Innovate Malvern CIC

Innovate Malvern is the social enterprise that promotes all aspects of innovation at a grass-roots level in and around Malvern, UK. The company was founded in 2015 by local entrepreneurs Dr Adrian Burden and Dr Emma Philpott to continue the sustainable growth of our flagship event, the Malvern Festival of Innovation, and to provide an anchor for some other community-outreach initiatives that were running or in the pipeline.

Our aim is to highlight the importance of science, technology, engineering & mathematics (STEM) amongst students of all ages, encourage engineering and technology companies to flourish by interacting with the local community, and drive creativity in business and enterprise through networking activities and local collaboration. We also support art, design and entrepreneurship skills within this context so that innovation brings economic and cultural benefit to our society.

We achieve these aims through a growing number of initiatives funded and supported by numerous organisations who share our passion for efficient and high impact corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Board of Directors

Dr Adrian Burden, Managing Director.

Adrian has a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a D.Phil. in Materials Science from the University of Oxford. He is the founding CTO of a blockchain start-up called BlockMark Technologies Ltd, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, and a STEM Ambassador. In February 2015, he was recognised as a Maserati 100 entrepreneur in The Sunday Times. He is author of the business book Start to Exit. @apburden

Dr Emma Philpott MBE, Director.

Emma has a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in Ceramic Matrix Composites from Keele University. She started the Malvern Cyber Security Cluster to promote collaboration between SMEs and after being featured on BBC Radio 4's In Business with Peter Day, she went on to found the UK Cyber Security Forum to coordinate SME clusters around the country. Emma is currently CEO of The IASME Consortium Ltd and a STEM Ambassador. @emphilpott

In the news...

Malvern Festival of Innovation returns with family day at library, Malvern Gazette, 4th October 2023 [read more].

Inspiring and engaging' Malvern Festival of Innovation to get under way, Malvern Observer, 4th October 2022 [read more].

Malvern Festival of Innovation returns this October, Business & Innovation Magazine, 22nd September 2022 [read more].

Malvern Festival of Innovation 10th Anniversary, Malvern Panalytical blog, 2nd December 2021 [read more]. 

Science on the agenda as Festival of Innovation returns to Malvern, Malvern Gazette, 17th October 2021 [read more].

Science in focus as festival of innovation returns to Malvern, Malvern Gazette, 1st October 2021 [read more].

Rory Cellan-Jones to open 10th Malvern Festival of Innovation next month, Malvern Gazette, 17th July 2021 [read more].

Family fun as Malvern Science in the Park returns after Covid, Malvern Gazette, 8th July 2021 [read more].

Which summer events are returning to Malvern this year? Malvern Gazette, 17th June 2021 [read more].

Science is once again a walk in the park in Malvern this summer, Business & Innovation Magazine, 15th June 2021 [read more].

Popular Malvern science event returns (with a difference), Worcester News, 3rd October 2020 [read more].

Pandemic won't stop Malvern Festival of Innovation going ahead, Business & Innovation Magazine, 19th September 2020 [read more].

Knocking Science out of the Park in Malvern, Business & Innovation Magazine, 12th June 2020 [read more] and Malvern Gazette, 19th June 2020 [read more].

Malvern Festival of Innovation is a big success, Worcester News, 14th October 2019 [read more].

Festival in Malvern showcases science wonders, Worcester News, 7th October 2019 [read more].

Innovation sensation returns to Malvern, WR Magazine, 20th September 2019 p.32-33 [read more].

Familes enjoy Science in the Park 2019, Worcester News, 2nd July 2019 [read more].

Malvern park event brings science alive, Worcester News, 26th June 2019 [read more].

Promoting STEM at the grassroots level is crucial for an innovative future, Crowd Sauce, 27th March 2019 [read more].

Microscopy outreach in and around Malvern, infocus Magazine; the Proceedings of the Royal Microscopical Society, December 2018 [read more, when issue becomes available on line].

Innovate Malvern runner-up in the UK's STEM Inspirations Awards in the category "STEM employer - small and medium enterprises", 1st November 2018 [read more].

Malvern Festival of Innovation is a success once again, Malvern Gazette, 18th October 2018 [read more].

Malvern Festival set to celebrate boffins everywhere, Malvern Observer, 5th October 2018 [read more].

Malvern’s brilliant brains gather at Science in the Park to inspire next generation, Malvern Observer, 12th July 2018 [read more].

Experiments enthral youngsters at Science in the Park, Malvern Gazette, 3rd July 2018 [read more].

Final line-up is revealed for Malvern’s Science in the Park, Worcester News, 25th June 2018 [read more].

Budding scientists can enjoy fun-filled day of alfresco experiments, Malvern Gazette, 11th June 2018 [read more].

The balloon goes up for successful Festival of Innovation in Malvern, Worcester News, 10th October 2017 [read more].

Science event set to return to Malvern after this year's success, Worcester News, 21st July 2017 [read more].

Malvern's Science in the Park set to become annual event after huge turnout, Malvern Observer, 20th July 2017 [read more].

Experiment with Malvern Science in the Park this weekend, Malvern Observer, 26th June 2017 [read more].

Hunting dinosaurs and sunspots in Malvern's Priory Park, Worcester News, 22nd June 2017 [read more].

Thousands glimpse the future at Malvern Festival of Innovation, Malvern Gazette, 21st October 2016 [read more].

Malvern Festival of Innovation helps build the future, Malvern Gazette, 13th October 2015 [read more].

Encouraging the next generation of business leaders, Worcester News, 8th July 2015 [read more].

Other initiatives... 

Dr Adrian Burden was appointed a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence and Innovate Malvern received a grant that enabled him to work with the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham one day a week for three years until April 2021. This was an opportunity to promote entrepreneurship to science students and staff within the department and to help identify commercial opportunities within their research programme. The interaction also strengthened links between the university and our events in Malvern [Read more].

During June and July 2017, Dr Adrian Burden mentored some computer science students at the Chase School as part of the Malvern Raspberry Pi jam initiative for the Pioneers Competition. They were named a winning team and invited to Google HQ in London, Malvern Gazette, 25th July 2017 [Read more]. Read the blog from the Raspberry Pi foundation. The Pi Chasers team then entered the subsequent Pioneers challenge and won a prize for that too [Read more].

We helped to support the first three editions of TEDxMalvern held on 26th April 2017, 25th April 2018 and 24th April 2019. If you missed these events, you can still watch the 2017 TEDxMalvern talks, the 2018 TEDxMalvern talks and the 2019 TEDxMalvern talks online.