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| By Pier Head, Liverpool by Peter Tarleton, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114303260 |
Jane Lambert
In Rise & Design in Marshall's Mill, 28 Feb 2024, NIPC Yorkshire, I described Rise & Design as "Design Network North's free monthly networking meetings that take place on the second Friday of every month." I introduced Design Network North as "a project delivered by RTC North" and wrote that RTC North claimed on its website to be "one of Europe’s leading technology transfer companies with a trusted reputation for delivering services in innovation and business growth."
I first came across Rise & Design and Design Network North when they held an event at the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre in Huddersfield on 20 Jan 2017, which I discussed in Rise & Design in Huddersfield on 21 Jan 2017 in NIPC Yorkshire. That was my last contact with them for several years because they are based in North East England and their subsequent events took place in Tyneside, Northumberland or County Durham.
I reconnected with Rise & Design during the COVID-19 emergency when Terry McStea, Head of Design Network North, held a series of informal conversations over Zoom for designers and others interested in design in North East England and Yorkshire on most Fridays between 11:00 and 13:00. I attended most of those sessions, where I made a lot of new contacts and learned a lot about design and innovation. They were a real lifeline during lockdown. Their webinars covered everything from wearable tech (see Rise & Design: Wearable Tech Webinar 13 March 2021, NIPC North East) to the funeral industry (see The Bright Side of Death, 14 Oct 2021, NIPC Northeast). I wrote about that time with appreciation in Rise and Design Online: A Webinar for Designers in Northeast England on Designing our Way out of Lockdown, 16 June 2929 NIPC North East.
When Rise & Design returned to Yorkshire on 23 Feb 2024, I was at Marshall's Mill to welcome them. I also attended their return visit to that venue on 7 March 2025 (see Rise & Design Returns to Leeds 12 March 2025 NIPC Yorkshire). I also joined some of their events in North East England as an online attendee, such as The Internet of Caring Things, which took place at Gateshead earlier this year.
I have just received an invitation from Terry McStea to Design in the Automotive Sector, a seminar organized by Rise & Design at avenue hq, 17 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP on 19 Sept 2025 between 09:30 and 12:30. I gave a talk on FRAND to IR Global's Regional Meeting earlier this year at WP Thompson's offices, which are also on Mann Island. I found that Mann Island was just across the street from James Street tube station, one stop from Lime Street on the Liverpool underground.
The keynote speaker at the event will be Matt Hine, Head of Business at Lexus in Liverpool, but there will almost certainly be two more speakers from the automotive design sector. Attendees are usually offered a sausage and bacon sandwich (or alternative) and a hot drink on arrival. Before the session starts, Terry invites members of the audience to introduce themselves to their neighbours and perhaps swap business cards or LinkedIn details. Each talk lasts between 20 and 25 minutes, and there is usually time for questions. There are also opportunities for more networking between talks and at the end of the presentations. Just before the end of the seminar, attendees are invited to give 2-minute elevator pitches about their business. As I used to chair the Liverpool Inventors Club before the Central Library was refurbished, I shall deliver one of those pitches.
Mann Island is within walking distance of most of Liverpool's tourist attractions. Attendees who do not know the city and are not in a hurry to get somewhere else may wish to visit Sir Gilbert Scott's cathedral, the Museum of Liverpool, the Beatles Museum or even the gents' at the Philharmonic Dining Rooms after the seminar.
Anyone wishing to discuss this article can call me on 020 7404 5252 during normal UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.
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