Professor Solomon Darwin, from the University of California, Berkeley, will be running a workshop with the owners and managers of small and medium-sized Lancashire-based businesses at Lancaster University Management School, on Thursday 7 May.

Open innovation looks at adapting current business models by exchanging knowledge within businesses with the ideas generated by people outside of the organisation in order to bring innovations to market much more quickly.

In addition, Professor Darwin will be giving a Masterclass talk on innovation as a market disrupter to a range of business leaders at the School on Wednesday, 6 May.

The workshop and masterclass are being delivered by the Lancashire Forum programme, which has supported around 80 Lancashire companies. However, these events are open to all eligible Lancashire-based SMEs.

Lubica Strakova, LUMS programme manager for Lancashire Forum, said: “This workshop is a fantastic and rare opportunity for Lancashire-based companies to work with one of the world’s leading experts in open innovation.

“Participants will learn how small and medium-sized companies are able to embrace and benefit from open innovation in order to secure company and job growth.”

To book a place at the masterclass/workshop, email e.tinker@lancaster.ac.uk or call 01524 510703.