The first national celebration of apprentice innovation, held at The Lowry, MediaCity, Salford Quays.
About the Event
On 24 March 2026, The Lowry at MediaCity, Salford Quays became the home of the first ever National Innovation Skills Competition — a landmark day bringing together 65 people from across Great Britain to celebrate, compete, and inspire.
Representing 11 colleges from Barnsley to Southampton, apprentices travelled from Blackpool and The Fylde, Bolton, Doncaster, King’s Lynn, Oldham, Salford, Wigan and Leigh, Trafford and Stockport, and South Hampshire to take part. They were joined by 14 tutors and training provider staff, and representatives from 25 distinct employers — a remarkable cross-section of British industry including global names like AstraZeneca, MBDA, Essity, Anglian Water and the NHS, alongside engineering firms, logistics companies, social enterprises and more, including World Duty Free, Biffa Treatment Services, STS Defence, SKF Cooper Bearings, and Meachers Global Logistics.
The event was the culmination of the Innovation Literacy Programme, a qualification designed to develop the innovation mindset and employability skills that modern workplaces demand: creative thinking, critical reasoning, courage, and collaboration. Over 300 apprentices had completed the programme nationally by the time of the competition, with more than 300 having previously participated through the Greater Manchester pilot.
The Challenge
At the heart of the day was a live innovation challenge — the core of the competition and the moment every apprentice had been preparing for.
The 38 apprentices present responded to a real-world brief set by Mustard Tree, a Manchester-based charity working to support people facing poverty and homelessness. The brief asked a question that felt personal to many in the room: how do we help young people aged 16–25 engage with the services and opportunities available to them?
With nearly a million young people in the UK aged 16–25 currently unemployed, the stakes felt real. And the apprentices rose to them.
Working in teams across college and employer boundaries — many of whom would never otherwise have crossed paths — they applied the creative and strategic thinking tools developed through the Innovation Literacy Programme, including techniques like Crazy 8s, to develop genuinely fresh solutions. Drawing on their own lived experiences as young people, their ideas were original, moving, and ideas the charity had simply not considered before. The cross-sector collaboration on display — NHS apprentices working alongside colleagues from engineering, defence, logistics and beyond — was itself a demonstration of exactly the skills the programme exists to build.
The competition format challenged teams to develop, refine and present their ideas to a panel of judges, with the strongest ideas recognised at the end of the day.
Who Was There
The competition brought together representatives from 11 colleges across Great Britain:
Barnsley College · Blackpool and The Fylde College · Bolton College · College of West Anglia · Doncaster College · Oldham College · Salford City College · South Hampshire College Group · Trafford and Stockport College Group · Wigan and Leigh College · plus stakeholders from Innovate UK and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Employers represented on the day included AstraZeneca, MBDA, Essity, NHS, Anglian Water, World Duty Free, Biffa Treatment Services, STS Defence, SKF Cooper Bearings, Meachers Global Logistics, and many more spanning engineering, accountancy, logistics and the social enterprise sector.
The Keynote
To close the day, futurist and AI expert Dan Sodergren delivered a keynote — The Fifth Industrial Revolution: And Why Your “Soft Skills” Are Your Exciting Future — making the case that the skills apprentices had been practising all day: curiosity, creativity, collaboration, co-creation and courage, are precisely the power skills that will define success in an AI-driven world. It was a fitting and energising note on which to end.
What People Said
“It’s been very, very fun, very, very energetic — and it’s really boosted my confidence in thinking up new ideas and not being afraid to speak out.” — Participating apprentice
“It’s a formal programme that is so easy for employers like myself to send our apprentices on. The skills they bring back improve the business tenfold.” — Employer representative
“These are our leaders of tomorrow. It’s created a beautiful collaboration across industries that they probably wouldn’t have seen if this opportunity hadn’t been available to them.” — Event guest
“Being a judge at the first National Innovation Skills Competition was a genuinely humbling experience. The apprentices brought creativity, courage and real personal insight to the challenge — and the solutions they developed for Mustard Tree were ideas the charity simply hadn’t considered before. These young people are exactly the leaders the Innovation Literacy Programme exists to develop.” — Competition judge
About the Innovation Literacy Programme
The Innovation Literacy Programme is delivered in partnership with colleges and training providers across Greater Manchester and nationally through the Launchpad programme. Supported by Innovate UK and the Greater Manchester Colleges Group, it equips apprentices with a structured, practical approach to innovation — skills that benefit their employers, their careers, and the wider economy.
To find out more, contact us at innovationliteracy@oldham.ac.uk.
