New Tenants Hoopy Host Tokyo Conference

Hoopy are a software development consultancy firm and new tenants of the e-Innovation Centre.

However, they were not in the building long before jetting off to Tokyo, where they were hosting one of their regular international developer conferences – DevRelCon Tokyo.

This was part of an international series of conferences, started by Hoopy in 2015, for people who build developer communities and developer experiences.

At each event, they bring together practitioners to share through talks, training and networking. Speakers at the events have included Anil Dash, Jono Bacon, Bear Douglas, James Governor, Dr Sue Black, and others. As well as Tokyo there are also editions in London, San Francisco, and China.

So welcome, Hoopy. A great addition to the EIC family!

Get Digital – Survive or Thrive

Representatives from EIC and BTC were in attendance at Get Digital – Survive or Thrive – an event held at Enginuity in Coalbrookdale by the Marches Growth Hub.

The event was all about enabling local businesses to find out all they need to know about how new technologies are changing the way we work.

The day began with a keynote speech by Bruce Daisley, the head of the European arm of Twitter. In an interesting and informative talk he detailed how he arrived at his current position, and also his opinions on what a productive and healthy workplace should be like.

Bruce was then joined on stage by local business leaders and academics, including Tim Luft, head of former BTC tenants VR Simulation, for a Q&A session.

Later in the day, there was an expo and also workshops for people to benefit from the knowledge of tech-savvy industry professionals. These included Web Development by Nick Carr of Focus Digital and also Smartphone Videos for Business by Stone’s Throw Media.

All in all, it was an extremely informative day and an important way of keeping the region’s businesses informed and engaged with current and future digital technologies.

AP Architecture Scoop Award

AP Architecture, tenants of EIC, have recently won a prestigious accolade at the Pinders Healthcare Design Awards. The event, now in its 20th year, aims to recognise outstanding design in the care sector. In a ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London, where over 600 people were in attendance, AP took home one of the six gongs.

Company Director Paul Burton said: “AP Architecture are delighted to be winners of the Pinders Heathcare Design Awards 2019, Best New Care Home Elderly (Lower), with Willowbrook Care Home, Perry Barr, which was designed to be a centre of excellence in the treatment and care of older residents with dementia and mental health disorders.”

“It was a pleasure working alongside Mr Paul Willis of Willowbrook Care, who had great expectations for the home, and was committed to developing an aspirational place to live and work, which has also been recognised by CQC, with them rating the home as Outstanding.”

“AP Architecture have previously had two other projects as finalists in these awards, and this is the icing on the cake for the practice and the team behind such an outstanding project.”

Congratulations to AP Architecture from everyone at EIC for this amazing achievement!

Interface NRM go on Knowledge-sharing Trip to Italy

EIC tenants, Interface NRM, recently took a trip to Padova in Italy to visit partner company Vireo SRL.

The UKAS and and ASI accredited certification body, went over to evaluate the way they carry out tasks and also so that the two companies could learn from one another. They also got the opportunity to attend a training session about how their certification database will work going forward.

Vireo SRL aims to offer the best environmental certification on the market, and since 2010 have progressively expanded their field of activity. During this time, they have established good partnership relationships with internationally recognised certification bodies such as Interface.

Sales, Marketing and Administration Specialist Amy Buckler said: “Our time in Padova was superb and a really valuable learning experience for both companies. Aside from the evaluation and training sessions, we also got to visit some beautiful historic places and sample some great restaurants! We must also thank Vireo SRL for a very enjoyable time.”