The Client
Science: Conference Audience Insights
A ground breaking conference bringing together the scientific and business communities, the first of which took place in Manchester in 2016, also the year in which the city itself was celebrating its year as European City of Science.
The conference explores the business of science and how successful commercialisation can drive economic growth, and its vision is to:
- Explore and develop the relationship between Business and Science
- Support the Commercialisation of Science in its broadest sense through relevant keynotes, panel discussions and advisory sessions
- Support and drive revenue, economic growth and societal benefit
- Function as an ambassador for the promotion and development of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills
- Continue to develop a network of likeminded, but challenging individuals all engaged in Science, Innovation and Skills development
- Recognise and reward Innovation and Leadership
The Brief
lookout was engaged to develop a mechanism that would enable the conference organisers to understand, and engage on a deeper level with their audience. They wanted to understand the views held by conference delegates across a range of topics that tie in with the conference themes of Science, Innovation and Skills and to position itself as a thought leader.
The conference audience is drawn from all areas of the science sector – business, academia, research, education, public and third sectors.
Working closely with the event organiser, lookout developed a survey questionnaire that would address each of the key themes in turn, and be sufficiently robust from a research methodology perspective, whilst being concise enough to capture conference delegates’ views on the day of the conference.
Outcomes
The first survey was completed at the 2017 conference in Manchester. Questionnaires were completed primarily in situ by delegates attending the conference.
Additional data was collected online from other conference stakeholders in the two weeks immediately following the event. The total number of surveys was consolidated into a single dataset. The data was then analysed, culminating in a detailed report that was submitted to the conference organisers.
The final report was then disseminated to the conference audience and the wider scientific community and its stakeholders via the conference website, which has helped to frame the agenda for subsequent conferences.
Following the success of the first project, lookout has been retained in subsequent years to deliver this project.
+44 (0) 843 886 5884
eugene@lookoutinsights.com