It’s incredible to think that we are only a month away from closing entries for this year’s BIG Awards. This is the second BIG Awards competition we have run in the UK since the British Innovation Gateway programme was announced in January 2011 by Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers and Prime Minister David Cameron.

The annual open innovation competition identifies and offers financial and mentor support for the next generation of the UK’s digital entrepreneurs and startup companies.

It seems like yesterday that we were at the top of the Gherkin, launching this year’s competition and hearing about the great progress that last year’s winners – Snap Fashion, Digital Shadows, and Six 3 – have made over the past 6 months. Now the sun has come out (briefly), the football season is over, and we start to think about summer and the announcement of our 20 short-listed semi-finalists.

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Tags: award, BIG, British Innovation Gateway, Entrepreneur, innovation, United Kingdom

Once again, we’re preparing for the exciting Cisco British Innovation Gateway (BIG) awards. Here’s some guidance about the on-going competition – to stimulate some thoughts around this year’s opportunity to recognise Britain’s entrepreneurs.

It’s amazing when I think back to when the BIG awards where first discussed, as apart of our legacy around Cisco’s involvement in the London 2012 Olympics. We are now into our second year, and trying to be as balanced as I can be, it has been a very beneficial journey for all concerned. Read More »

Tags: British Innovation Gateway, Entrepreneur, innovation, start ups, Tomorrow Starts Here

Today, the term Entrepreneur is used freely by a lot people, typically to describe someone who has started their own business or launched multiple new ventures.   Since being a part of the Shoreditch tech scene, I’m now starting to understand the unique characteristics of people that can best be described as “entrepreneurial” — and then letting my mind wander back into my own life experiences.

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Tags: Consumerization of IT, culture, Digital Britain, Entrepreneur, innovation, Intrapreneur

So we are finally on the verge of launching the BIG Awards after months of hard work by the BIG team and partners. Powered by Cisco i-Prize, this competition will be crucial to discovering and nurturing technology-based startup businesses in the UK.

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Tags: BIG Awards, Business Innovation Gateway, Entrepreneur, i-Prize, UK

Cisco UKI Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Ian Foddering interview before and after a Cisco Twitter Chat.

Focused on technology innovation in the workplace and how these breeds a new kind of business/entrepreneur and London 2012.

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Tags: Business Innovation Gateway, Entrepreneur, infrastructure, London Olympics, UK