our website www.innovationfestival.org or contact us at
innovationfestival@nwl.co.uk 

You can find them on our Festival outcomes webpage.

Yes, recordings from each day will be available via our website until 12th August 2022. You must be registered for the event to be able to access the live stream and recording sessions. You can register here.

Google Chrome is the recommended browser for all activities. Please check it’s available for you to use on your devices before the festival begins.

The dress code is casual and festival, no suits allowed!

Yes, there are water points to refill your bottle, please remember to bring your own bottle.

No, You will need a modern web browser – we recommend using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge

You can join our daily wrap up sessions live at the Racecourse or online at 4.15pm each day. You must be registered for the event to be able to access the live stream and recording sessions. You can register here.

Yes please, you can sign up here!

If you can’t join us in person you can join us by choosing “online browsing IF website and live streamed events only” when you register.

You will need to register before being able to access the content and live sessions. If you are taking part in a sprint, YWWIW, Dash or Hack, please only choose one topic to take part in and remember to register for that topic for all the days you are attending.

Yes you can still register to take part in the Innovation Festival until 14 July here.

You can register to join our Innovation Festival sprint sessions until 14 July or register to access the online streaming sessions here.

Also known as a Design Sprint. This workshop follows a specific and structured five stage process created by New York Times bestselling author Jake Knapp when he worked at Google and typically runs over four to five days.

Sprints bring together a broad and diverse team of individuals usually with backgrounds in finance, marketing, design, technology, logistics, customer experience / service as well as key decision makers like CEOs, founders, heads of business or senior managers. But that doesn’t mean that not anyone can turn up and be a part of it!

Sprints are expertly facilitated by a sprint lead, who guide the sprint team through each stage of the process. No devices. No distractions. Just whiteboards. Pens. Post-its. An all-important timer, and you’re off.

A sprint-style workshop that focuses on accelerating delivery of an idea or initiative identified previously.

Also known as a ‘hackathon’. This is a sprint like workshop in which specifically data experts, programmers, software developers, digital graphic designers, and domain experts come together to tackle significant tech challenges.

Unlike a sprint however, the process of a Hack does not follow the same five stage design sprint formula and therefore can be completed in two or three days.

It’s still a facilitated, fast-paced collaborative workshop. Participants are presented with the challenge, then its laptops out, power up, wifi on and get cracking!

A daily dash is a rapid style sprint workshop, working through all five stages in just one day.

A daily dash can be intense and a little chaotic at times but delivers real results in under half the time of a sprint. It’s a great workshop choice for anyone who can only dedicate a day out of their diaries and want to get creative and collaborative with other like-minded solutions driven professionals.

We know that not everyone can spare the time to work on a three- day event, if you are attending in person then we would recommend you join in the earlier part of the week if you can only make part of the sprint sessions.

You can still be part of the festival fun by joining in online morning welcome (9:00am), lunch time talks (12:45) and daily wrap up sessions (16:15) online each day. You must be registered for the event to be able to access the live stream and recording sessions. You can register here.

Please contact the registration team at innovationfestival@nwl.co.uk and they will update your registration record.

Your sprint lead will email in the week leading up to the event to share more information about the sprint you have registered for. You can find the addresses for our in-person hubs on our website here.

Please don’t attend an in-person event unless you have registered for an in-person sprint. For health and Safety reasons we will not be able to allow you access to the event.

Covid 19 Measures and Guidance for the Innovation Festival 2022:

We are very much looking forward to welcoming you back in-person to Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival for what promises to be a long-awaited return to connecting.

We have evaluated our covid policy in line with government guidance and the venue’s requirements and as a result we have put plans in place to ensure as safe an environment as possible, while still providing a great experience to all our attendees.

We have installed extra hand sanitiser stations and introduced extra cleaning measures around the site. Most of our Innovation Festival activities are taking place outdoors or in tents.

• Please make regular use of the hand sanitiser available and follow the government guidelines when washing your hands.
• Let fresh air in if meeting indoors or meet outside.
• Consider wearing a face covering in crowded, enclosed spaces.
• Stationery is provided at the event; however, you may prefer to bring your own pens and notebooks etc. to avoid sharing any stationery items provided with others.

Please do not attend the event and avoid contact with other people if:

• You have a positive COVID-19 test result
• You are a close contact of someone who has had a positive test result for COVID-19
• You have symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as COVID-19, and you have a high temperature, or you do not feel well enough to go to work or carry out normal activities

Please leave the event and return home if you test positive for Covid 19 during the event or feel unwell and are displaying any of the symptoms above.

Covid tests are available at the information point.

We are hosting sessions at Newcastle Racecourse and in Sandon Valley House, Essex.

You can find the Hub addresses here on our website.

There is free parking available on both sites.

Please follow the Covid 19 guidelines which can be found here.

Keep your eyes on our social media channel throughout the week. We’ll be posting lots of updates, pictures, and videos during the festival. Please join in!

Use #InnovationFestival22 when posting your content, that way we will see it and can share it.

You can contact us at innovationfestival@nwl.co.uk