Meet the Manufacturer to launch 'Dragon's Den' competition

Meet the Manufacturer, the British sourcing conference and trade fair event, is set to launch a new 'Dragon's Den' styled competition for manufacturers and designers at its upcoming event in May.

The competition is open to both designers and manufacturers who are innovators in technology and design, as well as product development and sustainability. Then during the two day event, set to take place on May 25 and 26, manufacturers will be able to participate in the Innovation Accelerator on the first day and designer in the Designer Den on the second day.

Designers and manufacturers are asked to submit their ideas ahead of the event online, and those with the most promising idea will be selected to attend the Meet the Manufacturer event to pitch their ideas to a panel of experts.The experts will then share their thoughts on the ideas pitched and offer advice to help them take their business to the next level.

“If the next Industrial Revolution is upon us, then it is quite pertinent that the opening sequence of the original series of Dragon’s Den was filmed by Manchester’s famous cotton mills, the inspiration being that it was an area transformed by the first Industrial Revolution," said Kate Hills, CEO and founder of Make it British and Meet the Manufacturer.

"Since innovation is the key theme for our event this year, we’re taking our inspiration from the Dragon’s Den series to give manufacturers and designers the opportunity to pitch their creative and pioneering concepts to a panel of experts to gain the recognition and mentoring to enable them to transform their business.”