Venturefest South brings home a major award for its 2019 showcase #VFS19

Everyone at Venturefest South HQ is celebrating winning a major industry award in the ‘Best Event’ category at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ (CIPR) PRide Awards recently held in Bristol.

The innovation showcase #VFS19, held at the Ageas Bowl in March, now in its fourth year, was developed in partnership with the region’s leading universities, local authorities and key private sector businesses. 

Judges of the awards said they specifically loved the style of the event and the fact that the team developed a fully integrated marketing and PR campaign, building on the previous years’ events and leveraging the full support and resources of the VFS partners and sponsors.

Ed Gould, partner and event director at Venturefest South commented:

“It’s brilliant to get recognition for this truly collaborative and partner-led initiative. It couldn’t happen without a fully engaged, active and ambitious innovation ecosystem and this is the fundamental benefit of being in the south. Thank you to all of the businesses that helped to make it a huge success.”

The event achieved the highest levels of engagement to date, resulting in a 60 per cent increase on the previous year’s attendance with over 1,000 delegates, plus a new event record of £90m of investment opportunities for SMEs, innovators and entrepreneurs from across the South. 

Chris Allington, Chair of Venturefest South said:

“We’re absolutely delighted that #VFS19 has won an award at the CIPR PRide Awards and I’m so proud of the fantastic delivery team, partners, innovators and delegates for making this possible. We smashed records with more attendees, more sponsors, more investment opportunities and more excitement, and I’m looking forward to beating this again with next year’s event, #VFS20 Festival of Innovation.”

#VFS20 Festival of Innovation will take place on 27 March at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton. Building onto the snowballing success of the event over the last three years’ more than ever will be packed into the showcase. Early Bird tickets are available now, saving you 66% off the price. But be quick, Early Bird tickets are only available until 31 December.

There are also still a few opportunities to present, speak, sponsor, exhibit and to claim one of our limited free innovator spots. To find out more and book tickets, click here.